By Steve Pomper
Cities with anti-police governments, such as Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis, etc., have so many—let’s call them “unintended”—consequences from their hate-the-police policies that they should probably qualify as intended. These agencies are some of the most politically oppressed police departments in the nation. And, as we’re seeing in Seattle, it’s not limited to the rank and file. Maybe it’s just me, but we’ll see.
Burning Seattle Patrol Car, May 2020
Who didn’t see the landslide of resignations and retirements coming, especially after the defund-the-police movement that mayors and many city council members have embraced?
It even cost one city a popular (which is rare) chief of police. But the consequences are more insidious than that. For instance, over the past decade, anti-police political pressure seems to have caused the promoting and demoting of the command staff (deputy and assistant chiefs) like they were playing musical chairs.
It seemed captains were promoted to assistant chiefs and then found themselves demoted back to captains, ostensibly not as discipline, though it’s easy to see how someone might think that.
My perspective is a limited one from that of a patrol officer, especially now that I’m retired. I understand there are nuances to leadership, especially when dealing with a radical leftist city government that disrespects its police officers. But, to me, it seemed some people were demoted for making the mistake of behaving like cops.
I understand the politics can be blistering and being a talented leader trying to navigate a radical leftist bureaucracy difficult, if not impossible. But people should know that lack of stability in the command staff affects the rank and file even if officers don’t harp about it.
Though hiring outside the department for deputy and assistant chiefs has happened in the past (Chief Kathleen O’Toole brought folks in from Boston), it’s rare. By comparison, the searches for police chief have often gone outside the department (for instance, Chief Patrick Fitzsimons hired me. He’d come to Seattle in 1979 from the NYPD), so may not be liked but is not surprising.
Now, the city is searching outside the department for a deputy and five assistant chiefs. In my humble opinion, there seem to be some good people currently in those positions.
In a move that could be viewed as an insult to high ranking officers within the SPD, the Public Affairs/Media Relations office made an announcement. “After nearly two and a half years as interim, Adrian Z. Diaz was sworn in as Chief of the Seattle Police Department on January 12th, 2023. Now…, SPD is launching a nation-wide search to fill the vacant Deputy Chief of Police position. The department will also accept applications for the five Assistant Chief positions….”
So, the current assistant chiefs will have to reapply if they want to retain the ranks they’ve earned? How does this move bolster morale or encourage stability at any level? I’ve worked with or for most of the current deputy and assistant chiefs when they were at lower ranks (was in the academy with one, though in a different class). Maybe it’s just me, but they don’t deserve this disrespect. I could go further, but I’ll leave it at that for now.
Mt. Bike Patrol, 2011, during Occupy Movement
While quality candidates can be found both inside and outside a department, hiring from within seems an incentive for officers who want to work toward career advancement. When agencies don’t follow established conventions, it decreases morale and probably chases away even more, highly experienced, officers.
According to the press release, interim Chief “Adrian Z. Diaz was sworn in as Chief of the Seattle Police Department on January 12th, 2023. Now…, SPD is launching a nation-wide search to fill the vacant Deputy Chief of Police position. The department will also accept applications for the five Assistant Chief positions….”
The search for deputy chief began on Feb. 24th and will run through Mar. 24th. The assistant chief search will extend from March 7th through April 7th, 2023.
SPD Mounted Unit on Crowd Control
There’s a dichotomy that exists when hiring for top police positions in cities like Seattle. I’d guess it’s similar for agencies like Portland and Minneapolis. Anyone deemed acceptable by the mayor and city council will likely be unacceptable to the city’s cops (whose preference is not a consideration).
Cities like Seattle don’t hire chiefs of police; they hire chiefs of mayor. That’s why officers are astonished whenever the department promotes “real cops” to top positions, men and women who climb the ranks and still remember what it’s like to be on the streets.
Former Police Chief Carmen Best thwarted that dichotomy to some degree because she had unique qualifications and a temperament that made her broadly acceptable to both a leftist city government and to rank and file cops who tend to be more conservative. Full disclosure: I served in her squad when she was a sergeant.
The fact the city government was so woke-stupid as to lose such a chief by trying to force her to “play nice” with the “defund the police” policies by cutting her salary and attempting to make her fire some 100 cops shows where their priorities are. And it’s not with public safety.
Hiring outside the department for command staff positions normally filled in-house seems just another way to kick the city’s cops in the teeth. It’s just this time, they have to kick a little higher.