The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is responsible for the entire city except for the campus of the University of Washington (which is under the university's police department).
Law enforcement in Seattle began with the election of John T. Jordan as town marshal in 1869. The SPD was officially organized on June 2, 1869, predating the incorporation of Seattle by the territorial legislature in December. Today, it has a number of specialty units including SWAT, bike patrol, harbor patrol, motorcycles, and a variety of detective units.
Between 2012 and 2025, the SPD was under federal oversight after a United States Department of Justice investigation found that SPD officers routinely used excessive force.
Patrolmen are represented by the Seattle Police Officers' Guild in labor negotiations.
Command structure
Chief of Police: (Vacant) Deputy Chief: Yvonne Underwood Deputy Chief (Administration & Investigations): Andre Sayles (Acting Chief of Police) Assistant Chief of Investigations: Nicole Powell Assistant Chief of Professional Standard: Lori Aagard Assistant Chief of Special Operations: Tyrone Davis Executive Director of Administration: CAO Valarie Anderson Executive Director of Budget and Finance: Angela Socci Executive Director of Crime & Community Harm Reduction: Dr Lee Hunt Chief of Staff: Alex Ricketts Director of Communications: Barbara DeLollis
Rank structure and insignia
+ Rank structure and insigniaTitleInsignia Chief of Police Deputy Chief Assistant Chief Captain Lieutenant Sergeant Major* Sergeant DetectiveNo insignia Police Officer No insignia
Sergeant Major Arnold "Arny" McGinnis (retired in 2012) is the only known SPD member to hold the rank.*
Promotions After three years in patrol, officers can become candidates to transfer to a wide variety of specialty units and are also eligible to attend a weeklong detective school. After five years as a police officer, they can take a promotional examination. Every other year, civil service tests are administered for promotions. Tests are given for the rank of sergeant, lieutenant, and captain. Assistant and deputy chiefs are appointed by the chief from the management ranks. Officers may be promoted to sergeant after five years of experience with the department and passing the sergeant's exam. Lieutenants must have at least three years' experience as sergeants, and captains must have at least three years' experience as lieutenants. A bachelor's degree may substitute for one year of experience but can only be used for one promotional exam.
History
The Seattle police force was established in 1869 with the election of John T. Jordan as the first town marshal. In 1883, the town marshal position was disestablished and replaced by an appointed position: the chief of police. By 1896, there were 43 police officers and 60,000 residents.
Officer David Sires was the first officer to be killed in the line of duty in 1881. The man accused of killing Sires, along with two other men accused of murder, were lynched by a mob of Seattleites in January, 1882. This event, along with the Anti-Chinese Race Riots of 1886 were associated with significant investment by the city into the police department.
The State of Washington prohibited alcohol in 1916. Police Lieutenant Roy Olmstead began a bootlegging operation while employed by the police department. In March 1920, he was arrested by Federal prohibition agents and was fired from his job with the department. After being fired, he continued to run a very profitable rumrunning business. Relying on bribery of police officers, Olmstead was able to avoid most conflict until his arrest in 1924. He was convicted in 1926 with twenty others in one of the first cases that used telephone wiretaps. Olmstead's case made it to the supreme court, where his conviction was upheld. He was released in 1931 and pardoned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935.
In June 1924, Bertha Landes served as acting mayor while Edwin J. Brown was out of the city to attend the Democratic National Convention. In a newspaper story, Police Chief William Severyns said that the department had at least a hundred corrupt officers. Mayor Landes ordered the chief to fire one hundred officers. When he refused, Landes fired him. Mayor Brown rushed back to the city to reverse Mayor Landes' actions. Following Landes term as acting mayor, she became the first elected female mayor of Seattle in 1926. Mayor Landes was a strict enforcer of anti-vice law and was critical of the SPD. Quickly thereafter, Chief Severyns described to the Seattle Union Record several cases of police brutality. One report included questioning suspects in a rowboat in Lake Washington with a heavy weight tied around their necks. This was one of the first official accounts of police corruption and brutality in the city.
In July 1935, the city council held hearings on the many gambling and prostitution dens in the city. The police chief claimed he had no knowledge of such activities in the city. Councilman Fred Hamley walked with the chief onto Fourth Avenue to an establishment that featured a roulette wheel and handed him an ax. The chief remained in office.
In 1943, after many cases of soldiers returning to bases from Seattle with sexually transmitted diseases, the federal government threatened to take over policing in the city and enforce laws on prostitution and sex-work. After this, Chief Kimsey began a crackdown on prostitution.
In the autumn of 1947, police Chief George Eastman reassigned the police captain in charge of suppressing illegal alcohol sales after complaints such establishments were running openly. The chief took no steps to otherwise discipline the man.
