A Seattle ban on tear gas, pepper spray and other crowd-control measures was supposed to take effect Sunday.
Photo: Elaine Thompson/Associated PressA federal judge temporarily blocked a Seattle ordinance that would ban police from using less-lethal tools to control protests after the city’s police chief said the law would leave her officers unable to protect property during violence.
The Seattle City Council unanimously passed the ban on tear gas, pepper spray and other crowd-control measures in June. The ban was supposed to take effect Sunday and would have coincided with demonstrations planned in the city in support of protests in Portland, Ore.
On Friday, in an emergency hearing, U.S. District Judge James Robart issued a temporary restraining order requested by the Justice Department to block the new ordinance.
Since 2012, Seattle’s police force has been under a consent decree and federal oversight after the Justice Department found that the police used excessive force and had a pattern of biased policing methods.
In its effort to block the new ordinance, the Justice Department cited the consent decree and argued that the ban of less-lethal tools would result in more-harmful tactics by the police.
Earlier this week, Seattle Chief of Police Carmen Best said in a letter to the City Council that the new ordinance would create “more dangerous circumstances” for police during the protests and that officers would be left to use only batons and shields.
“If I am not allowed to lawfully equip officers with the tools they have been trained to use to protect the community and themselves, it would be reckless to have them confront this level of violence under the current legal restrictions imposed by Council,” Ms. Best said.
Ms. Best also said that while many peaceful protests have been held in Seattle, two recent events, including one Wednesday, became violent, leading to wide-scale property destruction and attacks on officers.
In a statement Saturday, Ms. Best said that because of the temporary restraining order, her officers would continue to carry pepper spray and blast balls, which are devices that create a loud noise and bright light when deployed and can contain chemical irritants. The police department was ready to work with the Justice Department and the local community in re-envisioning how policing is done in Seattle, she said.
“The events over the past two months have been transformative both locally and nationally, and offer a monumental opportunity to build on the work of the past eight years to ensure the continued momentum of reform,” she said.
President Trump has criticized the leaders of Portland and other cities across the country for not doing more to stop violence. Protesters have been out on the streets of Portland every day since shortly after the May 25 death of George Floyd, who was killed while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
While largely peaceful, some protests have ended in violence and property damage, particularly at night. In response, the White House sent federal agents to Portland on July 1 to protect federal property. Federal agents have also been sent to Washington, D.C., and Seattle.
“We’re going to have more federal law enforcement—that, I can tell you,” Mr. Trump said earlier this week, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office.
On Twitter on Friday, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan called for peaceful protests in the city, “particularly in light of the President making good on threats to send federal forces into American cities.”
State and local officials, including the mayor of Portland, who recently joined protesters and was tear-gassed, have chided the presence of federal agents in the state. A federal judge Friday denied a temporary injunction sought by Oregon’s top law-enforcement officer, handing the Trump administration a victory in a legal battle over its deployment of federal agents to Portland.
Earlier Friday, the Justice Department announced that 18 people in Portland had been charged with federal crimes allegedly committed during the protests.
Write to Talal Ansari at Talal.Ansari@wsj.com
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