Seattle, want to hire more cops? Federal recommendations suggest adjusting police department to ‘rapid changes and shifts in community expectations’ – Top Seattle

Seattle has been criticized for its struggles hiring and keeping cops but the problems aren’t unique to the city. The Justice Department has released a new report detailing recommendations “to address the challenges in recruitment and retention law enforcement agencies are facing nationwide.”

The new report commissioned by Attorney General Merrick Garland recommends police leaders do more to understand the needs of the communities they serve while modernizing outdated hiring practices.

The new report attributes the staffing issues to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shifting labor market, officer safety concerns, and community response to issues like use of force and biased policing.

While Seattle public safety advocates have been quick to blame the Seattle City Council for efforts to shift more spending toward services and away from traditional policing, the larger factors around the labor market and the proliferation of gun violence are also major issues when it comes to recruiting cops.

Seattle recruitment efforts by Mayor Bruce Harrell have focused on elements like a hiring bonus plan hoped to grow the city’s police force to 1,500 sworn officers by 2027. It currently rosters fewer than 1,000.

Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz has rolled out new strategies including changes in scheduling as he has adjusted to the staffing reality.

The federal report says police forces like Seattle should reconsider “officer eligibility requirements to better reflect modern police work,” and make changes “modernizing and accelerating the hiring process,” “investing in officer health, safety, and wellbeing,” and “working with community leaders to target recruitment efforts toward diverse candidates and potential recruits who might otherwise not consider law enforcement as a career.”

“In recent years, several significant events have led to rapid changes and shifts in community expectations of what people want from their police and other public servants,” the report begins.

Seattle, meanwhile, must also arrive at an agreement on a new contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild which remains under negotiation in a protracted labor battle that continues to flare publicly with disputes over how many sworn officers the city needs.

Seattle’s police force is also moving forward without federal oversight for the first time in 12 years after a consent decree brought over issues of excessive force and community trust was lifted earlier this year.

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