From the Worst to Even Worse: Washington’s Police Hiring Crisis Continues

For the past few years, Washington State has been ranked the worst state in the country for hiring police officers — and now things have become even worse. The Washington Association of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs (WAPCS) released its annual report on police staffing levels in mid‑February, and once again, Washington State ranks at the very bottom (51st, including the District of Columbia) for the per‑capita number of police officers.

This isn’t the worst of the news. Washington’s per‑capita number of police officers fell again despite numerous expensive recruitment programs at both the state and local levels.

In 2024, Washington State was at the bottom of the police staffing with 1.38 officers per 100,000 residents (which was a slight increase from the pandemic years of 1.35).  WAPCS’s 2025 figures revealed that the ratio dropped down to 1.37.

This latest decline raises concerns since it occurred just as the state and many major cities have put significant resources into recruiting new and experienced officers to move to Washington. These efforts have not been successful due to bureaucratic delays and the difficulty of overcoming the state’s national reputation for its soft‑on‑crime political environment.

Last week it was revealed that the $100 million program Governor Ferguson claimed was the “cornerstone of my (2024) campaign” has yet to result in the hiring of a single officer. Local officials blame poor management by state administrators and a funding structure that expires in a few years. By 2028, local governments will need to raise taxes to fund the increased staffing levels.

The City of Seattle is using high salaries and large recruitment bonuses to overcome its national reputation as a difficult place for police officers to work. Before the 2020 riots, Seattle’s police staffing hovered around 1,300. This declined by more than 25% by 2022, leaving the city with just 950 officers at the end of that year. While staffing levels are now slightly above 1,000 again, there is growing concern that new Mayor Katie Wilson’s team’s track record will increase worries about whether Seattle will return to its extremist past.

Wilson’s transition team featured two activists, Jesse Hagopian and Lisa Daugaard, both of whom supported the defund‑the‑police movement and continue to seek additional social services for individuals arrested for crimes. The potential return to controversial progressive public‑safety policies could cause yet another police exodus since officers are reluctant to risk their lives arresting suspects that extremist King County Prosecutor Leesa Manion is unwilling to prosecute.

Steven D. Strachan, WAPCS’s executive director, said of the latest staffing decline: “Washington’s chronic lack of law enforcement staffing unfortunately continues in the wrong direction, and we’re not even treading water. Too few officers have negative effects on justice for victims, response and investigation of crimes, wellness for officers, and reduce opportunities for de‑escalation.”

For well over a decade, Washington has often been near the bottom of national police‑staffing rankings. Yet the 2020 riots — combined with a lack of support from political leadership — caused a massive exodus of police officers from which the state has yet to rebound.

At the start of 2020, there were 1.43 police officers per 100,000 Washington State residents. Then activists rioted in Seattle, setting fire to police stations (while attempting to seal the doors shut) and physically assaulting police officers. The rioters were successful with their anti‑police agenda as the Seattle City Council caved to their demands, voting to “defund” the police.

This led to a massive decline in police staffing levels as officers became apprehensive about the lack of support from political leaders. This included current Washington Governor Bob Ferguson, who in 2020 was the attorney general — the state’s top law enforcement officer. The normally media‑friendly politician was noticeably absent as officers were subjected to arson attacks and physical assaults from radical activists. Instead of taking a stand to help officers, Ferguson chose to remain silent, refusing to condemn the violence.

This lack of support caused police staffing levels to plummet by 5.6%, to a ratio of 1.35, at the start of 2021. The exodus of police resulted in skyrocketing crime rates across the state. Low‑income and minority neighborhoods were hit the hardest.

The low staffing figures negatively impacted the city’s public safety metrics. Response times for all different levels of emergencies plummeted. For example, the SPD has a 7-minute goal for priority 1 calls, but due to a lack of officers, the average response was 11.4 minutes. Things became so bad that in 2022, it was revealed that the police department no longer had enough officers to investigate sexual assaults.

The recent staffing levels released by WAPCS show that Washington is still on very shaky ground when it comes to maintaining enough police officers to keep communities safe. Next year’s report will be highly informative. If the staffing numbers rise, then the state may have finally resolved its administrative challenges, and local communities may have determined how they will fund officers after 2028.

Yet the true test will come in Seattle, where hundreds of officers are still needed. If Mayor Wilson allows her public‑safety decisions to be driven by extremists, then many officers are likely to leave Seattle. If the new mayor listens to her constituents and prioritizes public safety by holding offenders accountable, then more officers may stay, and new recruits may increase the headcount.

Much can happen in the next year; we will see where we stand when WAPCS releases its 2026 staffing levels next February.