Spinning in Circles: Seattle's Police Chief Carousel, Sayles Saga and KCRHA Layoffs episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 28, 2026 · 38 MIN

Spinning in Circles: Seattle's Police Chief Carousel, Sayles Saga and KCRHA Layoffs

from Seattle Nice · host David Hyde, Erica Barnett, and Sandeep Kaushik

Seattle has had nine police chiefs in seventeen years. Now the carousel is spinning again as Mayor Katie Wilson launches the hunt for yet another leader for SPD.With the messy, hasty exit of Shon Barnes still fresh, we have to ask: Who actually wants this job? We break down the search, the political stakes for Mayor Wilson, and whether Seattle is doomed to repeat the same hiring mistakes.We also get into Erica's story about interim Chief Andre Sayles, who filed a potentially career-ending complaint against a veteran hate-crimes detective for speaking at a pro-LGBTQ rally, despite having permission to do so. The complaint was quickly dismissed, but the episode raises serious questions about Sayles' judgment as Seattle searches for its next permanent chief.Then, layoffs are hitting the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) hard. We unpack the chaotic rollout and the awkward reality of an agency that's slowly being gutted while officials avoid saying the quiet part out loud.Plus, for our Patreon supporters only: A candidate meltdown saga. Losing candidate Ron Davis has released another manifesto blaming The Stranger's “cheat sheet” for the fact that he came up short. We take a closer look at his use of stats and wonder if there might be some additional explanations. Hear that along with our entire episode by signing up to become a Seattle Nice member on https://www.patreon.com/seattlenice.  Thanks to Uncle Ike's pot shop for sponsoring this week's episode! If you want to advertise please contact us at [email protected] the showYour support on Patreon helps pay for editing, production, live events and the unique, hard-hitting local journalism and commentary you hear weekly on Seattle Nice. 

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Aug 28, 2026

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Seattle has had nine police chiefs in seventeen years. Now the carousel is spinning again as Mayor Katie Wilson launches the hunt for yet another leader for SPD. With the messy, hasty exit of Shon Barnes still fresh, we have to ask: Who actually wants this job? We break down the search, the political stakes for Mayor Wilson, and whether Seattle is doomed to repeat the same hiring mistakes. We also get into Erica's story about interim Chief Andre Sayles, who filed a potentially career-ending c...

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Spinning in Circles: Seattle's Police Chief Carousel, Sayles Saga and KCRHA Layoffs

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