Tag: Sue Rahr

City Council, criminal justice, Drugs, Police

“A Shameful Legacy of Defund the Police”: Council Blames Protests, COVID for Current Public Safety Issues

Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr says she supports a new kind of secure detention for drug users, while City Attorney Davison blames jail booking restrictions for persistent problems downtown.

By Erica C. Barnett

Members of the Seattle City Council outdid each other calling for more police, more jail, and harsher punishments for people, like those who sell drugs, who “need to be contained,” as Councilmember Bob Kettle put it, during a meeting of the council’s public safety committee Tuesday morning.

Rob Saka, for instance, blamed the city’s current public safety issues on events from four years ago (and the fact that the King County Jail isn’t booking people for most misdemeanors, but more on that in a second). “The public safety challenges that we’re experiencing today are a shameful legacy of the Defund the Police movement,” Saka said. “And that was wrong then and it’s wrong now. And you know, from my perspective, defund is dead. It is not the dominant, controlling policy narrative dominating our policy discussions.”

After describing his “disadvantaged background,” Saka suggested that school closures during the COVID pandemic were also partly to blame. “There’s no way I would be here the dais right now if I had to rely on remote learning, adding that schools needed to be “the last to close and the first to reopen” during COVID.

Maritza Rivera, not to be outdone, said it made her “really angry” that people selling drugs in Magnuson Park, in her district, aren’t being arrested and jailed. “We need to be booking drug dealers, who are causing the most harm, and then diverting the users who actually need services,” she said. (Research indicates that nearly nine in ten people who sell drugs are also drug users.) “There’s a high school, there’s an elementary and a middle school off of Aurora, and these kids are getting solicited” by sex workers, Rivera added. 

Not to be outdone, Council President Sara Nelson said she was “shocked” by the fact that the average daily population at the jail is currently about 80, down from a pre-pandemic average of around 180 to 280. The jail imposed booking restrictions during the pandemic, and has kept those restrictions ever since because there are not enough jail guards to maintain safety standards with a higher inmate population. “I want my money back, basically,” Nelson said.

The purpose of the briefing was for interim Chief Rahr, Davison, and CARE (911) Department Chief Amy Smith—who had just received the committee’s unanimous vote for appointment as permanent chief—to update the council on the “criminal justice ecosystem.”

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

Rahr, who has identified hiring more police officers as her primary goal, said the city should help applicants make it past the initial hurdles by adopting a police hiring test that’s more “low-barrier” than the one the city currently uses. Rahr’s comments seemed like an explicit swipe at the Public Safety Civil Service Commission, which has strongly supported keeping the current test, which was designed to help weed out people who are temperamentally unqualified to be officers.

“I know that [the PSCSC] believe  deep in their soul that the test they’re using now is extremely important,” Rahr said, but “my experience in police hiring is the first initial screening test doesn’t need to go that deep, because we’re literally just trying to make sure people have the minimum qualifications, [and then] we have a deep backgrounding process.”

In the competition for police officer applicants, she continued, “the agency that makes that removes the most barriers to get in the door is going to have a larger pool.”

As we’ve reported, the PSCSC supports the current test, developed in collaboration with SPD in response to the 2012 federal consent decree, because it was designed to help weed out candidates who would have problems adhering to Seattle’s constitutional policing requirements. Last week, the PSCSC announced that more people applied and passed the exam in June than in any month since 2019.

Davison said that in her view, the reason crime has gotten so bad downtown is that poliec—who now have the authority, thanks to a law adopted last year, to arrest people for misdemeanor drug use—still can’t book people into the downtown jail for misdemeanors like drug possession, smashing windows, or animal cruelty.

Wait—animal cruelty? Davison said she brought up animals because animal cruelty is often a precursor to domestic violence*, and it’s important to catch it early to prevent young people from becoming abusers in the future. Davison did not explain how being locked up in the King County Jail rehabilitates people who commit misdemeanor animal abuse (harming animals is also a gross misdemeanor and a felony, depending on the extent of the abuse), although she did say she was specifically referring to “early interventions” for young people.

