At Mayor Mike McGinn's press briefing this afternoon, I asked the mayor about a statement he made during his State of the City address last week to the effect that he wants the Seattle police force to "look like Seattle." Pointing to the fact that just 18 percent of Seattle cops live inside city limits, McGinn said last week that "it's hard to have a good local police force that isn't local."

McGinn reiterated his statement today, adding that "if we want a good local police force, a police force that understands Seattle values, I think it is important to reach deeper into our own community to hire people." Acknowledging that state law prohibits requiring officers to live inside the city where they work, McGinn added, "We're looking at what other municipalities have done" to hire more people from within their city limits. Asked how the values of Seattle's suburbs differ from Seattle values, McGinn responded: "Everybody likes the image of the local police officer."

It's unclear what McGinn could do to increase the percentage of Seattle police officers who live in the city. In addition to barring cities from instituting residency requirements, state law also explicitly prohibits cities from "discriminat[ing] in any manner against any [employee] because of his or her residence outside of the limits of such city, town, or municipality."

Seattle police officers cite various reasons for living outside the city proper, including not just lower home prices but safety concerns about living in close proximity to people they've arrested or had run-ins with.

I also asked McGinn whether he would support a request from three city council members to overhaul the city's police accountability system---specifically, whether he supported testing cops who use force for steroids. He dodged, smiling: "That's a great question. There are a number of issues that are on the table in negotiations with [the Seattle Police Officers' Guild] and there will be more about that later."