Seattle police Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis has been put on paid administrative leave amid a rise in internal issues within the department.
The Seattle Police Department confirmed the action to on Friday, directing further inquiries to the Seattle Office of Police Accountability.
According to a report from The Seattle Times, the investigation centers around a complaint from the Community Police Commission, where Davis functioned as a department liaison.
Davis began his career with the Seattle Police Department in 1999. Last year, he was promoted to assistant chief of the department’s Special Operations Bureau, which includes SWAT, hostage negotiations team, and the arson/bomb squad.
A recent 30×30 report highlighted claims of gender discrimination and sexual harassment from women within the Seattle Police Department.
Last month, four female officers filed a $5 million tort claim against the Seattle Police Department, alleging sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and a hostile work environment.
The claim filed on Friday alleges that Chief Adrian Diaz, Lt. John O’Neil, and SPD’s human resource manager, Rebecca McKechnie, were involved in the “grooming” and harassment.
Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales successfully added an amendment to a recent recruitment bill requiring SPD to regularly report on its actions to address gender discrimination and its progress with the 30×30 initiative.
SPD continues to face challenges in recruiting officers. The department has experienced a net loss of 337 fully-trained officers since 2020, leading to increased 911 response times.
According to city data, in the past two years, the Seattle Police Department has achieved only about half of its annual hiring targets, with a high of 61 hires out of 1,948 applications in 2023, a conversion rate of 3%.
Truth Voices attempted to contact the Seattle Office of Police Accountability for further details but did not receive a response by the time of this publication.
