Good morning, Netizens...

It depends upon where you hear it, but Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick may be leaving our fair city after all.

The continuation of this story began yesterday when Sacramento, Calif. Police Chief Rick Braziel, one of the three finalists for the position of the Police Chief of Seattle bowed out of the race for the position, citing that he wanted to remain in California. According to KXLY TV-4, citing a report by KCPQ-TV in Seattle, Chief Kirkpatrick sent an e-mail to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn asking to be reconsidered for job in Seattle.

Although the City of Seattle confirmed they had received an e-mail message from Kirkpatrick, they would not comment further, citing this was a personnel matter. Kirkpatrick's spokesperson, Police Officer Jennifer DeRuwe, provided a tersely-written, one-sentence statement that read, "Chief Kirkpatrick is committed to her role as Chief of Police for Spokane; her status has not changed."

McGinn, however, did conclude his statement Wednesday on Braziel's withdrawal from consideration by saying that "the Police Chief Search Committee did an excellent job and we have two strong candidates for consideration." Those two candidates are Ron Davis, Chief of Police for East Palo Alto, California and the Seattle Police Department's interim chief, Jon Diaz.

Does Chief Kirkpatrick really want to move to Seattle? She owns a house there, and is familiar with that jurisdiction, having already served as Police Chief of Federal Way. More to the issue, given the contentious relationship between Chief Kirkpatrick and other high-ranking officers and the Police Guild, does the City of Spokane want her to remain here as Chief of Police?

Dave

---

---