Interim Police Chief Carmen Best , a 26-year veteran of the force and former officer, public information officer, patrol supervisor and deputy chief, has been officially announced by the mayor as Seattle’s next Police Chief.“I’m from the Pacific Northwest, Best says, “I’ve gone to school here. My kids have gone to school here. I graduated from Seattle U. My husband works at Boeing. I love the Mariners. I love the department and I feel like at this point in my career, I have a lot to give back to the city.”
Carmen’s agenda for the first 100 days was spelled out before she accepted the job from Mayor Durkan. First and foremost is reducing crime and disorder in the city. Secondly, she wants to make sure the department is providing excellent service to the community.”
“I’m very committed to public service,” Best says. “I want to make sure that we’re focused on data-driven policies and practices and providing that information to the public so they know what we’re doing and what the effect is.
“I want to make sure that we’re taking really an important look into our business practices. As a police department we have a $300 million dollar budget and we want to make sure that we are spending the taxpayers money judiciously and efficiently.
There’s nothing more important than building community trust with the police department. We really can’t effectively do our jobs without the trust of the community.”
Carmen cites her training as shaping her skills and knowledge of he profession. She has trained with the Police Executive Leadership Institute, the Senior Management Institute for Police and the FBI National Academy. I always have wanted to give back to the community. I also want to make sure that I instill in the officers a sense of honor, pride and professionalism.”
A few things about me that people may not know: I started in the military. I’m very patriotic and always have been. I’m totally a Seattle fan. I love the Paramount, the Fifth Avenue Theater, the Mariners, the Seahawks. I love to read and like to go to Gasworks Park and hang out. I order stuff off of Amazon. I’m all-in-all just a Seattle person! [24×7]
