Seattle Police Chief

The City of Seattle seeks an experienced law enforcement executive with a demonstrated track record of effective organizational leadership, successful change management, responsible administration of public resources, productive relationships with law enforcement labor unions, and a clear focus on building the community relationships necessary to ensure that everyone in every Seattle neighborhood feels safe and in partnership with their police department.

The Seattle Police Chief leads the development of Seattle Police Department (SPD) goals in alignment with the mayor’s public safety vision. The chief is responsible for budget and staffing strategy, direction of policy development, and oversight of the delivery of police services. The chief supervises the department’s command staff and is responsible for ensuring organizational alignment in vision, values, and operations through the chain of command. The chief also provides expert counsel on policing issues and builds cooperative working relationships with the mayor, members of the city council, intergovernmental partners, neighborhood businesses and service providers, advocacy groups, and community members. Reporting to the mayor, this cabinet-level position leads the largest municipal law enforcement agency in Washington State, with more than 1,200 authorized sworn officers and 600 civilian employees.

The Seattle Police Chief is accountable for the following deliverables:

• Establish a clear understanding within the department and across the city that the Seattle Police Department’s top priority is that every person living, working, and recreating in Seattle feels safe and in a trusted relationship with the department.

• Develop and share with the Mayor’s Office a clear and specific staffing plan that aligns sworn and civilian personnel capacity and expertise with Seattle’s place- and problem-based public safety needs, and a reporting plan with metrics and cadence that allow continuous evaluation and improvement.

• In collaboration with the chiefs of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department and Seattle Fire Department develop and share with the Mayor's Office a plan to improve 9-1-1 call response times that, includes clear protocols for coordinating deployment of Seattle's diversified response teams located in CARE and Seattle Fire Department's Mobile Integrated Health Program, including backups and handoffs that support the city's commitment to send the right response to every call.

• Develop and share with the Mayor’s Office a plan to strengthen community engagement in areas of concentrated criminal activity, strengthen investigative performance and results, improve crime clearance rates, and minimize prosecutor decline rates.

• In collaboration with regional public health providers and policy experts, community-based direct service providers, law enforcement partners, and small businesses and neighborhood organizations, develop comprehensive strategies to address gun violence and concentrated public disorder crimes. Partner across disciplines and jurisdictions to develop agreed metrics for evaluation and continuous improvement, and coordinated systems for sharing data regarding service delivery and impact.

• Build and maintain community trust through communication, strong accountability systems, and community engagement on policing priorities.

The Seattle Police Chief is responsible for managing police services to maximize