SEATTLE — Seattle Police Department (SPD) Interim Chief Sue Rahr delivered an update on Tuesday of her first 60 days leading the department. She took over the reins of SPD from outgoing Chief Adrian Diaz and Rahr said after years of turmoil, she wants the focus to get back to the business of public safety.
Rahr told the Public Safety Council Committee that she has already met face to face with about 500 people. She said the bulk of officers are engaging with the community and ready to help, but she also highlighted the obstacles the department is facing.
"I expected anger and resistance because of all of the turmoil in the department, but what I encountered actually was some broken spirits,” Rahr said.
Problems started building in 2020, she said. At that time the department had more than 1,300 fully trained officers. Today, the SPD’s numbers are in the 900s.
So far this year in Seattle, Rahr said there's been more than 400 reports of shots fired, creating heavy caseloads at a time of low staffing. And the department is struggling to meet hiring goals.
“We are behind where we hoped to be,” Rahr told the committee.
While recruiting continues, the department is considering options.
"We are looking at bringing other people in, civilian positions, perhaps retired police offices to help us with some of the technology work that we need to do, cell phone records and search warrants, that sort of thing,” said Rahr.
City Attorney Ann Davison said another issue is the jail. The city contracts with King County for services.
"In 2024, we paid $22 million for that, but one of the things that you should note is that when the pandemic occurred understandably there were restrictions on bookings,” Davison said.
With jail staffing issues a factor, too, Davison said the result is booking restrictions have persisted.
"Our officers are not able to book on over half of our misdemeanor crimes that are listed in our cities laws,” said Davison who added that people are not being booked in cases involving theft, trespassing, property destruction, and animal cruelty.
"If we are paying for jail services and we are not getting them, what's the deal?” asked Council President Sara Nelson.
Rahr said that is another obstacle.
"I just sent a letter to the jail, and I know they are making some changes right now to accept bookings for arrests that happen inside downtown Seattle where our hot spots are,” Rahr said.
She says in her interim role she's working to get the department on track and ready for its next leader.
"I am very confident that we are going to attract a great candidate to Seattle,” Rahr said.
A spokesperson in the King County Executive’s office released a statement on Tuesday about jail booking restrictions. The full statement reads:
"The contract with the City of Seattle has been in place since 2012, and it is not a full-cost recovery contract. In addition, the contract provides for a rebasing process that occurs every five years to ensure rates are in line with things like inflation and capital projects that were not contemplated when the contract was signed, etc. The county has not required a rebasing since 2017 but has been working with the city for more than a month to rebase the contract. While the city's bed use is lower than the total outlined in the contract, they have not been paying what it actually costs the county to house people they bring to the jail. If they had and were being billed at the actual cost to the county, even at their current lower billable population, what they are paying would be similar to the actual cost. There is no money to return.
Our booking restrictions are a combination of the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and serious staffing challenges, faced by many law enforcement and corrections agencies across the country. The City indicated in today's Council meeting that they also face this challenge. The restrictions in place are an operational and technical decision to protect our staff and those who are in our care. Furthermore, we must abide by the terms of the Hammer legal settlement, which requires providing timely transport to court and medical appointments, among other services. Not fulfilling these requirements is a liability for the county.
DAJD has made it clear to Seattle and other partner agencies that it will grant exceptions to booking restrictions based on special emphasis patrols, special events, and place-based enforcement. DAJD has also worked with the Seattle City Attorney’s office to accept bookings for people identified by the City Attorney’s Office as “High Utilizers”. Finally, since the beginning of the pandemic, law enforcement officers have had the opportunity to present bookings that rise to the level of being public safety risks.
City councilmembers also indicated at today's Public Safety Committee meeting that they would like to see bookings for several offenses including property damage, theft, and animal cruelty. King County is open to having conversations about expanding the list of bookable offenses.
Should the City of Seattle prefer to take all of their misdemeanor offenders elsewhere, the county is open to working with them to release them from their contractual obligation that currently goes through 2030."