Mayor Harrell announces national search for Seattle’s next permanent police chief

Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the start of a national search for Seattle’s next permanent police chief on Thursday.

As city grapples with public safety crisis, Seattle mayor targets ‘sustainable change’

Chief Adrian Diaz has been serving in the role in an interim capacity for nearly a year and a half, after being tagged by then-Mayor Jenny Durkan in the wake of Carmen Best’s abrupt retirement in August of 2020.

Harrell plans to use a third-party firm to help identify candidates, with a yet-to-be-appointed search committee assisting in whittling down the field from there. That committee will be comprised of “local leaders including law enforcement experts, Community Police Commission members, and representatives from small businesses, communities of color, and other key voices.”

This comes amid a myriad of recent concerns related to public safety, which Harrell says will factor heavily into the selection process.

“Facing increasing crime, gun violence, and public safety issues, our next permanent chief must be able to respond to these challenges with urgency and innovation,” he said in a press release. “This comprehensive search will determine the leader best equipped to fill this challenging role and move our department forward.”

Mayor Harrell has expressed a willingness to allow Diaz to win the job outright on more than one occasion since he took office, clarifying further on Thursday that he remains “pleased” with the interim chief’s work thus far, while encouraging him to apply for formal consideration now that the search process is beginning in earnest.

A “competitive examination” of multiple candidates is also required in Seattle’s city charter, which mandates that the field eventually be narrowed down to three finalists. Harrell will then pick from those three, with that final selection subject to a confirmation vote by the city council.

SPD interim chief: ‘We are a safe city’ despite concerns over police staffing

The last search for a new police chief in Seattle took place in 2018 after then-chief Katherine O’Toole stepped down, ultimately ending in Best’s appointment. That selection process was mired in controversy in its early stages, after Best was left off the initial list of three finalists chosen by a 25-member search committee.

All three of the finalists in 2018 had not previously served with the Seattle Police Department. The list included: Eddie Frizell, inspector with the Minneapolis Police Department, serving for over two decades, also a colonel with the National Guard; Cameron McLay, former Pittsburgh police chief, also spent nearly three decades with the Madison Police Department in Wisconsin; and Ely Reyes, assistant police chief for the Austin Police Department serving for more than two decades, also served with U.S. Army and was a recipient of the Purple Heart.

Best served in the role for two years before announcing her decision to step down in August 2020, following months of social justice protests and the formation — and eventual dismantling– of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone outside the East Precinct, and just days after city council approved a series of cuts to SPD’s budget spanning mounted patrol, school resource officers, public affairs, Harbor Patrol, SWAT, and more.

Follow @NickNorthwest