Really excited about this morning.
There's a lot to be excited about.
I want to thank you
for coming here at City Hall in an interesting time.
I'll just leave it at that.
As we look at transitions and, a lot of great work that's been done.
But more important than the great work that will be done in the future.
And that's why I think it's very appropriate for us
to take the time to look at what Bonnie Glenn was, has done
and will do during her oath of office during this ceremony.
So she was, of course, unanimously confirmed by the City council
as the director of the Office of Police Accountability.
And we should be very proud about that.
I know many people from the officer here.
She's joined, of course, by her mother, a leader in her own right who,
I can I could go on and on about miss Glenn,
but I want simple simply to say that.
Thank you for always,
supporting me and being there for me as a young person here at the city hall.
And you've been a mentor and a friend over the years.
And it's no surprise that when I came out the way she did, she was supposed to
here mentorship and to listen to that as a mother.
As you all know, public safety is our one of our highest priorities.
And in that quest for strong and effective public safety accountability
and right there with accountability is something that you earn.
You have to prove it every single day.
We all try to hold ourselves accountable to whomever
we think we are accountable to.
But when it comes to police accountability,
given what we've seen in this country, not just in the last ten, 15 and 20 years,
historically we've seen unreasonable force.
We've seen cruelty receive inhumane treatment.
We've also seen acts of heroism.
Acts of greatest bravery, acts of kindness
that when policing is done well, it's a beautiful thing to protect people.
And so this calibration of this balance between police
accountability and excellence in policing is what we strive for.
And we can only get there unless we have a leader like Bonnie Glenn
or understands
the importance of making sure that everyone's seen equal under the law.
And I used to say to police officers that
when you are
approaching someone, I want you to be able to see yourself
in that person your mother, your father, your son, your daughter.
I want you to see a person who needs help.
That's someone who's a threat.
And if you look at it through that lens, we do incredible things.
And Bonnie has proven herself as a worthy leader in this space.
And it's a very difficult space.
I want to recognize my chief of staff, Andrew Meyerberg, who took that position,
and he looks, he's only 30 years old.
Has a job and he's about 20.
And you see. It was.
I'm going to go out with a few last jokes.
You know, I'm going to go out swinging about a few folks here.
But in all seriousness, Andrew set a very high bar, and,
I was very proud when I was on the council to, you know, through your confirmation.
And, Bonnie, you have just a remarkable job
since you've been in a little bit about our background with those
those that don't know.
First of all, she is a true, true husky.
I knew her when she was an undergraduate.
I think I was in law school at the time, and she had some friends that were in
a sorority, and I was in a maternity, and we befriended one another,
and I tell the story.
Yeah.
This might be last opportunity to tell story.
So if I didn't, I was sort of, I have to the story I told before, actually.
So you've heard it before. But it's a true story.
So, my buddy and I were, she was a broke undergraduate,
like we all were when we were in college, and she had a car accident.
And, you know, I was the guy that always had the hood.
Got me the plumber.
I got a hookup.
You need a contractor, I need a can. I got a hookup.
And somebody said, hey, I need someone to fix my car, so I got to go.
Let's go talk to this guy.
So I talked to this guy, and I said, you know,
she's, doesn't have a lot of money here.
She's got good credit.
But when he picked up his car, he looks at the car.
There's a car he's with. She's with me.
And and he says, I can fix this car.
Are you seeing her?
I said, no, no, she's my she's just a friend.
Just a friend.
I said, she's single.
I don't know if she's.
This person.
So I go up to her, I see my dating, you know, she says no, do.
That's all I wanted to know.
So I go back and I said, yeah, so.
And, he gives an estimate.
And I had made it very clear that she had a house.
I, you know, didn't have gobs of cash in.
And then I said, you guys both seem
to be somewhat interested in each other, so I'll just take them there.
And that became her husband.
So that was
so my joke always was that,
I said, you know, I think it was many, many years over here at your house
for a party or something and says, hey, find it. Okay. That Bill.
You really
you really do anything to get up here that.
And of course,
she finished college and went to a Catholic university,
American school, come out of school of Law and had a great,
king guy crossing a journey.
She joined the US as deputy director in September 23rd.
And prior to that, she was also an administrative
law judge at the state's Office of Administrative State of Hearings.
So she was extremely well qualified for this position
and an exemplary record in community service.
And one example would be of
many is her service on the Washington State and Oregon Justice Commission,
which that commission seeks to foster and support a fair
and bias free system of justice in our courts and judicial systems.
And I know you work at the youth in law form and just other activities.
President of Marvin, a bar association, which is like,
lawyer association, just
exemplary in terms of community service as well, really a community leader.
So your success as an interim director sort of speaks for itself and shows
that you're more than capable of doing this job in a real critical time.
So, on behalf of the city, I'll be able to say in a month or two,
just as a regular resident, on behalf of the residents of the cities.
Yeah, we thank you for taking this job
because, yeah, one of the challenges in your job
and I shared this and I said there's not a lot of victories.
In other words, if you find that force was that reasonable
processes could have been done implemented better?
Well, then an officer or the police department may frown
upon that said, well, we thought we did this, yada. Yeah.
I mean, on the other hand, if you found that force was reasonable
and the processes were correct, the public will say
once again, they just sided with, in a biased situation.
So you're always that's like my job.
I always think that you're always checking off somebody.
But if you have that strong North Star
and if you go to bed at night, you know you did the right thing.
And I have to again commend the people in your organization.
They do the same work day in, day out.
So the victories
are when you go home, you know, you're doing work,
you're taking jobs that they just know that.
