The Seattle Police Department Has a Gender Discrimination Problem

“He said that’s why he didn’t like women in his unit—because they go out on maternity leave and then everybody else has to scramble to cover for them."

Image via City of Seattle

By Andrew Engelson

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) is a toxic workplace for women, according to a damning internal report commissioned by SPD that was first reported by KUOW last week.

One woman who’s been an SPD officer for more than 15 years echoed the findings of the report, saying she’s been passed over multiple times for promotions by less-qualified male officers, and has seen this happen to many other female officers over the years.

“I’ve experienced men getting jobs with a lot less experience than me specifically, and other females not getting jobs,” said the officer, who requested anonymity. “I’ve seen this throughout my career,” which has included both patrol and office jobs, she said.

The internal report, by Washington State University professor Lois James, was a part of the 30×30 Initiative—a nationwide effort to increase gender equity in policing. As part of the initiative, police departments across the country have pledged to boost the number of women in their departments to 30 percent by 2030. SPD signed on in 2021, with the goal of increasing the number of female recruits to 30 percent by 2030. 

SPD isn’t close to reaching those goals. In 2023, out of 61 new officers hired, just five were women, according to Jamie Housen, a spokesman for Mayor Bruce Harrell. Currently, just 16 percent of SPD officers are women.

James conducted focus groups and interviews with about a dozen women, who described a toxic, hyper-masculine culture in which women are often passed up for promotions and lucrative assignments because of their gender.

Women recalled watching less-qualified men get promoted because they had “connections” with other men in the department, or because they could work shifts that weren’t accessible to women, who often had family obligations men didn’t have. 

One female officer said she told her supervisor she could work any shift but the night shift, “because frankly, there was nobody home to look after my kid… [And the response was]… this is the only one we have available… So I guess I’m not getting  promoted. But then I’ll turn around and I see a counterpart who is going through a divorce, and he gets a hardship transfer assignment.”

“Unfortunately, my impression is that this is very, very typical and representative of police departments. It’s clear that there’s a lot farther to go.”—Washington State University Professor Lois James, who surveyed women who work at SPD

Stories of sexual harassment and casual misogyny were also common. “I had a sergeant [tell] told me I look yummy in front of a bunch of officers,” one woman recalled; on another occasion, she said she was introduced at roll call by lieutenant who “was like, ‘don’t worry, guys, she’s married.’ It’s like, is that necessary?”

The officer who spoke with PubliCola said that while most of her interactions with male colleagues have been positive, she has personally experienced many of the situations women described in James’ report. Once, she said, a male officer was complaining about an officer who was pregnant. “He said that’s why he didn’t like women in his unit—because they go out on maternity leave and then everybody else has to scramble to cover for them,” she said.

James said harassment and discrimination are common across all police departments. “Unfortunately, my impression is that this is very, very typical and representative of police departments,” James said. “It’s clear that there’s a lot farther to go.”

Ivonne Roman, one of the founders of the 30×30 Initiative and a former New Jersey police officer, said female officers often cope with toxic work environments by keeping their heads down. “These women say: ‘I don’t complain, because I don’t think that it will be taken seriously.’” Roman said. “So there’s this disconnect between what the chiefs think is happening and what’s actually happening on the ground.”

In response to the report, Housen said the mayor was planning to arrange a meeting with female officers within SPD to hear their concerns. “Ensuring women at SPD attain positions of leadership, feel welcome and supported, and can serve free of bias or harassment is paramount for creating a representative department and building a culture at SPD that fully reflects the values of our city,” Housen said.

James’ report follows news of a lawsuit filed against Police Chief Adrian Diaz in King County Superior Court in January. Deanna Nollette, a 27-year veteran of the force and a former assistant chief of police, was demoted to captain—along with another assistant chief, Eric Greening—in July. In her lawsuit, Nollette claims that Diaz has “a history of misogyny. He is demeaning to women in the police force, articulating his bias that women should not hold leadership positions in the police force.”

“I am heartbroken to have been placed in an adversarial position against a department that I have loved and given 100 percent to for almost 28 years,” Nollette told PubliCola. “I have a responsibility to try to ensure that women who are with or join SPD have a fair and equitable opportunity.”

Diaz’s attorney, Ted Buck, said “Chief Diaz is disappointed that a routine personnel decision has led to these demonstrably false claims. The chief’s overt support of women in departmental leadership has been clear and consistent.”

Nolette’s attorney, Judith Lonnquist, was blunt in her assessment of Diaz: “It is reprehensible that an organization responsible for law enforcement is headed by a man who regularly violates the laws against discrimination,” Lonnquist said.

When asked if she thought Nolette was more qualified for the job of chief than Diaz, the current SPD officer replied, “Oh, definitely.”  She said she was disappointed to see both Nolette and Greening passed over (and Diaz hired instead). “Both of them blow Diaz away,” she said.

The lawsuit—covered by the Seattle Times and other outlets last month—is the second high-profile gender discrimination case brought against the department in the past year. In February 2023, detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin, known for promoting chess among young people in south Seattle, filed a $10 million complaint against SPD, citing “race and gender discrimination on a daily basis.”

