Seattle Police’s top cop shake-up includes an Amazon VP
Mar 11, 2015, 6:39 AM | Updated: 6:48 am
Chief Information Officer Greg Russell, a former Amazon VP, will also be in charge of IT for the department and will work on the police body cam project. (AP Photo/File_
Seattle city officials announced major changes to police leadership, Wednesday.
Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole announced the new leadership team will be assistant chiefs Lesley Cordner, Steve Wilske, Robert Merner, Perry Tarrant, and Chief Information Officer Greg Russell.
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Only two members of the new leadership team were internal hires from the Seattle Police Department.
Cordner joined the Seattle Police Department in 1989 and Wilske is currently the Southwest Precinct commander, seving for more than 28 years with the department.
Merner has held every rank in the Boston Police Department’s Investigative Bureau, according to O’Toole. He she said Merner has experience in homicide, gangs, narcotics and forensics.
Tarrant will join Seattle Police after serving as the coordinator of the City of Yakima’s Gang Free Initiative. Before that, Tarrant served for 34 years as an officer and commander in the Tucson Police Department.
The staff overhaul also boasts a chief information officer who comes to the department after serving as a vice president at Amazon. Greg Russell, 46, will work on data analytics in order to find new ways to track and potentially predict crime.
Russell will also be in charge of IT for the department and will work on the police body cam project.
The command staff overhaul is O’Toole’s most significant personnel move since she became chief of police in June.
Mayor Ed Murray and O’Toole will formally introduce the four new department assistant chiefs and the new chief information officer at a news conference in Seattle on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
