Quality vs. quantity: Seattle PD may be lessening standards, union official says

(The Center Square) – The President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild says recent reports of a dramatic increase in the number of applicants in the Seattle Police Department and increased numbers of hired officers deserve further context.

SPOG President Mike Solan tells The Center Square that while the department has hired 60 officers through April, which is way up from the same period last year, the caliber of the new hires may not be up to what it was in the past, and dozens of seasoned officers are eligible for retirement this year.

“My concern is that due to how significant our staffing crisis is, they're desperate for a warm body,” Solan said. “And you know, I'm concerned that some of the standards have been lessened. You know it’s about the type of human being that's occupying the uniform.”

As reported by The Center Square, recent hires outpace the department’s first-quarter recruitment totals from the past three years combined. If current trends continue, officials estimate the department could bring on more than 150 officers by year’s end.

SPD received 1,218 officer applications in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 690 over the same period in 2024.

According to a news release from the office of Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, “the most competitive candidates receive an employment offer and then attend Washington’s … Basic Law Enforcement Academy, which is overseen by the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSJCTC).”

“We want the best applicants possible because it’s a very serious job,” Solan continued. “Remand people into custody and put them in jail, and tragically, sometimes we have to take their lives to save other lives … this is a very serious job, and we just want the best.”

Solan said he is concerned that in some cases, an applicant can fail part of the polygraph, but still advance in the hiring process.

“The agency reserves the right to still continue with an applicant even if they perform poorly with a polygraph exam; 99% of the humans that do this job, do it for the right reasons,” he said. “But I fear, as if there's been so much scrutiny put on to the profession, it's very, very difficult to get really qualified candidates to want to become police officers.”

The Center Square contacted SPD communications to ask about the polygraph given to potential recruits and received the following email from Sgt. Patrick Michaud: “The polygraph test isn’t a pass/fail type test. If there are any indicators that are picked up on, investigators do additional research.”

The news release from Harrell’s office details Seattle’s efforts to recruit more police officers.

“Seattle’s average hiring process for police officer candidates has been streamlined from 5-9 months to 3-5 months, eliminating months of waiting when qualified candidates would often receive offers from other agencies,” according to the news release. “Through an interdepartmental effort to simplify and update the hiring process, Seattle made changes including electronic background checks, increased examination support leading to a bi-weekly schedule, remote physical agility testing, and enhanced candidate tracking.”

Michaud did not respond to a request for comment on Solan’s concern that the police department is lowering standards.

Staffing levels for SPD dropped to their lowest point in nearly three decades in March 2024, four years after the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests that precipitated the “defund the police” movement.

“It's been horrific damage to the profession, and to the profession's reputation,” Solan noted. “We want to hold ourselves accountable because we are professionals. I think we're the first people to hold ourselves accountable. The problem is that there's just been a targeted assault on the profession under false pretenses and false narratives. With that cloud, you're going to not make people want to become a police officer due to the level of unreasonable scrutiny.”

Increased compensation is a significant factor in recruiting and lateral hiring efforts.

Recruits start at $103,000 with a $7,500 hiring incentive, and lateral transfers from other agencies start at $116,000 with a $50,000 incentive.

Solan said one other factor to consider is that nearly a quarter of SPD officers are eligible for retirement at any point this year.

“Right now, we're just under 22% of our 850 available law enforcement personnel that are eligible to retire. That's over 200 people that are 53 years of age [or older] and we can't afford to lose not one of them,” he said. “So just imagine, with the pressures of the World Cup matches coming on, and the amount of special events, and the amount of staffing that's going to be needed for those special events.”

On average, it takes recruits about a year after graduating from the academy to become police officers in Seattle and work an assigned patrol beat.

Solan welcomes the city's recent changes and investments in policing, but he’s convinced that improving things will take many years and a change in political culture.

“It’s difficult, you know, especially if you've been in this job for a long period of time, watching the profession get decimated right in front of your eyes and then struggle to really … find the reason why you did this job in the first place,” he said. “Plus, I think more cops are just worried about the legal liability than anything else. And so really the only thing that's going to solve the staffing crisis is if we get political support and courage from our elected leaders to push back against the false narratives.”