In 1952, officer Ted Yerabek helped start the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team as their first instructor. He was a member of Seattle's Police Drill Team which had won multiple awards, and he brought over many of their police drills to the successful girls drill team. The police drill team stopped in the early 1980s but the girls drill team remained active .
In November 1969, police Chief Frank Ramon retired after accusations that he had tried to stifle an investigation into gambling and government corruption.
On June 21, 1974, a Seattle Police helicopter on its way to a shooting collided with a Cessna plane near Boeing Field. Both officers on board and both civilians in the plane were killed.
In 1987, the Seattle Police Department created the modern mountain bike patrol units, paving the way for cities across North America to follow.
In 2011, the United States Justice Department found that the department had engaged in a pattern of constitutional violations in its use of force.SPD officer suspended for escalating confrontation, excessive force, by Steve Miletich, 10 September 2013, Seattle Times
In 2012, the rank of "Sergeant Major" was created and bestowed upon then-Sergeant Arnold "Arny" McGinnis. Sergeant Major McGinnis started working at the Seattle Police Department in 1962, holding the rank of police officer. He retired in July 2012 at the age of 75, reaching fifty years of service to the city of Seattle. He is the only member of the SPD known to hold the rank.
On May 19, 2014, Kathleen O'Toole was nominated to serve as Chief of the Seattle Police Department and was officially appointed on June 23, 2014. In 2015, O'Toole and others in the department developed and implemented a data-oriented policing strategy called "Agile Policing Strategy", influenced by agile manufacturing. The approach was developed to increase the responsiveness or agility of the department to address crime and disorder problems through the real-time surfacing, visualization, analysis, and sharing of data across all necessary operational units of the police department. Organizationally, this was accomplished through the SPD's Real Time Crime Center, established in July 2015 using a combination of asset forfeiture funds and a federal government grant, which houses the technology, analytical support and command structure.Inside the Seattle Police Department’s new real-time crime center
2020 George Floyd protests
On Sunday May 31, 2020, the department blockaded the streets around the East Precinct which was located at the intersection of 12th Ave E and E Pine. They did this before a protest march approached the precinct. The march moved on after a short while. On Monday June 1 a much larger group of thousands marched from Westlake Plaza to the intersection of 11th Ave E and E Pine where the street was blockaded. This day the march did not move on. After several hours the police ordered the group to disperse. When they did not they tear gassed the protestors. A similar gathering formed the next night. This was also ordered to disperse and tear gassed. On June 3, Mayor Jenny Durkan lifted the curfew that had been in effect since May 30. On June 5, Mayor Durkan banned the use of tear gas for 30 days without the approval of the Police Chief. On Saturday June 6, the police again used pepper spray and non-tear gas explosives to try to disperse demonstrators. Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant said “The police had come prepared to inflict violence without provocation.” By this time protestors had coalesced around demands of defunding of the police department by at least 50 percent, an expansion of investments in black and brown communities, and releasing all protestors. Nightly protests continued until June 7 when the crowd was again dispersed by flash bangs and tear gas, which the police said was in response to protesters throwing projectiles at officers. On Monday June 8 the police boarded up the precinct and withdrew from the building. Later that night residents declared "Free Capitol Hill".
On June 17, 2020, King County Labor Council delegates voted to expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild from the organization, following a demand pushed by many protesters.
On August 11, 2020, it was announced that Police Chief Carmen Best would retire, effective September 2, 2020. Deputy Chief Adrian Z. Diaz succeeded Best in an interim capacity and was appointed to the permanent position on September 20, 2022.
In January 2024, the City settled a lawsuit brought by 50 protesters who were injured during the protests for $10 million.
On May 30, 2024, former King County Sheriff Sue Rahr was appointed Interim Police Chief by Mayor Bruce Harrell. Rahr was appointed to replace Chief Adrian Diaz, who was removed and reassigned to other special assignments within the SPD. Diaz was removed after he was named by at least six SPD officers in lawsuits against the department alleging discrimination. Rahr will only spend a few months in the role and is not interested in holding the position regularly. Instead, she will collaborate with former SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole to compile a list of qualified semi-finalist candidates for public review. Diaz was fired in December 2024.
Controversies and misconduct Before 2000 In June 1901, Police Chief William L. Meredith was forced to resign by a Seattle City Council investigation that found he had taken bribes and allowed illegal gambling operations to flourish. Meredith then ambushed one of his accusers in a local drugstore with a shotgun and pistol. It went badly for him and he was killed by John Considine, his intended victim.
In 1911, Police Chief Charles W. Wappenstein was ousted by a reform-minded mayor. He was convicted on state charges related to bribery, prostitution, and other vices. In December 1913, Governor Ernest Lister granted him a pardon. He died in 1931.