By Erica C. Barnett
On Wednesday night, multiple sources in several branches of city government told PubliCola that Mayor Katie Wilson fired Police Chief Shon Barnes earlier this afternoon. Barnes was reportedly seen leaving Wilson’s office on the seventh floor of city hall Wednesday evening after a lengthy meeting. Barnes was in his uniform when he arrived at an early-evening vigil for the victims of a mass shooting on Sunday at Seattle Center, but left before the vigil was over.
Multiple sources, including a recently retired SPD officer, said Barnes called at least some of the department’s captains Wednesday night to tell them the news.
PubliCola has not been able to officially confirm Barnes’ firing with either SPD or the mayor’s office. An SPD spokesperson said they had no information, and neither Wilson nor her communications office responded to requests for confirmation and comment tonight. The mayor reportedly canceled all regularly scheduled staff meetings this afternoon before meeting with Barnes in her office.
Rumors had been swirling about Barnes’ future at the department all afternoon, after Barnes canceled about a half-dozen TV interviews he had scheduled to discuss the shooting and address questions about his travel schedule. I reported on the canceled TV interviews Wednesday afternoon.
Barnes was out of town, attending a conference in Dallas, when gunfire broke out Sunday night; I broke the news about his absence from Seattle on Sunday.
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As I reported last year, Barnes rents in Seattle while his wife and kids remain in the family’s home in Chicago. The chief has traveled frequently throughout his time in Seattle, giving keynote speeches, attending conferences, and visiting his family in Chicago. He kept up his heavy travel schedule this year, traveling nearly seven weeks in the past seven months, on top of about two weeks spent on vacation and out of the office. SPD provided a partial copy of his schedule in response to PubliCola’s request, so these are conservative estimates based on information SPD provided for the first three months of the year.
A breaking point in Barnes’ relationship with the mayor may have come after clips of the chief confronting a reporter who asked about my reporting on his travel. When South Seattle Emerald reporter Connor Nash asked Barnes how often he was out of town, the chief Barnes tried to shut him down, said my reporting was inaccurate, and had to be hustled away by his chief of staff Alex Ricketts, who inserted himself physically between Barnes and Nash.
The confrontation, which Barnes brushed off a day later by saying he was just showing his “passion” for the job, made international news. It also sparked new interest in Barnes’ whereabouts since former mayor Bruce Harrell hired him in late 2024.
This is a developing story.
Effective modern policing means arresting, jailing and prosecuting people who are in possession of an illegal handgun (with a switch even, making the gun fully automatic) instead of releasing them back to the streets to commit more violent crimes.
That’s what the people want. It’s what they’ve always wanted. And when the politicians refuse to make it happen, all they are doing is forcing more citizens to buy a gun and prepare to defend themselves.
You are not going to be able to defend yourself against an automatic weapon, and the violence is NOT targeting you at all. This is youth-oriented gang activity (with others caught in the crossfire) which requires a different approach so that they quit the gangs. There are internationally renowned programs designed to get people out of gangs like the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model (Spergel Model), the Homeboy Industries Model, the Cure Violence/S.O.S. Model, and the G.R.E.A.T Program, which have been effective in getting youth out of gangs (see links below).
Just locking people up without changing their orientation and gang mindset means you are just kicking the can down the road until they are released. This is what we did in the “dumb on crime” push in the 90s, and it was dismal failure. It was also VERY expensive at $99K per person, per year. The city, county, and state cannot afford that right now with Trump severely cutting funding to states, counties, and cities.
https://nationalgangcenter.ojp.gov/comprehensive-gang-model/about
https://homeboyindustries.org/
https://cvg.org/
https://www.great-online.org/
I’m sure these programs work just about as well as the programs that employ “violence interrupters.” You know, the same people who are frequently convicted of assaults and murders AFTER allegedly leaving the gang lifestyle.
I’m sorry but these rehabilitative programs clearly don’t work. Jail is not an ideal solution, but nonetheless it’s the solution we can actually enforce.
Long term, we need to eliminate the welfare programs that allow men to abandon their families. Fathers in homes, raising their sons to be men and not thugs, is the ultimate solution.
