Seattle police chief search: Madison, Wis., leader nominated to be top cop

Shon Barnes, chief of police in Madison, Wisconsin, and a former history teacher seen as a “next generation” leader in law enforcement, is Mayor Bruce Harrell’s pick to head the Seattle Police Department, Harrell’s office formally announced Friday.

If approved by the City Council, Barnes would replace Adrian Diaz, who was demoted in the spring and then fired this week by Harrell. The firing followed an investigation that concluded that Diaz was likely romantically involved with a former TV news anchor before he hired her to be his chief of staff – despite her lack of law enforcement experience – and lied about it.

The mayor had intended to introduce Barnes in person at a news conference Friday, but the chief could not travel from Madison while his department is dealing with the aftermath of Monday’s shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School, which left three people dead, including the teenage shooter, and others injured. The incident thrust Barnes into the national spotlight.

“I am truly honored to accept this position and thank Mayor Harrell for his trust and confidence,” Barnes said in a prepared statement. “The mayor and I share a vision that crime prevention and community safety is a shared responsibility and that every community member plays a role in keeping Seattle safe.

“My family and I are excited about the opportunity to integrate into Seattle’s vibrant community, known for its diversity, innovation, and resilience,” he said. “I look forward to working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Seattle Police Department to uphold these core values.”

Barnes, 50, emerged as a lead candidate last week on the recommendations of former Seattle police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and interim Chief Sue Rahr, who led a committee appointed by Harrell to find a new top cop from outside SPD.

Harrell has made it clear he wants a chief from outside the department who could stabilize morale and lead the department out of the last vestiges of 12 years of federal oversight through a consent decree with the Department of Justice that has cost Seattle more than $200 million.

Barnes is among a group of “next generation” police chiefs and has found himself in the spotlight – at least in law enforcement circles – for his insistence that community policing be driven by data and empirical evidence and not by outrage, prejudices or emotion.

“I don’t believe in being tough on anything,” Barnes told public policy expert James Copple in an interview last year. “I believe in being smart on it. If there is a smarter way, I want to do it.”

Born in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, Barnes has described himself as a religious man brought up in a close-knit and hardworking blue-collar family – his father a mechanic, his mother a caregiver.

He has two siblings: a brother who is a police officer and a sister who is a day care provider.

His mother was one of nine children, and Barnes said he grew up in an extended family ruled by a grandmother he described as “very strict and matriarchal.”

There was required attendance at church on Sundays, he said, leading to a deeply held faith “that has played a tremendous role in my life. It is my foundation.”

Barnes is a former Marine reservist who started his career as a history teacher in North Carolina but was drawn to law enforcement after talking to a school resource officer.

Barnes has recently promoted returning police officers to high schools in Madison. During an interview as a part of Copple’s “Legacy Project” last year, Barnes said he believes many of the problems facing cities and policing today can be solved through “proximity.”

“We are too detached from people who aren’t like us,” he said.

Copple, who helped facilitate President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, called Barnes a “true leader in the field” and among the next generation of police leaders.

Barnes has written that community policing “should be neighborhood oriented, community focused (business and residential), problem oriented, and based on the most current empirical research available to quickly reduce crime and improve citizens’ satisfaction with police services.”

As a Black police officer in the South, Barnes said he was moved to explore the relationship between the police and communities of color in the United States, which led him to be a founding member of the National Policing Institute’s “54th-mile Policing Project.”

Barnes joined two other Black police leaders who retraced the 54-mile route of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Rep. John Lewis on their 1965 civil rights march from Selma to the capitol steps in Montgomery, Alabama, culminating in the “Bloody Sunday” attacks on the marchers by police, using clubs, dogs and fire hoses.

Barnes walked the entire way with Alexandria, Virginia, police Chief Tarrick McGuire and former Sacramento officer Obed Magny, now a national police consultant, talking to community members about then and now.

Barnes told Copple the walk was spurred by the backlash over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer in 2020 and “was an attempt to understand more about the relationship – the complicated relationship – between policing, and policing in a free and democratic Society.”

They documented their experience and have used it to develop a training curriculum now used at the National Policing Institute.

Seattle’s process for selecting a police chief involves a committee that narrows the choices to three candidates and provides the names to the mayor, who makes a pick and then forwards that individual’s appointment – along with the names of the two other candidates – to the City Council, which must approve the selection.

Barnes was one of the candidates forwarded to Harrell by O’Toole and Rahr. Other candidates’ names will be released when Barnes’ nomination is forwarded to the council for approval.

Barnes, if approved by the council, will take over a department nearly twice the size of Madison’s – roughly 1,000 sworn officers in Seattle compared with 500 in Madison – in a city with a much higher crime rate.

Madison’s crime rate is about 34 per 1,000 residents. Seattle’s is about 114 crimes per 1,000 residents.

Madison has a population of 280,000 people. Seattle has 755,000 residents.

Barnes would also take the helm of a department considered among the most progressive in the country, thanks to changes made under the Department of Justice’s consent decree and the leadership of O’Toole, who personally approached Barnes to ask him to apply for the job, according to the mayor’s office.

One big difference is that Seattle officers wear body cameras, while Madison PD is among the last holdout major departments that doesn’t require them. Barnes likes the cameras and has been fighting Madison’s leadership to require them.

He also will land in the middle of ongoing and divisive negotiations between the city and the Seattle Police Officers Guild over a new contract after officers just received a 23% pay raise.

Meanwhile, a number of women in the department complained that they felt marginalized and unsupported by former police chief Diaz. In July, four women – all sworn officers, including a lieutenant – filed a $5 million dollar lawsuit against the city, alleging sexual discrimination and harassment.

Diaz also has since filed a $10 million claim against Harrell and Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess, accusing them of demoting him over his sexuality. Diaz came out as gay in June.

Diaz replaced former Chief Carmen Best, another career SPD veteran, who retired after coming under sharp criticism for her handling of protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.

Barnes is married to Dr. Stephanie Dance-Barnes, and together they have three children, according to his biography.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in history/pre-law from Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina, followed by a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati. He furthered his education with a doctorate in leadership studies from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

He began his policing career in 2000 as a patrolman in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he served in a number of capacities, including as a detective. He rose to the rank of captain. He moved to Salisbury, N.C., where he was an assistant chief before he was hired in Madison as chief in 2021.