Is this why the decreased police forces to justify the use of “advanced safety technologies.”

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell keeps looking to technology in a bid to curb crime and increase safety
Harrell released his 2024 budget proposal Tuesday that includes mid-biennium adjustments to the 2023-24 budget passed last year. The City uses two-year budget cycles and in odd years, such as 2023, it makes minor changes.
Among Harrell’s proposals include a $1.8 million investment to fund testing of new “advanced safety technologies.”

From the city’s budget adjustments summary:
“With record-low numbers of police officers in 2023, the City must use technological support to boost the effectiveness of public safety strategies. Mayor Harrell is reinvesting $1.8 million of salary savings in the SPD into a new crime prevention pilot to implement automatic license plate readers, CCTV cameras, and acoustic gunshot locator systems to deter criminal behavior and hold offenders accountable.”

In a press conference Tuesday, Harrell cited rising homicides in Seattle and an increase in stolen vehicles. “We know we can’t be complacent,” he said.
Harrell, previously a Seattle City Council member, has spent years trying to get the city to test gunshot detection technology designed to help police track and respond to locations where gunshots are fired.
Harrell last year proposed $1 million for the gunfire tech in the existing budget but the City Council axed the funding last year.
The technology works via the installation of microphones in neighborhoods which are used to identify the sound of gunshots and triangulate the location of those shots.

https://www.geekwire.com/2023/seattle-mayor-wants-city-to-test-new-safety-tech-that-could-curb-gun-violence-stolen-vehicles/