“We acknowledge we must do better to meet the 30×30 commitment but as we move into 2026, we will continue our work to resemble the community we serve,” a department spokesperson said.

By Erica C. Barnett

The Seattle Police Department hired just 17 women in 2025, according to figures provided by the Seattle Police Department—just 10 percent of 165 new hires last year. That’s a significant dip from SPD’s already dismal numbers in 2024, when just 14 percent of the 84 people SPD hired were women. It’s also less than half the average for police departments across the US, according to stats from the 30X30 Initiative—a pledge, which SPD has signed, to work toward a recruit class that’s 30 percent women by 2030.

The 17-woman total was bolstered by relatively strong hiring of women—six total—in the fourth quarter of 2025; in the two quarters encompassing April through September, SPD hired just 6 women, and the total percentage of female hires dipped to less than six percent in the second quarter of the year.

SPD, in other words, not only isn’t improving its lopsided gender balance—it’s backsliding. To achieve the goal of 30X30, SPD would have needed to hire an additional 33 women last year. Put another way, they’re currently two-thirds shy of their hiring goals.

It’s unclear how many women are leaving the department, which is currently the subject of several simultaneous gender discrimination lawsuits and allegations. In the past, SPD has provided a breakdown, by gender, of the number of men and women who left the department on numerous occasions in the past—an important data point that shows how many women are leaving the department compared to men. The department did not provide this information when PubliCola requested it, citing unspecified data issues.

However, they did provide the total number of people who left this year—69, down from 83 in 2024. We also know that as of April, 21 percent of the people leaving SPD were women. If that departure trend stayed consistent for the remaining eight months of the year, it would translate to about 14 women leaving SPD in 2025, for a net gain of just three women. We’re hoping SPD will eventually provide these numbers, which would give a clearer picture of SPD’s gender makeup.

Former Mayor Bruce Harrell said that he chose Barnes, in part, because he “brings proven experience advancing the Madison Police Department’s inclusive workforce initiative that has resulted in 28% of officers being women.” But Seattle’s new recruit classes have only become more overwhelmingly male since Barnes took over at the department.

In a statement to PubliCola, a spokesperson for SPD said, “The Seattle Police Department remains committed to increasing the hiring rate of women. We acknowledge we must do better to meet the 30×30 commitment but as we move into 2026, we will continue our work to resemble the community we serve.”