Seattle Police Department: Chief Diaz Provides Statement on Current Staffing Crisis

As we start the second half of the year, I wanted to present you with a staffing update. Since 2019, the Seattle Police Department has lost 402 officers/detectives who can be deployed. At a time when killings and gunshot incidents are on the upswing in our city, these losses have been felt throughout SPD.

The Sexual Assault Unit has been the subject of recent news attention about our department’s personnel concerns (SAU). When I learned of staffing difficulties in SAU in April, I immediately began working to expand the unit with extra detectives as well as non-police employees who give support to victims of sexual violence.

I was able to ensure that the Investigations Bureau quickly assigned an additional investigator to SAU, brought in support staff to process cases sent to prosecutors, and enlisted the help of expert detectives from other units to help with SAU’s backlog.

I also reached out to organizations in our community that do vital work with sexual assault survivors, which resulted in the city’s Victim Support Team expanding its outreach to help survivors work through their pain.

Despite the tremendous obstacles ahead, we will continue to build on that effort. We have 234 detectives in 2019. We now have 134 after three years.

Every day, officers are dispatched to Patrol to supplement low-staffing levels in the city’s five precincts. In addition, the department is frequently called upon to assist with safety, security, and traffic management for important sporting and cultural events in our city. SPD continues to actively recruit and hire exceptional law enforcement personnel, but we estimate it will take five to ten years to restore to pre-2020 levels of staffing.

I’m grateful to our staff who have risen to the occasion in the face of our many challenges, working extra shifts and aiding colleagues with difficult but vital casework. They are putting in a lot of effort to keep our city safe. Our agency will continue to scrutinize how it spends its limited resources.

We understand the importance of ensuring that every crime victim and survivor receives the justice they deserve.