SEATTLE, Wash. – The Seattle Police Department is making strides in rebuilding its ranks after several challenging years. In 2024, the department achieved a major milestone, hiring 84 new officers—a significant boost as SPD works to address staffing shortages.

The hands-on training at the academy is designed to prepare student officers for the complex realities of policing, from pain compliance techniques to firearms proficiency.

“It’s serious, the responsibility we have and the trust that we’re given. We don’t want to hurt people unnecessarily,” said 24-year-old recruit Natalie Cornwall. 

Cornwall, a Seattle native, returned to Seattle this past summer after applying to the department. She brings with her a background in the military, as her father served in the armed forces. Cornwall also has prior experience with Lacey’s Explorer program, where she participated for four years before aging out at 21.

“I just really missed the kind of sense of purpose on military bases,” Cornwall said. After traveling and completing college, she decided to pursue her passion for public service. “It’s about being part of something bigger than me and doing something that matters,” Cornwall said.

For another recruit, the journey to SPD marked a significant career shift. Damaris Dominguez, a 39-year-old mother from the Bronx, transitioned from the dental field to law enforcement.

“It was my first choice,” Dominguez said. Dominguez, who will turn 40 next month, said it was a choice she made after doing extensive research into the department. “I saw they were understaffed, just applied, I said I’m going to give it a go and I think it was the best choice,” Dominguez said. “As each step progressed, I started passing, getting calls, and I was like, ‘I’m in.’ It was a sign that I should be doing this.”

Dominguez views her new role as an opportunity to rebuild trust between police and the community. “It’s important to me because we’ve had a downfall in some years. Just being able to support our community…if it can be just a small change, that means everything,” she said.

As a Spanish speaker, Dominguez believes her language skills will be invaluable in connecting with Seattle’s diverse community. “It would be a big help because a lot of situations come from the lack of communication. Sometimes they can be misunderstood, so the fact that I can speak Spanish is going to be a big help when I’m on my beat,” Dominguez said.

The SPD hiring process is rigorous, involving multiple evaluations and months of training. Recruits spend 8-9 weeks at the post-basic academy, followed by additional field training.

Lieutenant Larry Longley, a field training officer with SPD, is optimistic about the department’s recruitment efforts. He noted an influx of candidates from across the country and military backgrounds.

“Some things have changed around the country. Crime’s at a pretty high level, so they’re seeing the necessity for it,” Longley said. He also credited social media for attracting interest in law enforcement careers.

SPD aims to hire 120 to 140 officers in 2025, surpassing 2024’s numbers. 

“We need them now more than ever,” Longley said. “They’re going to be highly trained officers and professional officers.”

Despite this recruitment success, Longley noted that the department still faces challenges. “We lost quite a few officers, and we still have to factor in attrition numbers to even retiring,” Longley said. “It’s still years away, several years away, before we’re fully staffed.” 

For Cornwall and Dominguez, joining SPD is more than just a career—it’s a calling. “It’s a lifestyle. It’s not just a career,” Cornwall said.

SPD Hires by the numbers

• 2024: 84
• 2023: 61
• 2022: 58
• 2021: 81
• 2020: 51 
• 2019: 108

Individuals who have left SPD (Sworn + recruits)

• 2024: 83 
• 2023: 97 
• 2022: 159 
• 2021: 171
• 2020: 186 
• 2019: 92 

Retirements

• 2024: 39
• 2023: 66
• 2022: 88
• 2021: 100
• 2020: 71
• 2019: 45

Seattle Police says Mayor Bruce Harrell aims to have the department back to pre-pandemic levels of around 1,400 officers.

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One of the U.S. Navy’s famous Blue Angels landed Monday afternoon in Seattle, more than half a year ahead of the famous squadron’s annual air show at Seafair.

Descending through a low-hanging blanket of grey skies around 2 p.m., the Blue Angel No. 7 jet landed at Boeing Field with a small crowd of Seafair executives and news crews gathered to greet them. One photographer jokingly asked the two pilots if they’d done any barrel rolls on their flight from Oakland, Calif.

“You can get in trouble doing some of that stuff, so we don’t do that,” said U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Scott Laux through a smile. “But admittedly, it’s the greatest window seat that you’ll ever get. We were admiring the mountains all the way up, the beautiful snow-capped mountains all the way up the coast.”

One of the Blue Angels has landed at Boeing Field in Seattle.

The pilots are here to prep for Seafair this summer. pic.twitter.com/5UYyM6T3XD

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— Sam Campbell (@HeySamCampbell) January 13, 2025

U.S. Navy Lt. Commander Lilly Montana sat in the cockpit seat behind Laux. She told KIRO Newsradio Washingtonians can expect a much more exciting entrance at Seafair than she and Laux had to resort to Monday.

