Yes, I misremembered it and I was wrong about it which I discovered by googling it. But the number of police is way down, so it had the same effect as defunding. Part of the reason for the reduction is the Seattle City Council abused them by calling them murderers. The cops felt unsupported by the Council and unwanted, and they left.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/defamatio...
https://www.bigcountrynewsconnection.com/local/seattle-counc...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12656567/Seattle-la...
The suburb cities did not experience an exodus, so it has nothing to do with the pandemic.