Shon Barnes will head a department challenged by its last chief’s firing, allegations of discrimination, staffing shortages and the vestiges of federal oversight.
Shon Barnes will head a department challenged by its last chief’s firing, allegations of discrimination, staffing shortages and the vestiges of federal oversight.
Seattle will have a new police chief by the end of the week.
In an internal memo sent to staff last week,Interim Chief Sue Rahr, who was in the role for about seven months to help handle the transition, announced she will be clearing out of the chief’s office Wednesday.
On Thursday, Shon Barnes will move into his Seattle home and into the chief’s office, according to the memo. A welcome reception will take place at City Hall on Friday, Rahr wrote, though the Police Department has not given details on that yet.
Barnes, 50, will take over a department that has been challenged by its last permanent chief’s firing, allegations of discrimination, a staffing shortage and the vestiges of a decade of federal oversight. In her memo to staff, Rahr noted she will remain involved with the department until mid-February to wrap up projects.
Mayor Bruce Harrell announced last month that Barnes, the outgoing chief of police in Madison, Wis., was his pick to lead the Seattle Police Department. The City Council still has to confirm him, but city officials said previously that Barnes would take an interim role at first.
He replaces former Chief Adrian Diaz, who was fired after an investigation concluded Diaz was likely romantically involved with his chief of staff and lied about it.
“The mayor and I share a vision that crime prevention and community safety is a shared responsibility and that every community member plays a role in keeping Seattle safe,” Barnes said in a statement last month.
Barnes was thrust into the national spotlight in December after a shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison killed three people. He has also drawn attention for his insistence that community policing be driven by data and empirical evidence and not by outrage, prejudices or emotion.
Barnes has written that community policing “should be neighborhood oriented, community focused (business and residential), problem oriented, and based on the most current empirical research available to quickly reduce crime and improve citizens’ satisfaction with police services.”
Barnes takes the helm of a department considered among the most progressive in the country due to changes made under the Department of Justice’s consent decree and former Chief Kathleen O’Toole, who helped in the leadership search and personally approached Barnes to ask him to apply for the job.
He will land in the middle of ongoing and divisive negotiations between the city and the Seattle Police Officers Guild over a new contract after officers just received a 23% pay raise.
Meanwhile, several female employees have reported feeling marginalized. In July, four women — all sworn officers, including a lieutenant — filed a $5 million lawsuit against the city, alleging sexual discrimination and harassment by former police Chief Diaz.
A former Marine reservist, Barnes started his career as a history teacher in North Carolina but was drawn to law enforcement after talking to a school resource officer.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in history/prelaw from Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, followed by a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati. He furthered his education with a doctorate in leadership studies from North Carolina A&T State University.
He began his policing career in 2000 as a patrolman in Greensboro, N.C., where he worked in several capacities, including as a detective. He rose to the rank of captain. He moved to Salisbury, N.C., where he was an assistant chief before he was hired in Madison as chief in 2021.
Material from The Seattle Times archives was included in this report.