“The type of flying is certainly going to be different,” Montana said, adding that the low cloud cover meant they couldn’t follow through on some preplanned theatrics Monday.

Just interviewed the pilots, Lt. Commander Lilly Montana and Maj. Scott Laux.

I’ll have more on @KIRONewsradio 97.3FM https://t.co/IlB9uSBXf5 pic.twitter.com/D9Qa63pTcw

— Sam Campbell (@HeySamCampbell) January 13, 2025

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“Not as exciting of an arrival as you’ll see out of the six-plane delta here at the end of July,” she said. “They’ll come in for what’s known as the pitch-up break. That is an overhead maneuver with all six jets flying very close together, smoke on – very exciting to see.”

Montana and Laux will spend about a day in Seattle coordinating with airshow and Seafair planners for the demonstration.

The 2025 Boeing Air Show at Seafair is scheduled to take place between Aug. 1 and 3.

Sam Campbell is a reporter, editor and anchor at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of Sam’s stories here. Follow Sam on X, or email him here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/HeySamCampbell

Occasionally, football coaches will talk about something called “Hidden Yards Lost.” These are the plays that did meaningfully affect the football game, but you won’t find them reflected anywhere because another event on the field made it so that play never existed.

In short, these are the big plays that get erased by a penalty.

I went through all 17 games from the Seattle Seahawks this season and tracked the yards that were lost because of penalties.

Below are the results. If you’d like to know the greatest offender, I can tell you it is…
at the conclusion of this post.

Here are the rules and initial guidelines:

Rules and Guidelines for Invisible Yards Lost

1. This seeks to measure the difference between what a play would have gained, against where the ball ultimately ended up because of lost yards due to penalty. For example, a 10 yard gain negated by an offensive holding penalty would be a total of 20 “Hidden Yards Lost”
2. A false start, a defensive hold, an offsides, and other infractions that either kill the play or simply result in X yards plus new set of downs are not the objective in Hidden Yards Lost
3. This will overwhelmingly appear to be the fault of the offense. Reason being, a defensive penalty adds yards in the same direction as the ball is headed, while offensive (and certain special teams) penalties are what move the ball against where it was originally headed.
4. Of those, the primary offender are perimeter holding calls. Again, makes sense, as those are often isolated engagements in full view of an official.
5. There were some surprises.

At this point in the season, it appears as if Anthony Bradford might be the worst player in football. I remain shocked that he was given so much time to sow chaos among his brethren linemen before finally a fresh face entered the mix.

Leonard Williams makes an appearance as the first defensive player to join the fray. That play was so bonkers the entire Seattle beat had to look it up and write about it all evening. Even though there was a false start, the play bizarrely continued just long enough for Big Cat to facemask a dude. As we learned – twice(!) this season, a personal fall supersedes a lesser penalty. Therefore, instead of five yards backwards it was 15 yards forward for the San Francisco 49ers.

Kenneth Walker…woof.

Derick Hall was having so much fun.

Two roughing the passer penalties destroyed negative plays on the offense, while Devon Witherspoon cancelled out a big sack, and Jerrick Reed threw his hat in for the big special teams field position cancellation.

Not to be outdone, Mike Jerrell lost an entire football field in two plays.

Week 10 had nothing, followed by the bye week.
We resume:

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Week 18 had nothing to report

Results

Here are the biggest yard-subtractors, in order:

• Mike Jerrell: 98
• DK Metcalf: 72 and a TD
• AJ Barner: 64 and a TD
• Pharaoh Brown: 58
• Kenneth Walker: a 57-yard TD

Notes –

• Leonard Williams will get the nod for most defensive yards lost at 49, which surprised me because of how well he played this season. It was the result of three very unfortunately-timed plays.
• Anthony Bradford: at just 40 yards and a safety didn’t even finish the season in the top five. There were even a couple other players in the fifties.
• I’m not going to conclude the same thing about DK Metcalf that I some people will. For starters, the offensive pass interference calls are for him blocking while another receiver got the ball. I have long been a proponent that Metcalf receives a disproportionate amount of physical calls against him because of his size and aura, especially weighed against the physical calls that are not called in his favor. The dude is big and easy to see. I will admit the volume of those is alarming, and if somebody insists on continuing to try screen plays in the future, they’ve got to figure out how to help Metcalf out here.

ONE FINAL NUMBER

In total, the Seahawks lost 802 yards and three touchdowns in the 2024 season that will never show up on the stat sheet. Erased from time, almost like the picture of Marty McFly’s family in Back to the Future.