Madison police Chief Shon Barnes speaks at a news conference about the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (Jamie Kelter Davis/The New York Times)
On December 20, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced his appointment of Shon Barnes to lead the Seattle Police Department. Currently the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin, Barnes has 24 years of experience in law enforcement. He had served as the police chief in Madison since 2021.
Mayor Harrell’s announcement statement highlighted Chief Barnes’s experience and accomplishments:
In Madison, Chief Barnes implemented evidence-based approaches to partner with the community, achieved significant decreases in crime, and led strategic initiatives to improve the effectiveness and diversity of the department. He has over 12 years of police command-level experience, including patrol, training, and recruitment, and served as a civilian police accountability executive in Chicago, where he helped meet the training plan requirements of a federal consent decree.
Last year, under the leadership of Chief Barnes, Madison experienced a 67% decrease in homicides, a 40% decrease in auto thefts, a 36% decrease in burglaries, and a 19% decrease in reports of shots fired. Seattle is approximately double the size of Madison and it’s plagued with a much higher crime rate — about 114 crimes per 1,000 residents compared to Madison’s rate of about 34 per 1,000 residents.
The search for a new police chief began in mid-2024, soon after Sue Rahr was named interim police chief. Chief Rahr and former Seattle Police Chief, Kathleen O’Toole, led the search effort that started with a pool of 57 applicants. They ultimately narrowed the list to three finalists before selecting Chief Barnes.
The new Chief will be introduced in Seattle at an event later this month.