Saka called the booking restrictions “a real head-scratcher,” and said that without the threat of jail, there is “no deterrence whatsoever to any crime—zero.” Criminals, he continued, “can violently smash a business’s window without fear of being booked, to spend a night in jail to think about that. … And animal cruelty—they locked Michael Vick up for years for animal cruelty, and in the city of Seattle, someone can’t spend a night in jail? They can freely abuse an animal. We need to do better.” (Vick was convicted of multiple felonies stemming from his involvement in a dog-fighting ring, and served 21 months in federal prison.)

Rivera said she was “super angry that we’re paying for service that we’re not getting,” referring to county jail beds. “We are not trying to jail folks that have addiction—we need to help these folks—but we need to get the people that are causing the most harm, that are taking advantage of our vulnerable populations, and these people need to be in jail.”

Davison did point out that people who wind up in her “high-utilizers initiative” can be booked into jail under an agreement between Seattle and the county.

On Tuesday, Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed a new contract with SCORE, the regional jail in Des Moines, to incarcerate people accused of misdemeanors in Seattle.

The potential contract is controversial. In May, members of the union that represents staff for the King County Department of Public Defense sent a letter to city officials, including the council, opposing the contract, arguing that the regional jail makes it difficult for people to speak to their attorneys and get to court hearings in Seattle, diminishing the quality of representation they receive. As we’ve reported, six people have died in custody at SCORE in just over a year, including at least one from malnutrition and dehydration; SCORE contracts its medical service out to a private company, Wellpath. King County halted its own pilot program to transfer inmates to SCORE last year.

Rahr said she would also support a “third” kind of secure detention facility for people who commit drug-related crimes, including public drug use, separate from jail or diversion programs like LEAD.

“There are some people who are too medically fragile to be booked in jail, but they’re also too dangerous to be left in an emergency room or be left in a community,” Rahr said after the meeting. “If we had a place to take them that was secure, where they could get the medical intervention they need, particularly for people who are on fentanyl… we could significantly improve the conditions on the street” while also getting people “stabilized and connected with the services they need.”

Asked, after the meeting, about her comment that she wanted the city’s money back, Nelson said, “I do want to make sure that the terms of the contract that we have with the jail are being fulfilled. If we are paying for jail services and we are not getting them, what’s the deal? We need some place to take the people who are perpetrating crimes against my constituents.”

In previous years, the city has clawed back funding that would otherwise have paid for empty jail beds and repurposed it for community-based health and housing programs. During the 2022 budget process, the council voted to place a proviso, or hold, on $3 million the city would have otherwise spent on jail beds it wasn’t using, with the intent of putting that money toward inflation on future jail beds or to other, non-jail purposes. Nelson voted against the amendment.

*And certainly not, as we cynically assumed, because Seattle residents care more about dogs than human beings trapped in the carceral system.

Police

Decision on Discipline for Daniel Auderer, Police Union Leader Who Laughed Over Death of 23-Year-Old, Imminent

 

Also, SPD reassigns sergeant accused of sexual harassment and discrimination to a different division.

By Erica C. Barnett

Seattle Police Officers Guild vice-president Daniel Auderer, who was caught on tape joking about the killing of 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula by a speeding officer last year, had his “Loudermill” hearing yesterday—an opportunity for public employees accused of misconduct to present their side of the story and answer any accusations against them. Auderer’s hearing was supposed to take place on April 1, but has been delayed at least twice since then. .

Seattle interim police chief Sue Rahr now has 21 days to make a decision about whether to discipline Auderer, and if so, what discipline to impose. The Office of Police Accountability has recommended discipline ranging from a 270-day suspension to termination.

Auderer has remained on duty, but in a non-patrol role, since last fall.

Last year, Auderer was driving away from the scene where officer Kevin Dave struck and killed Kandula when he inadvertently recorded a snippet of his conversation with SPOG president Mike Solan on his body-worn video. Dave was driving 74 miles an hour on Dexter Ave., where the speed limit is 25, when he struck and killed Kandula in a crosswalk. He had his lights on but had only “chirped” his siren at stop light down the street, and he was driving so fast that it was physically impossible for Kandula to get out of his way, according to a subsequent investigation of the collision.

