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Sunday, February 16, 2025

Mayor Harrell And SPD Celebrate Recruitment Milestone

Bruce Harrell, Mayor of Seattle

By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium

Recently, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) has seen a surge in its police recruitment progress. Mayor Bruce Harrell joined outgoing police chief Sue Rahr and incoming chief Shon Barnes in celebrating the surge in police office applications in 2024. Even though police hiring has been recognized as a major challenge across the nation, Seattle received over 4,300 officer applications in 2024, the most since 2013 and more than double those received in 2023, hiring 84 new officers.

“Achieving our One Seattle vision for safety for every person in every neighborhood requires a well-staffed and well-trained police department. Since day one of my administration, officer recruitment and retention has been a major priority, and 2024’s net positive staffing – for the first time since 2019 – is a sign of progress, even as we recognize there is much more work to do,” said Harrell.

According to officials, the city had three major focuses in 2024 including improving the hiring process to make it easier and quicker without sacrificing candidate quality, using digital advertising and marketing to reach new recruits, and investing in officers with a new contract, which all play a role in the city’s recruitment and retention efforts.

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In a collaborative effort, the city, the Mayor’s Office, SPD, Human Resources, and the Public Safety Civil Service Commission all worked together to make process and technology improvements to officer recruitment. The collaborative effort allowed the city to simplify the hiring process and reduced the hiring wait time by half, from 5 to 9 months to 3 to 5 months.

“Police officers are here to serve, and Seattle’s turnaround in police recruitment numbers shows that our community is ready to partner with us to create a safer city.  Policing is an incredibly rewarding career, full of opportunities to learn, to take action, and help others. I want to acknowledge our SPD recruiting team and congratulate everyone who joined SPD in 2024,” said incoming Seattle Police Chief Shon F. Barnes. “I am grateful to be a new member of SPD and to support this continued growth, and Mayor Harrell’s vision for a well-staffed department that shares the values of our community.” 

Other recent areas of improvement include electronic pre-employment background testing to reduce the time required and keep applications moving, and hiring additional examination support staff to support changing from a two-month exam period to a bi-weekly exam schedule. This improvement eliminated the travel requirement for the physical agility test by allowing candidates to test where they live and improve candidate tracking and outreach.

“We continue making strides towards creating the best police department to work for, period. With those improvements, we are just starting to see the results, with more than 20 new officers waiting to go to the academy and hundreds more just beginning the process,” said interim Police Chief Sue Rahr.

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Additionally, the city is making changes to improve the morale and wellness of existing officers. One of these changes, includes hiring a staff of mental-health professionals and developing a wellness unit to reduce officer stress, and work burdens, and make other quality-of-life changes that will improve working conditions.

Rahr believes that by improving the morale and wellness of officers will not only improve retention rates but create the type of workplace that attracts new recruits.

The City also partnered with local ad agency Copacino Fujikado on a marketing campaign to target and engage potential applicants for SPD careers. In 2024, SPD received 4,115 entry-level and 216 lateral applications, and daily applications increased from 5.8 in 2022 to 6.2 in 2023, and 12.5 in 2024, more than doubling.

“The latest boost in police recruitment numbers is welcome news and a major step forward for the department and improving public safety in our city,” said Councilmember Bob Kettle, who chairs the Public Safety Committee. “It’s clear the work of the Council on Public Safety has been significant and is starting to have an impact. I look forward to working with incoming Police Chief Barnes, the Mayor’s Office, and SPD on continuing this momentum.” 

In May 2024, Harrell signed a new contract for rank-and-file officers that included their first wage increase since January 2021. Prior to the contract, the SPD went from being one of the best-paying departments in the country to being ranked 15th, just in the Puget Sound Region.

Now, new recruits start at $103,000 with a $7,500 hiring incentive, and qualified lateral transfers from another agency start at $116,000 with a $50,000 hiring incentive.

“This is excellent news! Nothing is more important to improving public safety in Seattle than bringing SPD staffing levels back up and that’s been my focus from Day One – from implementing hiring bonuses to improving hiring processes,” said Council President Sara Nelson. “This net positive in hires shows that our efforts, in collaboration with the Executive, are working and that’s cause for celebration. However, the work is not finished. That’s why this Council has left no stone unturned and will continue our efforts to hire more officers and improve public safety for all Seattleites.” 

        For those interested in a law enforcement career, for entry-level candidates there are seven steps to do so; apply, complete a written test, take a physical agility test, pass a background investigation, complete a medical evaluation, and do a polygraph assessment. The most competitive candidates will then receive an employment offer, and then the recruits will attend SPD’s Before the Badge Program, the state’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy, spend time with the SPD’s Advanced Training Unit, and participate in the Field Training Program to evaluate their performance in the patrol division.

        In addition to the steps to starting a career in law enforcement, all police officer candidates must be at least 20.5 years of age, have a high school diploma or GED equivalent, be generally physically fit, hold United States citizenship, OR have legal permanent residency in the U.S., OR be a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, and be able to obtain a Washington State Driver’s License.

        “I am incredibly grateful for the service of our current officers and for all of our new recruits, and I want to thank the City Council for their shared focus toward our recruiting goals. We are committed to making Seattle a city where officers feel valued, supported, and part of the team. For anyone who wants a rewarding, challenging, and fulfilling career, we’re hiring,” said Harrell.

        Those interested in a career with the SPD should apply online at www.seattlepolicejobs.com, and SPD holds regular applicant workshops with the next ones being January 13th and February 8th

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