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The Seattle Police Department is seeing recruitment efforts improve as it hired 500% more officers in the first four months of 2025 than the same time span last year.
The city has hired 60 officers through April 2025. Last year, the police department managed to only hire 10 at this point in 2024.
According to a press release from Mayor Bruce Harrell, the 60 hires are more than in the last three years at this point combined. If the trend continues, the city expects to hire over 150 officers in 2025.
The number of applications the Seattle Police Department has received shows promise in that trend continuing as there have been 1,218 officer applications through the first quarter of 2025, compared to 690 through April 2024.
“Our work to modernize recruiting and increase qualified applications is showing results through record hiring in 2025 – putting us on a path to restore Seattle Police Department staffing,” Harrell said in a statement.
The Center Square previously reported on Seattle Police Department staffing levels reaching its lowest levels in some 30 years in March 2024. However, a turnover of city council members saw a higher prioritization of police staffing and a slew of legislation to the effect.
In 2024, the Seattle City Council ultimately approved a maximum hiring bonus of $50,000 to lateral hires and $7,500 for new recruits, agreed to a new police contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild that raises wages for rank-and-file officers, reduced hiring wait time to three to five months, and increased the department’s advertising budget to $2.5 million in 2025 to reach more potential recruits.
“After passing more than a dozen public safety bills last year, I am pleased to see the impacts we as a city are having that can help make residents feel safe,” said Seattle City Councilmember and Public Safety Committee Chair Bob Kettle.
Pay for new recruits starts at $103,000 a year. Lateral transfers see base salaries start at $116,000. The median household income in Seattle is approximately $122,000, according to U.S. Census data.