On the tape, Auderer said he didn’t think there would be a need for a criminal investigation because Dave was “going 50 [mph]—that’s not out of control,” because Kandula may not have been in a crosswalk, and because Dave had “lights and sirens” on. Auderer also said he didn’t “think she was thrown 40 feet either.” All of these statements turned out to be incorrect. Dave also remains employed by SPD and did not face criminal prosecution for Kandula’s killing.

Then, in comments that were reported around the world, Auderer confirmed, “But she is dead,” laughed loudly at something Solan said, and responded, “No, it’s a regular person. Yeah.”

“Yeah, just write a check,” Auderer continued. Then he laughed again for several seconds. “Yeah, $11,000. She was 26 anyway, she had limited value.” At this point, Auderer turned off his body camera and the recording stopped.

In a memo recommending a severe penalty, OPA wrote that Auderer had explained away his comments by claiming he and Solan were talking about the likelihood that the city’s attorneys would place a low “value” on Kandula’s life, with all the explicit discussion of attorneys happening on Solan’s unheard, and unrecorded, end of the call. “Even crediting your explanation as true, that does not excuse the callousness of your comments,” the OPA’s draft disciplinary report says.

Nor does it explain your full-bellied laughter. That you thought you were having a private conversation is not a mitigating factor – indeed, it made your commentary and laughter even more disturbing in the eyes of many, and confirmed for some their belief that Seattle Police Officers, however outwardly courteous they may be, entertain perverse ideas about community members, particularly when those community members are not white males.

In the past, the memo continued, SPD has fired officers for sending texts “showing biases towards women, lesbians, and people of color” and for referring to a Black community member as “Kunta Kinte.”

SPD confirmed the date of Auderer’s Loudermill hearing but did not provide any additional information about when Rahr will make her decision.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

In other SPD news, the department confirmed that Lt. John O’Neil, who has been accused of sexual harassment, retaliation, and gender discrimination, is no longer the head of the department’s communications office. Instead, SPD says, he has been moved to SPD’s criminal investigations department, where he will once again oversee women. As we reported earlier this year, all the staff who worked for O’Neil in the public affairs department quit or sought out other assignments in the department, including three women who took voluntary demotions to leave. Under O’Neil, the office became all male.

SPD maintains that it has always been the plan for O’Neil to transition out of the public affairs office, where the director has traditionally been a sergeant, not a lieutenant.

In a lawsuit against SPD and the city, four women have accused O’Neil of grooming, predatory behavior, retaliation, discrimination, and weaponizing the accountability process by filing frivolous complaints against his accusers with the OPA.

discrimination, gender, Mayor Harrell, Police

Officers Describe SPD Under Diaz as a “Dictatorship” Where Retaliation was Routine
Former police chief Adrian Diaz answers questions at a press conference announcing his replacement by Sue Rahr.

By Andrew Engelson

Two weeks after Mayor Bruce Harrell announced he was removing Seattle police chief Adrian Diaz and replacing him, on an interim basis, with former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, several current and former Seattle Police Department officers say Diaz established a “dictatorship” at the department in which officers who speak out against the chief and an inner circle of leadership have been demoted or subject to retaliatory investigations. 

Several women have sued Diaz, along with others in the department, alleging gender discrimination and harassment. 

Harrell announced that Diaz would take a new role as head of “special projects,” which were rumored to include work prepping for the FIFA World Cup in 2026. A spokesperson for SPD said “it has not been determined if he is working on the logistics for FIFA World Cup.” 

The spokesperson said Rahr has not decided what rank Diaz will have when he returns or what his salary will be; currently, Diaz’ salary is around $340,000 a year. 

One SPD officer who used to be part of SPD’s command structure spoke at length with PubliCola and asked to remain anonymous because of an active lawsuit. She said she was the subject of at least five complaints to the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) in a period of two months, which she claims were in retaliation for speaking up against Diaz and his circle of advisers.

 “The chief surrounds himself with very, very loyal subjects who will not question any of his activities or any of his decisions,” she said. “Any dissenting voices are immediately silenced.”

Though Diaz is no longer chief, that core leadership circle remains. The high-ranking officer said that without further staffing changes, the pattern of retaliation and frivolous OPA investigations will continue. 

