Seattle assistant police chief reinstated after one week on administrative leave

(The Center Square) – The new interim police chief has reinstated its assistant police chief just one week after he was placed on paid administrative leave.

Seattle Police Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis was placed on administrative leave on May 24 due to an investigation involving a complaint from the Community Police Commission, where Davis served as a department liaison.

The Seattle Office of Police Accountability (OPA) investigated the complaint. The Seattle Police Department confirmed to The Center Square in an email that Davis has been restored to full duty “per new information and a review of the OPA investigation.”

The department had no further comment.

Reinstating Davis is the first significant move by the new Interim Police Chief Sue Rahr, who started on May 30 after Police Chief Adrian Diaz stepped down from the role.

Davis was reinstated on May 31.

This is the latest development in the ripple effects of a $5 million tort claim filed by four female SPD officers last April against the department alleging sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. Lt. John O’Neil and Human Resource Manager Rebecca McKechnie are also named in the tort claim. Davis was not part of the lawsuit.

Rahr said that she plans to have “brutally honest” conversations with SPD officers to understand their needs during her time as the interim chief. The city is already in the process of searching for the department’s next permanent police chief.

Davis first joined the Seattle Police Department in 1999. Last year, he was promoted to assistant chief of the department’s Special Operations Bureau, which includes SWAT, hostage negotiations team, and the arson/bomb squad.