By Erica C. Barnett

The Seattle Police Department’s new Chief Operating Officer Sarah Smith, will make almost $315,000 a year—about $12,000 more than her predecessor, Brian Maxey—despite having fewer responsibilities and significantly less experience in public safety or government employment.

Smith has been at the city since 2019. Most recently, she worked as Seattle Fire Department administrative staffer on loan to Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office.

Although Smith’s internal title in Harrell’s office was “Deputy Director of Public Safety,” her city job classification was Administrative Specialist III—”an advanced technical expert in the Administrative Support series,” according to the city’s job class description— and her salary was just under $90,000.

At $151 an hour, Smith’s salary as SPD’s top civilian employee is higher than Mayor Katie Wilson’s, though still slightly lower than Police Chief Shon Barnes’ two deputy chiefs, Yvonne Underwood and Andre Sayles, and his Executive Director of Crime and Community Harm Reduction, Lee Hunt. Each of those executives now makes $320,000 a year, thanks to a cost of living pay increase that went into effect this month.

Prior to starting at the city in 2019, Smith was a program manager at the downtown YMCA. Before that, she worked at Specialty’s, a now-closed bakery downtown.

Before becoming chief operating officer at SPD, Smith’s predecessor, Maxey, was an assistant attorney general, supervising attorney at the City Attorney’s Office, and general counsel to SPD.

Asked about Smith’s qualifications, SPD communications director Barbara DeLollis called the COO “a Washington native with extensive public service experience and proven operational and management experience.”

DeLollis said the decision to hire Smith “followed a full review of the department’s strengths, gaps, and opportunities. As you know, Chief Barnes is committed to evolving SPD into a professional department that continuously improves to protect the people of Seattle.”

The department did not respond to questions about why they chose not to do a national search for the COO position, or hire an internal candidate with more experience.

“[W]ith the recent changes, women make up 53% of the Chief’s Command Staff,” DeLollis said, adding that Barnes “is proud to let Sarah’s accomplishments speak for themselves.” The math behind that percentage: Eight of Barnes’ 15 command staff positions are now held by women.

As we’ve reported, Barnes has the largest command staff in recent Seattle history, with the addition of a new assistant chief, a new chief of staff, a new deputy chief of staff, a new executive-level communications staffer (DeLollis), and Hunt, who’s in a newly created position. Barnes promoted one woman—deputy chief Yvonne Underwood—and hired Smith, DeLollis, assistant chief Nicole Powell and deputy chief of staff Cindy Wong, another former Harrell staffer.

A bio for Smith attached to Barnes’ announcement about her appointment credited her with helping to launch the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC), “developing the new Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) department, and leading the City’s policy response to fentanyl.”

The RTCC was launched in 2014 but re-launched with the advent of SPD’s neighborhood surveillance cameras last year. Internal sources told PubliCola that the point person for the RTCC relaunch was Harrell staffer Vinh Tang and that Andrew Myerberg, a Harrell public safety advisor, was the point person on fentanyl response.

Amy Barden, the chief of the CARE Department,  said that before she was hired in 2023, the people who developed CARE were, “from SFD, Chiefs Chris Lombard and Reba Gonzales, and Jon Ehrenfeld. From SPD, Cpt. Dan Nelson, Sgts Whicker and Sullivan, Zee Andrignis, and Barb Biondo. From the Council, Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis. And significantly,  Bill Schrier, who was the consultant hired by the Mayor to help develop the concept and map the system of response.” Barden did not mention Smith having any role in developing CARE.

Barnes also credited Smith with playing a “key role” in drafting legislation including the public safety sales tax increase, “balancing the citywide budget,” and “fostering inclusive and reciprocal community engagement across all departments. Her proven leadership and deep insight into the City’s ecosystem give her invaluable insight into SPD’s operations and our growth ambitions.”

“She also has over seven years  of experience in leadership roles within Seattle’s municipal government and the Seattle Fire Department, and more than 10 years in business operations, including her time overseeing operations at a revered community organization, the Downtown Seattle YMCA,” Barnes wrote in his announcement. According to her LinkedIn profile, Smith started at the city in August 2019, which is about six and a half years.

Despite those accolades, Smith will have fewer responsibilities than her predecessor. Of the job duties that have previously been part of the COO’s job description, Sayles will oversee professional standards, including force investigations, force review, training, and policy, while Hunt will be in charge of technology and innovation.

Dan Eder, former mayor Bruce Harrell’s budget office director, will be stepping in to head up SPD’s budget and finance operations while Angela Socci, SPD’s finance director, is out on leave.

SPD did not respond to questions about Smith’s responsibilities as COO.