“OPA is supposed to be for serious misconduct,” the officer said. “And it has been weaponized by Adrian [Diaz], by Jamie [Tompkins], by John O’Neil, and by Dan Nelson to punish people that speak up. And to put the atmosphere of fear into everybody so that nobody will speak up,” she said.

Tompkins, a former evening news anchor for Q13 FOX, is SPD’s chief of staff; John O’Neil is communications director and co-defendant in a discrimination lawsuit filed by four female officers; Dan Nelson is an assistant chief appointed in 2023.

Tompkins and Nelson declined to comment for this story and O’Neil did not respond to a request for comment.

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

In response to a question about whether a climate of retaliation exists at SPD, interim chief Rahr recently told PublCola, “I am spending time talking with as many SPD members as I can to learn why these perceptions exist so I can take steps to address them.”

Diaz and the department are currently facing at least three lawsuits by six SPD officers. These include a lawsuit former assistant chief Eric Greening filed against Diaz in May, alleging racial discrimination and retaliation; a $5 million tort claim four female officers—Valerie Carson, Judinna Gulpan, Kame Spencer, and lieutenant Lauren Trucsott—filed against Diaz, public affairs director John O’Neil, and SPD human resources director Rebecca McKechnie in April; and a gender discrimination lawsuit against Diaz filed in January by former assistant chief Deanna Nollette.  

SPD and the city of Seattle are also the subject of of a race and gender discrimination lawsuit filed by detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin, a 43-year SPD veteran. 

In addition, Steven Hirjak, a former assistant chief who shot and killed 25-year-old Herbert Hightower in 2004, sued Diaz and SPD for discrimination and retaliation, and SPD settled with Hirjak for $600,000 last December.

Although interim chief Rahr told reporters at press conference announcing her appointment that she didn’t plan any changes to SPD leadership, she made it clear to PubliCola that she could make other personnel changes in the future. “If I need to make a staff change, I will make it,” Rahr said. “The mayor was very clear. He said you will have the ability to change staff as you need to.”

Rahr did act quickly to undo one recent high-profile Diaz decision, reinstating assistant chief Tyrone Davis, whom Diaz put on leave a week before Rahr’s appointment because of an open OPA complaint. The King County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it is conducting a criminal investigation of Davis, putting the OPA complaint temporarily on hold, but declined to share details about the investigation. Davis declined to comment on the investigation.

In addition, the Pierce County prosecutor’s office confirmed that the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation of assistant chief Eric Barden based on at least one OPA complaint. The office would not confirm what the allegations against Barden are. OPA declined a public records request for details on the complaint against Barden, saying, “the contents of an active investigation are categorically exempt in their entirety.” 

Tammy Floyd, a former SPD lieutenant who thought she was on a path to become SPD’s first female assistant chief responsible for patrol, says a climate of misogyny and infighting among leadership pushed her out of SPD.

Floyd says she was transferred out of patrol, where she had spent her entire career, into investigations—a department in which she had no experience—soon after Diaz became interim chief in 2020. She was sent to the chaotic East Precinct, which was still recovering from the 2020 protests. “We felt abandoned in that building in the East Precinct,” Floyd said. “Nobody knew what the mission was, what the vision was. You knew that nobody in [Diaz’s] inner circle cared, that he didn’t care.” Continue reading “Officers Describe SPD Under Diaz as a “Dictatorship” Where Retaliation was Routine” →

City Council, Mayor Harrell, Police, public safety

Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr: “We Have a Lot of Work to Do.”
Photo by Andrew Engelson

By Andrew Engelson

PubliCola police accountability reporter Andrew Engelson sat down with interim police chief Sue Rahr for an interview on Friday, one week after she replaced former police chief Adrian Diaz. Mayor Bruce Harrell announced he was removing Diaz as chief amid allegations of gender and racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against Diaz and others at SPD.

The interview took place at SPD headquarters the day after a student was shot and killed in the parking lot of Garfield High School. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Andrew Engelson: Let’s talk about the Garfield High School shooting first. Violence among youth, particularly gun violence in the Central District and South Seattle, has become a longstanding, intractable issue. What do you plan to do to address this problem?

