By Erica C. Barnett

PubliCola has exclusively confirmed that two of the top-level staff hired by new Police Chief Shon Barnes, Deputy Chief Andre Sayles and Assistant Chief Nicole Powell, received lateral hiring bonuses of $50,000 each. A source familiar with the payments tells PubliCola that Barnes himself also received a $50,000 bonus for coming to Seattle from Madison, Wisconsin, where he was police chief.

Sayles transferred to SPD from Beloit, Wisconsin; Powell transferred from New Orleans.

As we’ve reported, the positions Barnes added include a second deputy chief, a new assistant chief, a new chief of staff, a new executive director of crime and community harm reduction, and a new chief communications officer, all making more than $200,000. The new positions add ongoing annual costs to SPD’s budget, including $1.34 million in salaries alone.

PubliCola reported last week that Barnes and Deputy chief Yvonne Underwood each received bonuses for recruiting Powell and Sayles. Barnes and Underwood received $1,000 each for recruiting Sayles, and Barnes received a separate $1,000 bonus for Powell.

In an email confirming the bonuses that Sayles and Powell received for joining SPD’s command staff, an SPD spokesman said, “They’re eligible. The $50,000 bonus is part of their compensation package.”

Neither SPD nor Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office responded our repeated inquiries about the bonus Barnes reportedly received. Harrell’s office did respond to our questions about Sayles and Powell, by saying they had asked SPD to respond to our questions.

This week, Barnes reportedly launched an internal investigation to find out who at SPD is “leaking” information about the department to members of the media. SPD did not immediately respond to questions about this purported investigation on Tuesday; we’ll update this post if we hear back.

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City employee compensation is a matter of public record that all city departments, including SPD, are required to provide to any member of the public through a public disclosure process outlined in the state Public Records Act.

The hiring bonuses, which Harrell proposed as a way to quickly recruit trained officers to address high attrition and lackluster hiring in the wake of mass protests against police violence in 2020, were intended to increase the number of deployable officers, not chief-level executive staff.

City Council president Sara Nelson, a fierce proponent of the bonus legislation, told PubliCola her understanding was that the two chiefs “are eligible for those bonuses,” but added, “I’d always thought of them going to lower level officers.” Nelson noted that she wasn’t involved in the hiring negotiations for Sayles or Powell.

It’s unclear under what authority the police chiefs are eligible for lateral hiring bonuses created to recruit rank and file police officers.

The initial legislation, which authorized $30,000 bonuses for trained “lateral” hires from other police departments, was meant to address the “declining number of police officers fully trained and ready for deployment,” according to the text of the bill. At the time, Nelson said, “We need to use every tool in our toolbox to accelerate the hiring of officers. If we don’t do this, what else are we going to do?”

The city increased the lateral bonuses to $50,000 in 2024 and made the entire hiring bonus program, which also includes $7,500 bonuses for new recruits, permanent. The update required new SPD officers, including lateral hires, to make a five-year commitment and to pay back the bonus on a pro-rated basis if they leave before the five years is up.

Sayles’ and Powell’s positions are both categorized as Executive 4, the highest executive-level position at the city and the one held by the directors of almost every city department.  (Community Assisted Response and Engagement Department Chief Amy Barden, who oversees 911 and a team of Community Crisis Responders, is an Executive 3, a lower-ranking position than the other public-safety chiefs.)

Under city law, police chiefs, deputy chiefs, and assistant chiefs are exempt from civil service rules, meaning they aren’t required to go through the regular police hiring process, or take the police hiring test, that would appear to be prerequisites for receiving a lateral hiring bonus. Instead, the police chief is directly appointed by the mayor and deputy and assistant chiefs are directly appointed by the police chief.

Additionally, the law authorizing the hiring bonuses says repeatedly that it applies to “police officers” a rank that excludes police chiefs and other high-ranking officials—referencing “new police officer hires,” “police officer candidates,” “police officer positions,” and “police officer training.” Nothing in the text of the law suggests it was intended to help recruit command staff or suggests that there is a shortage of chief-level executives at SPD.

SPD’s hiring page says that to be eligible for the lateral hiring bonus, officers must pass a lateral hiring test and “currently be working full-time as a Police Officer, Deputy Sheriff, Tribal Officer or State Trooper with two (2) or more years of experience with full police powers and duties.” SPD did not immediately respond to questions about whether Barnes, Sayles, and Powell went through the lateral hiring process. We’ve requested these records.