SEATTLE — Just two days after a leadership shakeup at the Seattle Police Department (SPD), interim Police Chief Sue Rahr spoke with KING 5 about her leadership priorities and efforts to improve the department’s culture.
On Wednesday, former Police Chief Adrian Diaz was removed from the top role and reassigned to special projects within the department. Former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr was announced as the interim police chief.
“It’s an awkward situation,” Rahr said about Diaz’s reassignment and added that she believes Mayor Bruce Harrell was doing “an honorable thing” by making the transition with as little drama as possible. With Diaz's reassignment, it is unclear if he is still being paid a chief's salary.
Rahr said discussions of the leadership change began with a phone call on May 20 when Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess asked if Rahr was willing to leave her retirement for a six-month stint bringing stability and reform to the city's police department.
“Seattle Police Department has a lot of great people and it just hurts my heart because I love the profession of policing, and I know the people in policing, for the most part, are trying to do good things,” she said. “It’s very hard to watch the lack of support they’re feeling.”
For 45 years, Rahr has worked in public service. She started her law enforcement career as a deputy with the King County Sheriff’s Office in 1979. She was appointed to the King County Sheriff role in 2004, then became an elected sheriff in 2006. She served two terms and retired in 2012 to become the executive director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
The Seattle Police Department has faced a slew of lawsuits recently, alleging racial discrimination, sexism, harassment and retaliation.
When it comes to the culture of and within SPD, Rahr said trust needs to be rebuilt internally.
“My goal is to settle that turmoil down, get people back focused on the work and get focused on: 'What are we doing for the community?'” she said.
In an internal email, Rahr told employees that she isn’t planning to make any changes to the command staff personnel and brought back Tyrone Davis, assistant chief of special operations, from leave. Deputy Chief Eric Barden also remains on staff.
The flurry of allegations within the department, including some inked in allegations against SPD’s top brass, Rahr defended her stance.
“What I want to restore to the culture is … we’re fair, we hold people accountable, but we’re fair about it, we follow due process. And we give people the opportunity to explain.”
She said communities in Seattle should have faith in their law enforcement department due to the talent and work behind the scenes. “Seattle Police Department has incredible tools and they have people that really want to deliver good police work,” she said.
Diaz's departure comes at a time when the SPD is at its lowest staffing level in 30 years, having lost more than 700 officers in the past five years. As of March, the department had 913 actively working police officers.
“We can’t do the job the best way we’re capable of without enough bodies,” she said.
Rahr said her top priority is to improve staffing and create a flow of candidates by making the department attractive to both candidates and the next permanent chief.
“We know there’s been a lot of turmoil in Seattle,” she said. “And it’s going to take a courage chief to step into a department that has had some issues.”