John Diaz retired unexpectedly last month as chief of the Seattle Police Department (SPD). His tenure ends only three years after Mayor Mike McGinn chose him as an internal hire over Ron Davis, a well-qualified African-American reform candidate from California. It was the first major decision of McGinn’s mayoral tenure, and it was disastrous.
Diaz’s three years at the helm were dominated by a federal investigation into abusive and racist practices by SPD and the strong resistance of Diaz, McGinn, the police unions and the entire department to the reforms (weakened by that resistance) that have been imposed as a result.
Neither Diaz nor McGinn has ever even acknowledged that SPD’s critics — including the federal Department of Justice (DoJ)— have legitimate concerns or that anything’s been wrong with SPD at all.
McGinn has announced that he will not appoint a permanent chief this year, allowing whomever takes the mayoral oath of office after November’s election to make the choice. No doubt, he would love to make the choice now, allowing interim Chief Jim Pugel or another internal hire to get the permanent job and keep SPD’s current culture intact. But he can’t, for a couple of reasons.
First, McGinn is an underdog to win reelection. Even if Pugel or some other SPD favorite gets the permanent job, the public has to be convinced that a credible search was mounted for an alternative. Well-qualified applicants would shy away from a situation where their boss (the mayor) might change within a few months.
The public itself is McGinn’s second, larger problem. Whichever way he chose, his choice would cost him politically at a critical time. McGinn’s unapologetic defenses of even the worst of SPD excesses have alienated many of the original progressive voters that supported him in 2009; an internal hire would enrage them further. But because he can’t count on their support, to win this year, he can’t afford to alienate his law-enforcement support, either. So he’s punting the decision into next year.
The only way he can finesse this issue during his campaign — after having handled it so badly for so long — is to ignore it and hope no more high-profile SPD screw-ups erupt.
A major campaign topic
Regardless, SPD will be an issue in the mayor’s race. At least three of the major candidates — Bruce Harrell, Sen. Ed Murray and Peter Steinbrueck — have been critical of SPD’s performance on McGinn’s watch and McGinn’s testy relationships with the DoJ investigation and courts as they finally forced a serious attempt at SPD reform.
The selection of a new SPD leader will help determine how successful those reforms are. Even if the history of Pugel or another internal candidate were exemplary, they would be the wrong choice to become SPD’s permanent chief. The single, biggest issue facing SPD is its need to rebuild the trust of numerous Seattle communities that now see it as more of a threat than an ally. The worst possible way to approach that task is to pick as SPD’s leader yet another insider, promoted from a department suffering from a top-to-bottom cultural rot that has long tolerated abusive policing, racism and contempt for the public it allegedly serves.
SPD leadership will also be a campaign topic because any nomination must be approved by City Council, and the two City Council members most crucial to that decision — Tim Burgess, a former police officer and a fierce defender of SPD, who is nonetheless smart enough to read political tea leaves; and Harrell, the current chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee — are also running for mayor.
Harrell, the only non-white candidate in the race (or on City Council), is a lesser-known, long shot. This process is a golden opportunity to advocate for his political base, make a broader name for himself and distinguish himself from his half-dozen rivals.
Burgess, meanwhile, will go after McGinn’s public-safety record from other angles.
And for each candidate, the question of their criteria for the next chief will come up constantly this summer and fall.
Another Norm Stamper?
SPD needs a 2013 version of the Norm Stamper hire. Stamper was brought in 20 years ago from San Diego as a reform-minded career police officer who would have no qualms challenging the internal status quo and, where needed, cleaning house. He was only modestly successful in that task — obviously, or we wouldn’t be facing a more extreme version of the same issues two decades on. And Stamper’s legacy, instead, is dominated by the unique circumstances of the 1999 WTO (World Trade Organization) protests.
But 20 years on, SPD still needs reform that starts at the top. The status quo for SPD isn’t working for far too many Seattle residents. No candidate for mayor who can’t acknowledge that fact should be allowed to pick the next chief.
GEOV PARRISH is cofounder of Eat the State! He also reviews news of the week on “Mind Over Matters” on KEXP 90.3 FM. To comment on this column, write to QAMagNews@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
