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More officers hired, fewer shots fired: Seattle interim Police Chief Rahr optimistic as she exits

caption: Interim Seattle police chief Sue Rahr addresses the press after Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that former chief Adrian Diaz would be stepping down on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at City Hall in Seattle.
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Interim Seattle police chief Sue Rahr addresses the press after Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that former chief Adrian Diaz would be stepping down on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, at City Hall in Seattle.

Sue Rahr’s interim role as Seattle Police Chief finishes this week as the city prepares to welcome Mayor Bruce Harrell’s nominee Shon Barnes, chief of police in Madison, Wis., as the new head of the agency. Speaking with KUOW’s Soundside, Rahr said she believes SPD is turning the corner on some of its biggest challenges after a “rough” several years.


Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr said, from her nearly eight months at SPD, she believes the department is ready to emerge from the consent decree it has been under since 2012. The Department of Justice placed the consent decree on SPD for unconstitutional use of excessive force. Today, the changes have been “deeply institutionalized,” she said.

Rahr stepped in to lead the Seattle Police Department in May 2024, when Harrell demoted — and later fired — then-chief Adrian Diaz. An investigation concluded that Diaz had lied about his affair with a subordinate. She is now ready to exit the role as Seattle's new police chief Shon Barnes prepares to take over soon.

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As an example of these changes around the agency's use of force, Rahr told KUOW that not a single shot was fired by a police officer during her time there.

“I know that I’m tempting the gods, but I have to say this, the public needs to know,” Rahr said. “We have not had a single police officer at SPD fire a single round in eight months.”

Meanwhile in 2024, a total of 6,000 spent shell casings were gathered in the streets.

“That give you an idea of how much gunfire and the level of violence that police are encountering, and not one single officer fired their weapon during that time," Rahr said.

Hiring more police for Seattle

SPD's hiring picture is also improving, Rahr said, with hires exceeding separations for the first time since 2019. Although, she notes it will take several months of training before new recruits are seen on patrol.

“We’re on track to hire 150 new officers this year," she said. "That is going to be a huge shot in the arm for people on the front lines. It’s going to be a huge shot in the arm for the community because we’re going to have more people to respond to calls.”

Rahr said the lack of women among the new recruits remains “a profession-wide challenge.” When she attended the most recent police academy graduation in Burien, which includes recruits from around the state, there were only two women in the class of 30.

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Rahr noted that she has promoted Yvonne Underwood to be the agency’s acting deputy chief.

“I do think having women in particular positions of influence is going to help,” Rahr said. “[Underwood] was promoted because she was one of those leaders who gets stuff done.”

Rahr hopes incoming chief Barnes continues the momentum around building trust internally, in the wake of numerous discrimination lawsuits and the turmoil around Diaz’ tenure.

“It was very damaged,” Rahr said. “I see signs of it being rebuilt.”

Police accountability

She said she and Barnes both share a philosophy that for the department to function well, “internal procedural justice has to be present.” While Officer Kevin Dave was not criminally charged after he struck and killed student Jaahnavi Kandula in January 2023, Rahr made the difficult decision to fire him this month.

“It’s a different threshold and I’m looking at different things than the prosecutor is looking at," she said. "I need to have officers on the front line who are using good judgement. The decision the officer used to go at that speed demonstrated a judgement to me that’s just unacceptable.”

Dave has filed a notice of appeal with the Public Safety Civil Service Commission. Rahr said the case took two years to get this point because of Seattle’s “multilayered system for accountability,” and that she’d like to see it move faster to benefit officers and the public. She also said there are potential changes in the works with the Office of Police Accountability, including having more minor misconduct complaints resolved at the supervisor level within SPD.

Crime and disorder

And Rahr said SPD officers have brought together other city departments to tackle locations most plagued by crime and disorder, “to make visible, physical, psychological difference in what the street scene was like at Third & Pike.” Now they are working to replicate that process in Settle's "Little Saigon" neighborhood at 12th Avenue South and South Jackson, she said.

But the interim chief said that in order to address those types of disorder, the city needs new solutions for people with untreated mental health and substance use issues, those "too dangerous for the hospital, too sick for jail." These are the issues that Rahr now aims to focus on as she steps away from running SPD.

“I am hoping to continue working for the city to spearhead a project where we create a space in the jail where we can deliver intensive medical support and services to people who are on the street.” Rahr said. “They get stabilized so they can then be connected to services they really need. I know in my heart based on my experience this will make a difference but it’s gong to require some really different thinking and a shift in the system.”

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