Sue Rahr: What I’m doing now is getting out and talking to as many people as I can to find out how the relationship became so acrimonious—the relationship between the police and the community. I know there are many areas of the city where there’s a very strong, cohesive relationship. But I am recognizing that we have a lot of work to do. In the area of Capitol Hill, the Central Area, there are a lot of opportunities to rebuild there. I’m going to start out with listening. The challenge will be to find the right people, and I will get multiple different perspectives. I don’t want to go to a single community leader or a single group and assume that they speak for the whole community. I want to talk to as many different people from as many different perspectives as I can.

I met with officers at the East Precinct yesterday. I went to their roll call to get their perspective on how they feel about doing their job and policing. And I’ll be honest with you, it kind of broke my heart to hear how much they feel that they’re not embraced by the community. And this is a community that needs support and needs partnership, because we clearly have some public safety issues going on. The officers were—I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t want to say hurt, that sounds a little bit melodramatic. But they want to work with the community and they feel like the community is rejecting them.

“The officers were—I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t want to say hurt, that sounds a little bit melodramatic. But they want to work with the community and they feel like the community is rejecting them.”

AE: There’s some understandable skepticism.

SR: I completely understand that. What we have to figure out is how do we try to heal that relationship? At this point, there’s no constructive reason for me to try and figure out who’s responsible for what. The relationship needs mending. I’ve got to make connections with the people that are in a position to help us heal. This horrible tragedy yesterday, it’s just so incredibly sad. I hope that maybe we can use that as a starting point to say: We owe this to our children. The police cannot do it alone. And the community can’t do it alone. We’ve got to do it together. So we’ve got to find a way to heal. I don’t have the answer yet. But I’m going to be asking a lot of questions and I’m sure we’ll get ideas from people.

AE: I’m hearing that there are also going to be increased patrols in that area.

SR: I want to be really clear about those increased patrols. We’re not talking about coming in gangbusters or that we’re going to start pulling people over and doing heavy enforcement. That is not the mission. The mission is: Be present, talk to people, be the visual example of security. We want people to see a patrol car and say: I’m glad the cops are here. I don’t think we’re there yet. But I believe we can get there. 

PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.

Support PubliCola

AE: Officers at SPD have told me morale is about as low as it’s been since 2020. And some of that is that Diaz was not particularly well-liked among a lot of the rank and file. I’ve also heard there has been a culture of retaliation against people who’ve spoken up and tried to change things. If you’re not going to be making personnel changes, which I think you said at the press conference— 

SR: I said I’m not going to change staff at the top right now. If I need to make a staff change, I will make it. The mayor was very clear. He said you will have the ability to change staff as you need to. But I’ve been here a whole week.

AE:  But does that description sound accurate to you—that upper leaders have engaged in retaliation or misused Office of Police Accountability investigations, that sort of thing?

SR: I have heard people use the term “weaponizing” of OPA and things like that. I have not seen that among the upper command staff. I’m certainly not going to cover my ears, if I hear of it. I haven’t seen it. I have heard people say: It feels like there’s a target on my back. I also have been around long enough to know when an adverse personnel action happens, it’s a very common human response to assume that somebody’s retaliating against me. I haven’t seen evidence of that, but I haven’t had enough time to really dig into it. And I think it’s important to know that two things can be true. There can be a legitimate reason to move somebody [to another part of SPD]. And it’s possible that there can also be discrimination.

And to be honest with you, we’ve got public safety to deal with. And I feel like there’s been so much focus recently on personnel issues and acrimony. I am trying my best to get people to stop ruminating about that and focus on public safety. 

AE: In my reporting, and KUOW’s reporting, and in the 30/30 report, it seems there is a climate of misogyny and discrimination against women at SPD. What, in your short time here, can you do to address that and fix that?

SR: Because I’ve done work all around the country [and] I’ve worked in a couple of agencies, I can say it exists in every police agency that I’ve worked for. I’ve said it before: SPD is not unique. I am not going to pretend like it doesn’t exist, because we are part of a larger society and that exists in our entire society. So it would be ridiculous to think that it doesn’t exist inside of any organization, including the police department. I don’t know where the hot spots are.

