With the race for Seattle's top cop position heating up, the Seattle Times has a nice writeup on one of the candidates, Sacramento police chief Rick Braziel:

Growing up, Rick Braziel wanted to be a pilot and dreamed of attending the U.S. Air Force Academy.

But less-than-perfect eyesight dashed that hope.

He next considered engineering, until one night, on the spur of the moment, he decided to do something he hadn't done before: ride along on the night shift with his dad, a Sacramento police officer.

During the shift, the 18-year-old son watched his father provide comfort to a rape victim. "I saw my dad in a completely different light," says Braziel.

Moreover, he says, that night he saw himself becoming a police officer.

[...]

Braziel has dealt with race issues head on, said Betty Williams, president of the NAACP branch in Sacramento. She cited an incident early this year in which an off-duty white officer displayed his gun while directing a racial slur at an African-American man who was walking near him.

Williams said Braziel immediately informed her of the incident. He also issued a news release.

Criminal charges of brandishing a weapon were filed against the officer.