Housen insists SPD is making progress toward the 30×30 goal (which SPD interprets as having 30 percent of its graduating recruit class of 2030 consist of women) and said the department has made gains hiring women into leadership positions. “SPD currently has four women captains and six women lieutenants,” Housen said. “Half of the department’s command staff are women.” In fact, five of SPD’s 13 command staff are women, and only one—assistant chief Lesley Cordner—is a sworn officer. The other four women on the command staff are civilian employees in budgeting, legal, and administrative or advisory roles—roles that are, in turn, held almost exclusively by women.

SPD’s lack of progress toward overall gender diversity comes at a time when the department faces what elected officials and Diaz have characterized as a hiring crisis. (It’s a familiar term.)

In 2020, SPD had 1,339 trained officers; by mid-2023, that had dropped to 1,029 – a 23 percent decline. The number of “deployable” officers—those who are fully trained and able to patrol—is lower; according to data provided by Housen, SPD had 921 deployable officers last year, down from and 1,094 in 2020.

The city began raising alarms about the declining number of SPD officers most recently during the Durkan administration, which instituted a short-lived hiring bonus program back in 2021.In 2022, Bruce Harrell announced a recruitment and retention plan that included bonuses of $7,500 for new officers and $30,000 to people transferring from other police departments. But Harrell’s office has seen lackluster results in its goal to boost SPD’s active force to 1,400 officers.

“The number of women that were hired in 2023 was not acceptable. We need to have a representative force where women are well represented. We need to be creating that culture and an environment of inclusion.”—Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle

The numbers are part of a nationwide trend; in every region of the country, police departments are shrinking as retirements and separations outpace new hiring. A 2023 report found that total police force staffing in the US was down 4.8 percent from 2020. 

Overall, according to SPD spokesman John O’Neil, 151 of its SPD’s officers are women, or about 16 percent, down from nearly 18 percent in 2021, but still above the national average for municipal police departments. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the FBI, that rate ranges from 13.5 to a little less than 14 percent. According to the mayor’s office, 42 percent of the officers hired in 2023 were Black, Indigenous, or people of color and 9.6 percent were women. 

Last year, 91 officers left the department, which, when combined with the 61 new hires, represents a net reduction of 30 officers.

City council public safety committee chair Bob Kettle, one of six new council members elected last November, said SPD’s called those hiring numbers disappointing. “The number of women that were hired in 2023 was not acceptable,” Kettle said. “We need to have a representative force where women are well represented. We need to be creating that culture and an environment of inclusion. And also the idea that you can advance, you can be promoted, you can move forward in the organization.”

One police department that has made strides toward a more representative force is Madison, Wisconsin’s, where 28 percent of officers are women. The department makes a point of recruiting women and places women in prominent roles as teachers in its academy, as well as providing female mentors to new recruits.

San Diego’s police department, where 23 percent of officers are women, actively recruits women and is working to make its force more welcoming, including creating the nation’s first on-site child care center within a police department.

Policies like these can help attract women to police departments and encourage them to stay, 30×30 Initiative cofounder Roman said, adding that lactation rooms and generous family leave policies can also help with retention. 

The benefits of hiring women are measurable. “We did a literature review on women in policing,” Roman said, “and we found that there are all these benefits associated with having a high representation of women: they reduce lawsuits, reduce use of force, they have a calming effect on their partners, and they have better outcomes for victims of crimes.”

Statistically, female officers generally have fewer incidents of excessive use of force and tend to use force less often than their male counterparts, and Roman notes that women who are victims of domestic violence are more likely to report it to a female officer. 

The officer who spoke to PubliCola said that, in her opinion, conditions were better for women under Kathleen O’Toole, who served as chief between 2014 and 2018.

“O’Toole was very focused on career development and very supportive of women,” she said. Under former chief Carmen Best, who stepped down amid criticism of the department’s violent response to protests in 2020, “You saw women being promoted, you saw minorities moving into [positions of] deputy chiefs and assistant chiefs,” the officer said, but the 2020 controversy “kind of derailed what she might have brought to the table on that end of things,” the officer said.

Roman said physical fitness requirements pose a common hurdle for women seeking jobs as officers. SPD uses standards set by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, which include 20 pushups, 25 sit-ups, and 35 squat thrusts. Roman said that while these might not seem excessive, analyzing how many women consistently pass or fail the test is the best indicator of whether it’s discriminatory.

“I’ve noticed there’s an almost knee-jerk reaction that [some women] weren’t qualified to be cops because they can’t do 24 pushups within the first two weeks of the academy,” she said. “There’s no research that shows doing 24 pushups can make you a better, more effective officer.”

SPD has taken some steps toward improving its reputation and attracting more diverse recruits. Diaz frequently touts SPD’s Before the Badge program, a five-week pre-academy course designed to introduce potential recruits to members of the community and provide them with skills for dealing with on-the-job stress. 

Brandon James, a lieutenant who’s part of the Before The Badge program, said he’d like to see more women officers. 

“Recruiting is a challenge for everyone, and police departments are going after the same applicants,” James said. “We do see a good share of female recruits coming through. But absolutely, I wish it were more.”