‘It’s the right time’: Edmonds police chief talks retirement, budget woes

EDMONDS — Police Chief Michelle Bennett knew she wanted to work in policing at 15 years old.

Now, she’s set to retire after a 35-year career at law enforcement agencies around Snohomish and King counties. She’s leaving as Edmonds faces a deep financial crisis that could jeopardize the future of the department she led.

In 1989, Bennett began her policing career at the Edmonds Police Department, interning as a police cadet. After a brief stint as a store loss prevention detective, she worked for the King County Sheriff’s Office for 28 years. She worked her way up to become police chief in Maple Valley in 2004 and Sammamish’s police chief a few years later. She retired in 2019.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“That was tough,” Bennett said.

Her mother was one of the first victims of the virus in March 2020. She was also going through a divorce and homeschooling her four children.

In March 2021, Jim Lawless, the acting Edmonds chief at the time, stepped down. The prior chief, Al Compaan, had stayed in touch with Bennett since her internship at Edmonds. He encouraged her to apply for the open acting chief job. Bennett changed her schedule around so she had most of the week free, and, after all, she was only supposed to be in the role for six months.

But in August of that year, Mike Nelson, who was Edmonds mayor at the time, appointed Bennett as chief permanently.

“The people here are just amazing,” Bennett said. “The community is amazing. The city staff are amazing. The officers are so caring and empathetic and kind and just really good. I thought, ‘I think I might want to stay here,’ much to the chagrin of my family, I’m sure, at the time.”

She also felt she could accomplish a lot. She led the digitization of the department’s systems, including payroll, training and police complaints. She continued Compaan’s efforts to increase diversity in recruitment. Half of the department’s staff come from non-traditional personal or professional backgrounds and 28% of officers are women, almost reaching the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s goal of 30% by 2030.

Bennett was the first woman police chief in Edmonds, Maple Valley and Sammamish, but she “hasn’t really thought about it in those terms.”

“I’ve had a lot of people in the community bring their daughters up, like, ‘Look, she’s the police chief.’ That’s really cool,” Bennett said. “But at this point, for the most part, in policing it’s not about being male or female, it’s just, can you do the job?”

Another one of Bennett’s goals was increasing community policing efforts. In 2022, Edmonds built a new neighborhood city hall off Highway 99, allowing the department to create bike patrols in more neighborhoods and at community events. Bennett also helped implement the department’s body camera system, started using drones and moved its domestic violence advocate and parking enforcement positions to full time. The department was also looking into a marine unit, a take-home vehicle program and securing the police station perimeter.

‘I’ll go first’

But the city’s financial crisis, which Bennett said felt “sudden,” disrupted a lot of these plans.

The future of the Edmonds Police Department is not entirely certain as the city looks to bridge a $13 million deficit. Recently, department officials have met with the Snohomish and King County sheriff’s offices to explore contracting options. These meetings are merely exploratory, Bennett said, but are necessary in case voters shut down cost-cutting measures — annexation into South County Fire and a levy lid lift — in the special election in April. The police department has already cut $3.6 million from its budget, Bennett said, including some staff positions.

“There’s a lot of great people that work here that hopefully will carry that on eventually, when we don’t have a structured deficit financially in the department,” Bennett said.

Many of the programs the department hopes to implement already exist at the sheriff’s offices, Bennett added, and the community’s priorities are most important moving forward.

“At some point there’s no more to cut, and things cost money,” Bennett said. “So if we don’t want more economic development, bigger businesses, car lots, Costcos or whatever it might be that brings in tax dollars, well then we have to give up some services.”

Will Morris, president of the Edmonds Police Officers Association, disagrees with the notion there isn’t more to cut. He said he would like to see Bennett advocate against contracting services to a county office.

“The level of service to our community would go down, and the community engagement and actually knowing officers who stay in one place for their career would go away,” Morris said.

Despite the differences between Bennett and the union right now, Morris said the union congratulates and thanks Bennett for her 35 years of service.

The budget crisis, coupled with wanting to spend more time with her family, led Bennett to announce her retirement in October. “It’s the right time,” she said.

“It is really hard losing good people,” she said, “and I had said right at the beginning, ‘Hey, if we’ve got to lay anybody off, I’ll go first, I’ve already retired once.’”

Bennett’s last day is Feb. 15. Rosen will choose an interim chief to begin Feb. 16. The city must then begin recruitment within 30 days, starting with surveys of community members, police staff and the City Council.

“Choosing the right police chief for Edmonds is a critical decision that will impact the safety, well-being, and trust of the community for years to come,” Rosen said in a written statement. “The police chief sets the tone for law enforcement operations, shaping the department’s culture, policies, and approach to community policing. The right police chief must have experience and integrity but also the ability to adapt to evolving challenges facing our community.”

Bennett currently commutes two-and-a-half to three hours a day, and is looking forward to having more time with her children, whose ages range from 7 to 21.

During her retirement, Bennett plans to continue her 25 years of teaching part time at colleges around the country. In 2008, she received a doctorate in education, inspired by her father and stepmother, who are educators. She’s also looking forward to working on home improvement projects and spending more time with her parents and friends.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.