POLICE STAFFING: Fewer officers leaving, new briefing says, which might pose a dilemma

In advance of tomorrow morning’s City Council Public Safety Committee meeting, the presentation is posted for a major agenda item, the quarterly update on Seattle Police staffing, hiring, overtime, and performance. One key point: Fewer officers are leaving than expected. As a result, the presentation prepared by council staff suggests in its summary:

SPD is separating fewer officers than it has in past years. This change may affect the department’s ability to hire new recruits and translate into a slower expansion of the force. It is possible that SPD may need to slow its hiring to meet budgetary restrictions.

To that last point, committee chair Councilmember Bob Kettle said, “Absolutely not!” That comment was in response to our question about it at a wide-ranging council-and-reporters conversation we just attended ta City Hall (with other participants including Council President Joy Hollingsworth, also in our photo above). Kettle says he remains adamant that the department needs to continue building to 1,258 officers (the presentation notes that “if current projections hold true, SPD will have reached an annual average of 1,192 FTE at year-end 2026” – eight more than the department is budgeted for). Lots more to note about the latest info when we get back to HQ; you can see the full presentation deck here.

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