There are multiple investigations going on, and lawsuits. Frankly, there are mechanisms to do those investigations and to manage those lawsuits. I am going to look at what I’ve got in front of me, and what can I influence right now. If I see any evidence of that type of thing I will absolutely respond to it. But right now my focus is that we’ve got summer starting, we’ve got a staffing crisis. We have got to get our focus back on public safety, delivering service, not focusing on personnel issues.

Continue reading “Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr: “We Have a Lot of Work to Do.”” →

City Hall, labor, Mayor Harrell, Police

A Handful of Supporters Rally for Ousted Police Chief Diaz, Expected to Return to SPD at Former Rank

By Erica C. Barnett

Former police chief Adrian Diaz appeared to accept his fate when Mayor Bruce Harrell removed him as chief last week, but some of his most ardent supporters are still fighting for his reinstatement, claiming he is the victim of disgruntled employees who fabricated stories to take him down.

Six women and one man have sued or filed intent to sue the Seattle Police Department over allegations that include gender and racial discrimination, retaliation, and sexual harassment. Some of the allegations are against Diaz himself, along with his public relations director, John O’Neil.

Some of Diaz’ supporters, including nd Seattle Community Police Commission co-chair Harriett Walden, said Diaz’ accusers were disgruntled employees engaged in a racist campaign against Diaz, who is Latino.

On Wednesday, two of Diaz’ most vocal supporters, SPD employee and police advocate Victoria Beach and SPD Latino community liaison Carmen Martinez, organized a pro-Diaz demonstration in front of City Hall. As protests go, it was a small one: Around a dozen people, counting children, marched around the downtown block that includes both City Hall and SPD headquarters, holding with slogans like “Due Process for Chief Diaz” and “Honk 4 Diaz ❤️”. Over the course of an hour, a handful of drivers honked their support, prompting cheers from the group, which included Pacific Merchant Shipping Association vice president Jordan Royer and Burien City Councilmember Jimmy Matta.

Some of the demonstrators told PubliCola they supported Diaz because he had been present and available in their communities when other police were not. “I’m here to support the chief because he’s always been there to support the [Chinatown/International District] ever since he came on board,” said Gary Lee, cochair of the CID Public Safety Council. “And he would come to our events.”

Matta said he respected Diaz for reaching out to the South Park community as a patrol officer in the area and providing a positive model to kids at a time when “we were losing a lot of our children to gang violence, to drugs, the same things that we’re having now going on in our streets. … I just believe that it’s important to make sure that we support an individual that’s done the hard work.”

Royer and Lee both said they just didn’t think Diaz is the kind of person who would sexually harass women or engage in gender or racial discrimination.

“We go back a long way,” Royer said said. “I know his character. I know who he is, and that’s why I’m supporting him. … What happens if the investigation comes back, and he’s cleared? How does he clear his name? It just seems like a really good man is getting trashed.”

None of the people PubliCola spoke to said they were 100 percent certain Diaz was innocent, as Beach and Martinez have suggested. “If the process played out he was found factually [guilty] of wrongdoing, then you let the chips fall where they may,” Royer said. “I’d be very disappointed. I’d be upset. But I wouldn’t be out here.”

“I’m glad that the mayor has given [Diaz] the benefit of doubt in this deal” by keeping him on at the police department, Matta said. “Now, when the investigation comes through, we’ll see what happens. There may be a different conversation, because no woman, no personal of color, nobody should be put in a situation where it’s not a healthy work environment.”

Instead of firing Diaz outright, Harrell assigned him to an unspecified “special projects” role. When he returns to the department (from an indeterminate personal leave), Diaz will almost certainly have to return as a lieutenant—the rank he held before Harrell appointed him police chief.

Civil service rules for police stipulate that anyone assigned to the rank of captain or higher, then removed, has the right to return to their previous highest rank—for Diaz, who never took a test to become a captain, that rank is lieutenant. New interim chief Sue Rahr could get around this requirement by appointing Diaz assistant or deputy chief, but that appears unlikely, given the still-unresolved allegations that led to his removal last week.

A lower rank would come with a significant reduction in pay and perks for the former chief, who makes a base salary just shy of $340,000. Currently, the top pay for a lieutenant, before overtime, is just over $199,000, although long-serving lieutenants also receive “longevity premiums”; Diaz, who has been with the department for 27 years, would presumably be eligible for a 12 percent salary bump, which would put his base pay in the low $200,000s.

