The Quote: Locals Only

Image: John Keatley
“RIGHT NOW, just 18 percent of our police officers live in Seattle. Eighty-two percent don’t. It’s hard to have a good local police force if the police aren’t local…. But we have over 300 officers who are eligible for retirement. That gives us an opportunity to recruit officers from the community and who understand our community and its values. And we will do that. We will expand the targeting pool for new officers, to seek those who have the life experience and maturity to meet the high standards we have…. We want a police force that looks like Seattle.”