In response to a question about federal action in Los Angeles, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said Tuesday he expects to be jailed by the federal government at some point during his tenure atop the Seattle Police Department as a repercussion of his standing up for everyone residing in the city.
The comment was given to the Seattle City Council as part of his confirmation process. It was made in the context of the intergovernmental standoff in Los Angeles where, in response to widespread protests over immigration raids in the city, President Donald Trump has sent federal troops, including Marines, to the city over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections.
Barnes referenced the recent arrest of a Wisconsin judge and the back and forth between Trump and Newsom.
“I will do everything in my power to protect anyone in Seattle from anyone who comes to this city with the intention to hurt them or inhibit their First Amendment rights,” he said. “What that means is that, at some point, I will probably go to jail and be in prison, because we have an administration that has threatened to jail politicians and indeed has done so in Milwaukee and has threatened to jail a governor.”
Barnes came to Seattle earlier this year from Madison, Wisconsin, after Mayor Bruce Harrell tapped him to be the city’s chief. He’s been on the job for more than three months, but is yet to be confirmed by the Seattle City Council.
Tuesday’s committee meeting was the first step in that process, and Barnes could finally become the permanent chief as soon as next week.
A former teacher and school-based police officer, Barnes’ primary marching orders are to clamp down on gun violence and juice the department’s numbers via improved recruitment and retention.
At the same time, his department has already found itself at the center of the country’s broader culture wars and larger questions around immigration and free speech.
Last month, a touring group of anti-LGBTQ+ evangelical Christians held a rally in Cal Anderson Park. They were greeted by protesters, who scuffled with police. In a second rally near City Hall several days later, the department set up barricades separating protesters from the rallygoers.
The department’s tactics and protection of the conservative Christians attracted scorn from some of the city’s elected officials and progressives. Barnes said Tuesday that the department must remain neutral on the issues.
“We’re not on the side of anyone but the Constitution,” he said.
On immigration matters, Barnes has been slightly more outspoken — walking the line set by the city and state, both of which bar local cooperation with the federal immigration officers except in rare cases.
In an interview last month with Seattle Times reporters, Barnes said the department does not and will not ask anyone about their immigration status and would not cooperate with immigration officers.
“If the day comes that the federal government gives me an order to cooperate or help with that, I will politely tell them that that is not something that we do,” he said. “It is clear to me that, our federal administration, they don’t define justice the way we define it in Seattle, and that’s why we have a dual system of justice in this country.”
Washington, King County and Seattle were all named in a Trump administration list of “sanctuary” jurisdictions that could be targets of the federal government.
Seattle and King County have joined lawsuits against the Trump administration for its targeted action toward sanctuary jurisdictions.
So far, Barnes said the department has lost one federal grant that offered training and technical assistance for reducing crime. It was not clear if the loss of funding was connected to the city’s sanctuary status or broader reductions by the administration.
Regardless, Barnes said, “I didn’t lose any sleep over it.”