How Interim Police Chief Andre Sayles Plans to Lead SPD

A week into his new position, Interim Seattle Police Chief Andre Sayles had a busy morning. On Aug. 7, Sayles met with multiple news outlets, one right after the other, to introduce himself to the public following a tumultuous week for the Seattle Police Department (SPD). That week began on July 26  with a shooting at Seattle Center that left three dead, then former Chief Shon Barnes resigned on July 30, and the next day Mayor Katie Wilson named Sayles interim chief. 

At an appointed time, this Emerald reporter and a photographer were ushered up to the top floor of Seattle Police Headquarters, passing a KUOW reporter heading to the elevators after her interview with the interim chief. Sayles introduced himself by his first name.

The interview, held in a conference room, lasted roughly 20 minutes and was attended by an SPD public information officer who did not participate. Sayles’s responses are below. They are edited for clarity and separated by topic.

Seattle Center Shooter Still at Large

At the July 31 press conference announcing Sayles as interim chief, he announced that SPD was closing in on a suspect from the Bite of Seattle shooting on July 26, but more than a week later, no additional arrests have been made. Along with the deaths of three people, several were injured, with one shooter in custody and another dying at the scene. Sayles said he still believed there’s an additional shooter, but it is taking time to go through the evidence. 

“When you have the chaos and the chaotic scene that was going through [the area], it is so much video to go through,” said Sayles. “We want to make sure that we have the right people to arrest. We don't want to get into any violations of people's civil liberties, and that's one thing that we've been doing.”

“I think we're going to have some fruitful things in the next coming days, in the next coming weeks to provide to our community members.”

After the Seattle Center shooting, some organizations have asked for an expansion of city-run surveillance cameras, while other community groups continue to demand Wilson end the program. Sayles spoke about his opinion on surveillance cameras.

“The biggest thing for me is any resource or any tool that we can help leverage and help our investigations, I'm all for it. But at the same time, though, understanding that this needs to be a collaborative [effort],” said Sayles. “[SPD] want[s] to make it a tool that everyone believes in and [understands] that we're using it for the right reasons to provide that security and safety here in Seattle.”

But if a majority of Seattleites want no surveillance cameras, Sayles said he would be “open” to discussions. “We can provide the whys on our end and then listen to [the public] and [say], ‘But if we put these parameters in place, is that sufficient for you?’

Leadership Style and Community Policing

Sayles, who started his career in law enforcement in Beloit, Wisc., and became chief of the Beloit Police Dept. in 2021, sees himself as “laid back” and as a “servant-leader” for the Seattle community.

“The service of others, the service of the communities that I've served, the community that I'm serving right now: I want to be overly involved in the community. I want people to be able to have access to me when I go to community events,” said Sayles.

But Sayles also wants to be there for the rank-and-file officers and “provide what I can for our sworn and our professional staff.” He added, “What can we do to continue in our recruiting efforts to make sure that we're getting qualified individuals in here to relieve some of the long days and long hours that our patrol officers are working?”

Among the rank-and-file officers, Sayles wants to see more community policing efforts and have officers out in neighborhoods having positive interactions with community members. He agrees with the motto of South Precinct Capt. Heidi Tuttle – “Get out of your car and fix your damn face” – and wants more of that thinking among officers in all the precincts.

“What Captain Tuttle was saying, ‘Fix your face,’ that's what we need to do. There are times where we're going to be in those tough situations, but understanding that we're dealing with people on their worst day,” said Sayles. “I've dealt with people that have been in crisis throughout my career … and sometimes it is fixing your face and giving a smile and understanding that sometimes a person just needs to wave and say, ‘How you doing?’”

Sayles embodied his worldview of community policing on Aug. 4 at the  “Night Out” event in Rainier Beach. There, in the Safeway parking lot, Sayles showed his footwork with the Double Dutch Divas, then later talked to community members about addressing youth gun violence. Jumping rope there highlighted the connection between his childhood and his desire to help the youth of South Seattle.

“It took me back to being a child, right? You know, growing up in a community is very similar to the South Park area. Like, my sisters, I remember doing double dutch, and me with my friends,” said Sayles. “It's one of those things that will bring the community closer to the police department because they're like, ‘The police chief out here, double-dutching with us.’ And I think, hopefully, other police officers [will see that] it's okay to be human. And we don't have to be a robot.”

Public Safety in South Seattle

At the “Night Out” event in Rainier Beach, several community members told the Emerald they wanted more community-based solutions to solve neighborhood public safety issues, not more police. During the interview, Sayles discussed how “over-policing” can be positive.

“I want to over-police to the point where we are there in plain clothes. The kids know us by my first name. We're having fun. We're tossing a football around. That's the over-policing,” said Sayles. “Not the over-policing of 'We're taking you into custody' or 'We're trying to prevent your movement in some type of way.’”

Sayles said he’s interested in a resource fair for youth to teach them “their rights, talking to them about gun violence, giving them ways to express themselves verbally, instead of expressing themselves with violence.”

Farther north, in Little Saigon and North Beacon Hill, Sayles is on the same page as Wilson in addressing the drug- and stolen-goods markets in the area through a “trickle effect.”

“When you start to turn on a faucet of water, you get a little trickle of water. I see this success because my cup is starting to fill up, and I want that cup to fill up each month, a little bit more,” said Sayles. 

For the area, this philosophy involves looking at LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) referrals and seeing the number increase every month. “[If one month] we had 35 leads, next month, let's try to shoot for a goal of people accepting LEADs [to] 45. By this time, we should be at 70.”

He added this can be achieved by “working with [the CARE Department], working with LEAD, working with the [Human Services Department]” and “our downtown activation team to help out with that, [as well as] our neighborhood resource officers.” 

Thoughts about Police Accountability

One role of a police chief, interim or permanent, is to discipline officers and, if appropriate, fire them. Recently, former Interim King County Sheriff  Sue Rahr fired an officer who struck and killed a pedestrian, Jaahnavi Kandula, and another officer who made “vile comments” after Kandula's death. But Barnes, during his tenure, opted not to follow disciplinary recommendations against officers issued by the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) and instead imposed light consequences, according to DivestSPD.

Sayles said he favored police accountability and progressive discipline.

“I think every case in regard to the recommendation at OPA needs to be looked at. I do appreciate the work that they do, [having done] internal investigations myself and in my previous agency,” said Sayles. “Looking at the severity of the alleged violation … understanding if this person has been here for ‘x’ amount of years, what the discipline history looks like, and then moving up [to] progressive discipline.”

He added, “There's going to be situations that I'm pretty confident, during my time, that there's going to be a recommendation of termination. And let's look at the totality of what this officer has done in their career with the police department, and let's look and see if it's worthy of termination.”

Schedules

In the days before Barnes resigned, he faced questions about his travel schedule. At the end of the interview, Sayles agreed to share not only his calendar but the entirety of Barnes’ calendar.

As the Emerald interview wrapped up, a reporter from another news outlet set up a microphone for the next interview with the new interim chief.