“left before the vigil was over.” AKA “Left before he was asked any questions”
What a coward.
“The confrontation, which Barnes brushed off a day later by saying he was just showing his “passion” for the job, made international news. It also sparked new interest in Barnes’ whereabouts since former mayor Bruce Harrell hired him in late 2024.”
Katie is relieved I bet. He fired himself. This is one of the last of Bruce minions Katie kept “for the time being” knowing how close the World Cup was and the amount of churn associated with any new Mayor. Keeping law enforcement in tact was a wise move, albeit painful and stressful.
This dude was on the gravy train when Bruce was here. He just kept that train rollin’ w/o a second thought. That’s the kind of character Bruce’s time here created within the SPD and his appointed staff. Bruce had a taxpayer supplied full time political advisor the salary a couple hundred bucks less than the reportable amount. That way nobody would see it. Then Bruce tried to justify it when caught. His supporters made excuses and called people names for even thinking Bruce is a liar and a grifter politician. In it for himself and croneys like Barnes. Then left the cost of all his wishes to Katie. We are hundreds of millions underwater with the budget because of Bruce and companies last minute budget add ons when they knew they’d lost the election. That kind of character is why Seattle struggles.
Joy carries on Bruce’s legacy of performative politics. Focussed on self interests. A garden variety business owner with a well known, garden variety business agenda. Joy will be joining Bruce and everyone else he hired in the unemployment line come election time.
“Like Bye” Barnes…
HIRE SOMEONE LOCAL! Not some supposed messiah from out of state.
Maybe firing the police chief will take a little pressure off Mayor Katie’s back. After all that was a disastrous press conference she gave. There is no doubt in anybodys mind that her office made the decision to wait for Jayapal and Ferguson (“dignitaries”, lol) before holding the initial press conference.
Even more pressure to come now that it’s been revealed one of the shooting suspects was previously released from jail after being found in possession of an illegal handgun.
If only we enforced the gun laws we already have instead of finding creative new ways to deprive law abiding individuals of their constitutional rights.
Given the city’s budget woes, whether it is Barnes or someone else, Seattle needs a police chief capable of ushering in a new era of modern community policing like what is happening with STAR in Denver. Denver’s alternative police (STAR), found a 34% drop in low-level crime (1,400 fewer offenses) compared to neighborhoods without STAR. Those encountering STAR were 16% less likely to be arrested or have police contact in the following year, and this number was 2-3 times larger for those experiencing homelessness. STAR costs $151 per incident versus $646 for traditional police (see link below).
The stumbling block appears to be SPOG, which seems to be against ANY alternative policing scheme that does not involve a traditional officer. The mayor, Council, and police chief should be deciding this, not SPOG. SPOG appears to be like many police unions that advocate for more and more money for the police, even in a budget crisis environment that the city is currently facing. An ideal police chief would be able to reign in SPOG, and make them understand that modern, cost-effective community policing is in the best interest of the city as a whole, even if it means accepting cuts to police budgets along with other cuts across all city departments. This “police exception” idea (similar to “defense budget exception” at the national level) promoted by Kettle and others on the Council must never take hold, or human services will always get the short end of the stick as their funds get crowed out (defunded) to finance outdated policing models.
It is these kinds of policy issues which should be front and center in deciding whether to retain or let go of a police chief, not personal travel on weekends once a month to spend time with his family.
https://www.denvergov.org/files/assets/public/v/1/public-health-and-environment/images/cbh/aligning-crisis-response-with-community-needs.pdf
Having union flaggers do traffic for events is another big cost saver. Also? Puts more cops on patrols. It’s an easy thing to do. But the union says otherwise. They fight for traffic direction. All the cops that make you wonder how they got to be a cop? That’s the traffic cops. 30 years at construction sites and events. Pathetic. Milking the taxpayers money.
Same with the policing methods. The experts are taking work away from the non experts.
Anyone familiar with Barnes’s history with the city of Madison and anyone paying attention to how Mayor Wilson’s open earnest style differs from Barnes’s me-first grandstanding style could’ve written out this slow moving moving train wreck script word for word.
Barnes is a smart guy. That he didn’t get ahead of this and offer up his resignation first shows that the Mayor is smarter.