In First Four Months, Seattle's New Police Chief Spent Most Weekends Out of Town

The chief's schedule was largely blank on Friday afternoons, and included a number of out-of-town weekend events and speeches.

By Erica C. Barnett

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes, selected to lead SPD by Mayor Bruce Harrell earlier this year, has spent most of his weekends out of town since taking the $360,485-a-year job earlier this year, according to his schedule, social media posts, and sources familiar with his travel.

Between February 1 and June 20, the last date for which PubliCola obtained Barnes' schedule, Barnes' schedule is blocked out almost every Friday afternoon, either completely or starting in the early or midafternoon. Usually, this is represented by a blank space after 3 or 4pm; on a few occasions, the afternoon is marked as "admin block" or "travel."

This is in contrast to Barnes' schedule on other weekdays, which is generally fully booked during regular work hours.

For example, his schedule for a typical Monday in March includes meetings with the head of the state Criminal Justice Training Commission, Fire Chief Harold Scoggins, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste, and Office of Police Accountability Interim Director Bonnie Glenn, along with a briefing on the city's new 911 AI technology and a ridealong with the city's Downtown Activation Team. From Tuesday through Thursday, Barnes' official schedule is similarly busy.

On Friday of that week, Barnes' schedule looks like this:

Barnes' schedule, combined with his social media posts, either confirms or suggests (by the absence of scheduled events on Fridays) that he was out of town 13 of 18 weekends between February and May. Barnes' absence from Seattle is documented in his public schedule or on his public social media posts, or both, for nine of those 13 weekends.

Police chiefs are generally expected to be on call for incidents that happen outside regular working hours, including on weekends. Historically, police chiefs have often showed up on site at events that involve a major police response, such as mass shootings and protests that result in clashes and arrests, among other types of high-profile events.

However, Barnes has been out of town for a number of such incidents, including a recent anti-trans rally in Cal Anderson Park that led to the arrests of 23 counterprotesters. At the time, SPD told PubliCola it was "unrealistic to expect that any individual in the police department can be available around the clock for unexpected emergencies.”

We sent a list of detailed questions about Barnes' schedule to SPD earlier this week. We wanted to confirm the specific dates when Barnes has been out of town, along with other details, and to find out what contingencies SPD has put in place, if any, for the times when Barnes is not in Seattle.

Barbara DeLollis, Barnes' new chief communications officer, responded:

Here you go.

“Since taking the helm of Seattle’s police department in February, Chief Barnes has been tirelessly working to protect the Seattle community. So far this year, crime is down 9 percent compared to the same time last year and SPD has hired 94 officers,” said Alex Ricketts, SPD’s Chief of Staff. “The Seattle City Council’s 9-0 unanimous confirmation of Barnes last week as Chief of Police underscores his commitment to making the department a model for policing excellence by prioritizing transparency, collaboration, and accountability.”

Thanks for your interest in SPD.

When we wrote back to again ask for responses to our questions, noting that the police chief's availability in Seattle is a matter of public interest, DeLollis responded, "The statement you have addresses your questions."

Barnes' schedule isn't always completely blank on weekends. In some cases, it shows that he was attending a conference, delivering a keynote speech, or attending a personal or family event. For instance, from April 4 to 6, Barnes was attending a gathering of his college fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, in Greenville, North Carolina, where he delivered the keynote address. A schedule note in May indicates he attended a graduation ceremony for one of his children out of town. And on the weekend of May 30, which is blank, a social media post by Barnes shows that he was attending a Freemason meeting in Philadelphia where he was inducted as a 33rd degree Mason.

On other occasions, Barnes was busy attending conferences, often as a panelist or keynote speaker.

From Thursday, February 27 through Monday, March 2, Barnes attended the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives CEO Symposium in Glendale, AZ, where he was part of a panel called "Law Enforcement CEO Roundtable: From Chaos to Control: Best Practices in Critical Incident Response."

Between Sunday, March 23 and Sunday, March 30, Barnes' schedule shows he was at a conference in Kingston, Jamaica held by the Police Civilian Oversight Authority, where he delivered a keynote speech on March 26. (Barnes' schedule is blank beginning on March 21, a Friday.) The schedule notes that the event was a "prior commitment."

And from Thursday, April 24 through Monday, April 27, Barnes was at a public safety summit held by Leadership for a Networked World at Harvard, where he was the keynote speaker. According to its website, the group "creates transformational thought leadership and learning experiences for executives building the future of outcomes and value"; it's headed by Antonio Oftelie, the federal monitor for the consent decree between the US Department of Justice and SPD.

PubliCola's unanswered questions to SPD included how much, if anything, Barnes was paid for delivering keynote speeches at events like the conference he in Jamaica.

Between March 3 and March 13, Barnes was attending the lateral police academy, a condensed training for police transferring from other agencies.

Barnes, who is being sworn in Wednesday afternoon, has brought on at least five new high-level staff, including DeLollis, Ricketts, and a second deputy police chief, Alan Sayles. (Former interim chief Sue Rahr appointed Lieutenant Yvonne Underwood to deputy chief last year.) According to publicly available data, DeLollis and Ricketts each make $221,562 annually; new assistant chief Nicole Powell makes $294,757, and both new Executive Director of Crime and Community Harm Reduction Lee Hunt and Sayles make $302,016.