With public safety being such a high-visibility topic, I wanted to put together a short guide to some of the things I see misunderstood or oversimplified when people talk about SPD. There are legitimate criticisms of SPD, but I firmly believe we can only fix the problems if we understand the system. My goal is to just help everyone be more informed. I highly encourage independent research; don’t just take my word for it. There will be follow up posts on more topics in the future. This post will mainly be related to hiring since there have been a lot of comments about officers per capita and hiring practices.
Application process:
There are two main routes to becoming an SPD officer: entry-level hiring for people without the required prior law-enforcement experience, and lateral hiring for experienced officers transferring from another agency. We will focus on new officers for now. The process generally looks like this:
Applicants complete the civil-service testing process. Candidates who pass are placed on an eligibility list, after which SPD conducts additional pre-employment screening such as:
- Written examination and assessment
- Physical ability testing for entry-level candidates
- Oral board assessment
- Background investigation
- Polygraph examination
- Medical evaluation
- Psychological evaluation
The background investigation examines an applicant’s history, including criminal and driving records, employment, finances, and other relevant aspects of their life. SPD states that it evaluates applicants’ circumstances as a whole and values honesty and life experience over an expectation of perfection. Some issues are disqualifying under the department’s published standards. Others are reviewed individually. For example, adult felony convictions and domestic violence convictions are listed as disqualifying, while driving and employment histories are evaluated under specific criteria. Honesty throughout the process matters. An applicant’s attempt to conceal relevant information is usually an immediate disqualifier.
The application process takes a long time. 3-6 months is not uncommon. Historically, only a small percentage of people who apply ultimately become SPD officers. For example, SPD hired 61 officers out of 1,948 applications in 2023-a conversion rate of about 3%. Not everyone who applies completes the process, so this shouldn’t be interpreted as a formal rejection rate. IMO, some people enter the process without being particularly serious about becoming an officer. Others may discover that they aren’t prepared for the testing requirements or the realities of the job. Whatever the reasons, the number of applications alone doesn’t tell us how many viable candidates SPD has available to hire.
Psych Eval involves mental health evaluation. Like other first responders and essential workers, Police work carries significant mental-health risks. A 2020 study found elevated rates of depression, PTSD, suicidal ideation, and hazardous drinking among police. The study estimated that 14.6% of police personnel experienced depression and 25.7% engaged in hazardous drinking, although these figures are international pooled estimates rather than Seattle-specific statistics. This is one reason psychological screening is part of SPD’s pre-employment process. Officers can face repeated exposure to trauma, chronic occupational stress, and difficult decisions involving other people’s safety and lives. Screening is intended to assess suitability for the job, not simply to assume that anyone who has experienced a mental-health challenge is unfit to serve.
Before the Badge:
I really wanted to highlight this program, which is relatively new so I wouldn’t be surprised if not many know that it exists. Prospective Officers will get a job offer and a date to attend a five week “Before the Badge” course. This program started in 2022 and is aimed at acquainting prospective officers with the community. This includes visits to community centers hosted by community leaders to spread awareness of the disproportionate impact policing has on minority communities, including the “policing profession’s racist history”, along with other practical knowledge on the city and the resources it has to support public safety. This is one area where the community has opportunities to influence SPD and incoming officers directly. Community members are able to share their experiences, expectations, and perspectives on public safety. This matters because police training is not just about learning laws and procedures. Officers are entering a job that gives them considerable authority over members of the public, so understanding the communities they serve is also important.
SPD does not operate its own police academy. Entry-level recruits attend Washington’s Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA), operated by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. The academy takes approximately 4.5 months. SPD recruits are filed into classes including prospective officers from agencies all over the state, such as Kirkland PD, King County, etc. The number of officers that SPD can send here is set by the state and is generally capped at a certain amount. SPD also needs to commit officers to the program to train new officers. It is rare that every officer admitted to the program graduates.
After graduation, recruits receive roughly four weeks of SPD-specific post-academy training before entering the Field Training Program. During field training, experienced officers evaluate their performance in real-world patrol situations. This is one area where SPD has been facing bottlenecks, as the department has faced a lot of retirements. Serving as a field training officer is generally on a volunteer basis, and comes with extra responsibilities. This past year there was a push to get more officers certified to become an FTO in an effort to catch up with new hires. FTO is commonly regarded as one of the most difficult parts of training, and some officers washing out during FTO is expected.
How long does it take to get a new officer on the streets?
- Application and hiring process: several months
- Before the Badge: approximately 5 weeks
- BLEA: approximately 18 weeks
- SPD post-BLEA training: approximately 4-6 weeks
- Field Training: approximately 14 weeks
That put us at a theoretical timeline of roughly 53-67 weeks from the beginning of the application process to completing field training. In a January 2025 staffing document, SPD reported an average of approximately 140 days from placement on the eligibility list to an offer letter during the periods measured in 2024.
Here are some good links related to the info above, including a list of community dialogues hosted by Seattle U if you want to have an impact on new officers entering SPD and voice your concerns directly to prospective officers. The next one is on November 2nd.
Community Dialogues: https://publicsafetysurvey.org/before-the-badge-mcpp-community-police-dialogues.html
Why was Before the badge creatd: https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/Police/PDF/Relational%20Policing%20Model%20Concept%20Paper%20SPD.pdf
Academy: https://cjtc.wa.gov/training-education/basic-law-enforcement-academy
Job Qualifications: https://www.seattle.gov/police/police-jobs/civilian-jobs/qualifications-x120473
Before the Badge info: https://www.seattle.gov/police/community-policing/before-the-badge
Application conversion rates: https://council.seattle.gov/2024/05/21/seattle-city-council-approves-bill-to-accelerate-police-hiring/
FTO challenges: https://southseattleemerald.org/news/2026/06/25/spd-may-slow-hiring-in-2026-amid-budget-training-challenges
Global prevalence and risk factors for mental health problems in police personnel: a systematic review and meta-analysis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32439827/
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