SEATTLE — In 26 years with the Seattle Police Department, Carmen Best worked her way up from patrol officer to interim police chief.
The mayor appointed civic leaders to a police chief search committee and, today, committee members were stunned to learn that the mayor's advisors had removed Best from the list of police chief finalists.
"It was very upsetting. It was our only internal candidate, our only woman candidate, not to mention African-American woman candidate, who suddenly disappeared from the list," said search committee member Louise Chernin, CEO of the Greater Seattle Business Association.
Lihn Thai, director of the Vietnamese Community Leadership Institute, said, "(Interim) Chief Best is someone who is amazingly, surprisingly, being supported by all sides - like, both the rank and file of police as well as people in the community. It is a rare, rare thing that our city has."
Responding to questions from reporters, Mayor Durkan said,
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"The process will move forward. I look forward to meeting the three candidates. We will go to each of the cities where they are from to do very in-depth site visits, and in the meantime, we are going to continue to govern here in the city of Seattle, and Chief Best will be the (interim) chief of police."
When asked why she did not listen to community members who want Best added as a finalist, Durkan said, "With all due respect, the person that has the most say in that is Carmen Best, and Carmen Best has said to me she is ready to move on. She respects the process. She is disappointed but respects the process."
Best didn't respond to our question about whether she would be willing to be added as a finalist, but her office referred us to the statement she released on Friday, in which she wished the remaining candidates the best.
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