Is it an unseen victory, that all of you and the organization
does that we are all very, very lucky.
So having said that, we'll proceed with the oath of office by our city clerk,
Sharon, that you might lose here and come forward.
And her ceremonial pin of yours will be fixed by her mother, Regina Glenn.
And just for those who don't know, her mother was a former director at the city,
director of licensing and consumer affairs department under Mayor Royer.
And she should know that all of us young single interns all had crushes
on her back.
On this, as it was an intern here.
And she paved the way for many of us.
And her paving the way, Regina just continues to this very day here in 2025.
So let's do the ceremony.
Okay? And.
- You repeat after me.
All right. - I, Bonnie
J. Glenn, - swear that I possess all of the qualifications.
- Swear that I possess all of the qualifications - prescribed
in the Seattle City charter, - prescribed in Seattle City charter and Seattle.
This offer is the code for the position of director of the Office of Aid.
For the position of the Seattle office.
As director of the Seattle Office of Police Accountability.
- That I will support the Constitution of the United States.
- I will support the Constitution of the United States,
- the Constitution of the State of Washington,
- the Constitution for the State of Washington,
- and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle,
- and the Charter and Ordinances of the City of Seattle.
- And that I will faithfully conduct myself,
like myself,
as director of the Office of Police Accountability
- as the Director of Office of Police Accountability.
- Congratulations.
- And for the pinning on.
- Wow. You know, that's, very meaningful to me in so many different ways.
Obviously, this day to day.
And also my mom, I wasn't I didn't know if you were going to bring that up,
but my mom is a former director,
and so I don't know how many mother directors that there are in daughters
in the country, as well as African-American.
And so I'm very, very proud of that.
I'd like to first, thank you, Mayor Harrell,
for your kind remarks and confidence me to lead the Seattle Office
of Police Accountability.
It is truly an honor and a privilege,
to lead and serve this office on behalf of the city of Seattle.
I believe in my community service,
and my professional career experience has prepared me, for this important work.
Some of the things, as you mentioned, as a judge serving
previously for India, partial independent decisions.
Right.
Whether it's a lead assistant city attorney,
both in the criminal and civil division,
as well as as a prosecutor and deputy chief of staff, and also the,
years of service at the Department of Social and Health Services.
But it was as a director in JRA, the Juvenile
Rehabilitation Administration, helping people with reentry,
getting reconnected, important that some of the stuff we do
and building trust and all of that
with the people who come before us and the citizens
and also, the work, as assistant to the secretary
and also with the services and working with the Office of Juvenile Justice
and Prevention and all of those things in the services to help people,
people with mental health, all kinds of issues in which we can help
get people back on their feet and on to success.
With that said, I believe each of these experiences
and I will also add one other, is that I have been an adjunct faculty
for 18 years, at Seattle University.
I see we have a lot in the audience.
Right? It's right there. And it's true. I've been doing that.
I've done it. I've actually taught at the law school.
I've also, obviously the university as a whole.
I currently am a Board of Regents, Seattle University,
but also a Husky as well, is also Seattle, with my experience.
But I do have a deep commitment to inspiring others and helping people
reach their potential where they would like to be something of
who I am, to connect people and bridges and things in order.
And I think that's important in this position, and always to be open.
With other.
So I do believe each of these experiences brought me to this moment to lead
and shepherd, this important work in office.
I want to thank my
experience and dedicated and incredible staff, many who are here
today, both so civilian and sworn in for uniform, are incredible.
They work every day to ensure our mission and vision
to safeguard a culture of accountability within the Seattle police Department.
And I think you described it very well.
Well, Mayor Harrell, you know, it's basically
being sleep at night that it's, you know, partial, independent by process.
And as we go through, based on the evidence provided. Right.
Those are our wins at times
and making sure that things are running as efficiently.
And we're working and continuing to work on that, to take that to the next level.
Also, I'd like to thank the Seattle City Council,
you know, obviously Chair Kettle of public safety here
and all the council, Sarah Nelson and the entire council for your kind
words and insight at the at my confirmation.
Thank you for your confidence in me and the council as a whole.
Lastly,
I'd like to thank my family for their unconditional love and support.
My mother here came on behalf of the bunch.
Sometimes I call them the Wild Bunch.
But I love them dearly.
But you, they are my Northstar.
And that's what I wrote down.
My Northstar.
That brings me much joy, laughter and love.
Representing all of them.
Of course. As was my mom, Regina. Glenn.
Each of you today, I see doctor health card, a number of people.
Here today is truly my honor, to take the helm of this and service
and working with community, with police.
And it's one of the things that I see that I think I can really bring to the table
is value added, is that with all that experience,
seeing people, we come into contact as if it was myself.
I've been at it.
Every position
I've had, whether it was a prosecutor, whether it was ag show officer.
But, you know, you see yourself as they come before you.
You look at things differently. You do that right.
But it's always to do that.
And I hope at the end of the day, no matter what,
that the process, you know, everyone knows that it's fair and impartial.
And I said that,
I said that in meetings I've gone out to, with different folks here
about our body of work.
But I couldn't be prouder to lead this team and to go into the next step.
So with that said, thank you all so very much for being here today.
It means a lot.
And also, next steps and things coming forward.
We have a lot of good things in store.
And also working on that next, phase of things that we're doing
for Seattle to ensure not only with myself but also my accountability partners,
which would be the office of Inspector
General as well as with the CPC, a community police
commissioner working for accountability on behalf of the city of Seattle.
Thank you.
- That concludes our formal, presentation.
And I wanted you to know that there are drinks
and food all around downtown.