Rahr will make a base salary of nearly $350,000 a year, setting up the next chief, whoever they are, to make even more. Earlier this year, the city signed a contract with Seattle’s largest police union that gave rank and file officers a retroactive pay increase of 24 percent, making Seattle police officers the highest-paid in the region, with six-figure starting salaries.

Neither SPD’s communications office nor Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office responded to PubliCola’s inquiries about Diaz’s status at the department.

Note: This story has been corrected. Due to a brain freeze, I incorrectly identified Jimmy Matta as the mayor of Burien. Kevin Schilling is, of course, the current mayor of Burien. Here’s a story about him.

City Council, Mayor Harrell, Morning Fizz, Police

Rahr Pledges No Personnel Changes at SPD, Reinstates Assistant Chief Put on Leave By Diaz; Saka Proposes Expanding Transportation Levy
Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr, speaking at a press conference at City Hall this week

Is it even a Friday without a bunch of late-breaking local news? We think not!

1.  John O’Neil, a Seattle police captain who has been accused of sexual harassment and retaliation by his female subordinates, will continue to direct SPD’s public affairs office, that office confirmed on Friday—contradicting claims from inside the department that O’Neil was seen clearing out his desk on Wednesday, when Mayor Bruce Harrell announced former police chief Adrian Diaz will be reassigned to “special projects.” 

O’Neil, like Diaz, is facing multiple lawsuits and internal complaints from women alleging sexual harassment and retaliation. Three of the women who have filed lawsuits left the public affairs office, including two—Valerie Carson and Judinna Gulpan—who took demotions in order to be reassigned. The decision to retain him in light of allegations similar to the ones against Diaz reads as a vote of confidence in O’Neil and his leadership.

In an internal email on Thursday, Rahr wrote that her number one goal was to “bring stability and continuity” to the department. “I have no plans to make personnel moves, especially at the command level.”

At Wednesday’s press conference, Rahr declined to condemn SPD’s current culture, saying she’s concerned about the culture in all police departments across the country. “I don’t think [SPD is] worse or better than others; I think we have work to do in every department,” Rahr said. “One of the reasons I was very anxious to jump in is, I think the Seattle Police Department is open to doing something meaningful, and implementing systemic change.”

2. Despite her pledge, Rahr did make one top-level personnel decision this week—she reinstated Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis to full duties, just eight days after Diaz put him on administrative leave while the Office of Police Accountability completes an investigation into allegations against him. PubliCola first reported the news on Twitter at 1:30 this afternoon.

Rahr did not say why she decided to restore Davis to his position.

In a brief email to SPD staff, Rahr wrote, “I want to let you know that based on newly available information and a review of the OPA investigation”—which has not been completed—”I have restored A/C Davis to full duty, effective immediately. I am looking forward to having the full team, working together.”

3. Finally—and file this under “more next week”—the city council’s transportation committee chair, Rob Saka, will propose an amended, $1.55 billion Seattle Transportation Levy next week that would increase funding for sidewalks, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Safe Routes to School projects, transit security officers, and bridges, among other spending areas. The plan would add $100 million to Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposal, which Harrell himself boosted by $100 million earlier this month.

Saka’s plan would provide an additional $63 million for new sidewalks; $6 million for transit security, including additional security guards; and $10 million for additional EV charging stations, among other changes.

To make up for some of the new expenditures, Saka’s proposal would cut funding for a new “Neighborhood-Initiated Safety Partnership Program”—a plan to build 16 street-safety projects initiated by neighborhoods based on local conditions and safety concerns—from $41 million to $25.5 million. Harrell’s original plan, released in April, included $48 million for neighborhood-initiated projects.

Saka’s proposal would also set minimum spending requirements for new sidewalk construction, bridge maintenance, arterial street maintenance, and electric vehicle charging facilities, and adds new references to auditing, good governance, and accountability. The council’s special committee on the transportation levy, which Saka chairs, will meet on Tuesday, June 4, at 9:30 am.

Correction: This article originally misstated the details of Saka’s plan, using the numbers from Mayor Harrell’s May proposal instead of those from Saka’s amendment.