Mayor Durkan says 'no search planned' for new Seattle Police Chief

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said Tuesday the city is in no hurry to start a search for a new police chief.

“There’s no search planned at this moment in time," Durkan said. "We’re still having discussion over what kind of police department we want."

When Carmen Best suddenly retired in August, Durkan at the time said they would wait until after the budget cycle and into the new year before starting a search for her long-term replacement.

Adrian Diaz took the reigns on an interim basis.

Durkan said she’s still consulting with the City Council on the potential of delaying the search altogether until after she leaves office.

“I’m continuing to have conversations with the City Council on that," Durkan said. "Everyone’s evaluation right now is a chief search would not be successful and it’s an important enough thing, and we’re at such a critical juncture with our police department, we want to make sure that when we do it, we want to do it right and do it successfully.”

The general election for mayor is in November, but Durkan said she will not run for reelection. She reaffirmed that decision Tuesday.

“The reason I didn’t run is because we have significant challenges right now,” said Durkan, citing the pandemic, economic recovery, and improving racial equity in the city. “The next mayor will have significant challenges because restoring the economy will take time and will be hard."

Six people have filed initial campaign paperwork on the city’s election website.

Multiple sources tell KOMO Council President Lorena Gonzalez will join the race.

Durkan suggested voters may hold candidates from City Hall accountable for decisions made over the summer.

“I think voters will make a very different calculation in this election than before," Durkan said, citing a similar platitude she used during the summer budget conflict with the City Council. "I think that bumper stickers and slogans are not going to cut it.

They [Votes] are going to want concrete answers on things like, will you cut the police by 50 percent, will you make sure there are more mental healthcare providers, what are you going to do about the crime rates. Because when people come out of COVID, it’s going to be real.”

Candidates have until May to officially file for the November election.