Seattle Police has a new LGBTQ+ liaison hoping to help the department re-connect with the community

Barton (Image: SPD)

By Brenna Gauchat

Following a messy season of law enforcement leadership reshuffling and some sloppy mistakes by new its chief, the Seattle Police Department’s newly appointed LGBTQ+ liaison Officer Haden Barton is meeting with the city’s queer communities — and trying to foster healthier relationships

Barton says some of the decisions by the department’s leadership blew his mind, too.

Barton, his webcam betraying a slight grimace over the matter, responded to a question about Chief Shon Barnes’ backtrack on the promotion of a new East Precinct commander with a history department violations by saying that he was befuddled by the choice, too.

“You know as much as I do. I have no idea,” Barton told the audience at a virtual meeting organized by the GSBA chamber of commerce Tuesday night. “I found it to be an interesting choice because I -– like you and anyone who decides to Google the man -– wouldn’t have recommended that. And it went as well as I expected it to.”

CHS reported here on the joint letter from the GSBA and the Lavender Rights Project criticizing Barnes and SPD leadership for its selection of Michael Tietjen to lead the East Precinct. Tietjen’s promotion came despite a history of department violations including a 2020 Capitol Hill incident caught on video when the SPD sergeant was placed on administrative leave after being caught driving an SUV onto a sidewalk and nearly striking a group of protesters and comparing them to cockroaches. Tietjen was also infamously disciplined with four other officers for allegedly harassing a trans woman, “asking her if she ‘had a dick under’ her skirt,” in 2021.

Barnes eventually backed off the decision. In November, Barnes tabbed Capt. Jim Britt to lead the precinct and announced Barton as the department’s new LGBTQ+ liaison.

The Safe Place initiative continues (Image: SPD)

Tuesday night, Barton said he thought the decision was “quickly course corrected” and believed Britt was the “right person for the job”, acknowledging Britt’s involvement in managing previous Pride parades and his friendly relationship with former liaison Sgt. Dorian Korieo.

“Anything that an officer-level can do for you?” Barton said. “I’m the small guy in the pyramid here.”

“I’m also a part of the community, so seeing some of these things that are coming out that our officers shouldn’t be doing is also equally disappointing,” Barton said. “Just trying to figure out how we curb some of that, I’m right there with you. I’m queer and I’m a cop and I know exactly that things are disappointing for me on both ends of the fence.”

Barton, a proud South Carolina native, joined the Seattle Police department in November 2019. He worked patrol out of the East Precinct for six years before succeeding SPD’s former LGBTQ+ liaison Korieo, who had held the role since 2019 and was recently promoted and reassigned to the North Precinct, leaving this spot to fill.

Although Barton was appointed in November, he took time off in December, a request he had made months before the position had even opened. He is still in the process of settling into his new responsibilities.

Barton gave a brief overview of the liaison’s reach, its history within the SPD, and its Safe Place program in which businesses can partner with the police department to provide a “safe place” to victims of bias or hate crimes after an incident.

Barton said he had expected many of the attendees to be business owners interested in becoming Safe Place approved and that catching up on distributing these “rainbow badges” was one of the items on his long to-do list in the weeks since he has returned to work.

Barton was also asked about last May’s Seattle Police Department crackdown on demonstrators against an anti-trans Christian group’s rally in Cal Anderson Park. CHS reported here on the release of a report from the Seattle Office of Inspector General that found SPD was ignorant “of the broader cultural and political context of the rally and location” in its heavy handed response to the counter demonstration.

Bodycam video showed officers gearing up at the event, saying they were “here to fuck people up,” before moving in on the crowd of demonstrators with bikes and pepper spray.

One meeting attendee asked Tuesday night if this — a situation where many members of the community interpreted the officers’ language and their crackdown on protesters as hate – prompts sensitivity training at SPD.

Barton said all new recruits must undergo individual bias, LGBTQ+ and trans-specific training along with attending multiple community meet-ups before they start badge training. Remedial training after incidents like these is then handled by accountability partners – like the Community Police Commission or the Office of Police Accountability – and depends on the “severity of the violation.”

Barton deferred, saying he wasn’t familiar with repercussions from the video and had yet to read the Office of Inspector General’s 80-page report.

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