EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated with a response from the King County Sheriff ‘s Office.
Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon on Wednesday, April 10, 2024 sent a request to the King County Sheriff’s Office, officially seeking the replacement of Burien Police Chief Ted Boe.
Bailon cited a loss of trust in Boe, who currently serves as Police Chief to the Burien Police Department through the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) through an interlocal agreement (ILA).
In a letter sent to Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall on Wednesday, Bailon said he could no longer express confidence in Chief Boe’s ability to fulfill the terms of the agreement. He added that Boe’s actions no longer fostered trust between the city and the sheriff’s office.
“I can no longer state that I trust Chief Boe to fulfill the requirements listed within the Interlocal Agreement (i.e. the conditions listed under Exhibit C, Section B, Paragraph 3, Subparagraphs (c) and (f)) between the City of Burien and King County,” Bailon wrote. “More specifically, efforts to address specific issues of concern within the City of Burien have led me to determine that Chief Boe’s actions no longer represent the City of Burien best interests, vision, and goals, in a manner that supports trust between the City and King County Sheriff’s Office.”
Bailon requested to work with Sheriff’s Office staff to initiate the recruitment process for a new Burien police chief. There have also been rumors about creating a new, independent police department for the city.
“Please let me know at your earliest convenience with whom from your staff I should work with to commence the recruitment process,” he wrote.
As we have previously reported, the City of Burien has been in a war of lawsuits, countersuits, press releases, press conferences and more with the KCSO since early March. They have not made ILA payments for KCSO police services since then, and Bailon directed Burien’s financial staff to “place a hold on any invoices received from the King County Sheriff’s Office until further notice.”
Sheriff’s Office Responds
Here’s full text of KCSO’s April 11, 2024 response to Bailon’s request:
“On April 10, without providing any supporting facts, Burien City Manager Adolfo Bailon sent Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindall a letter demanding the removal of Major Ted Boe of the King County Sheriff’s Office as Burien’s chief of police. Sheriff Cole-Tindall responded with a request for examples of any factual incidents that might support Bailon’s request, as well (as) details on why the city manager has reached this conclusion. Bailon has yet to provide this requested information.
“The request was surprising because, approximately two hours prior to Bailon’s letter, Burien was given detailed statistics on the first three months of 2024 that demonstrate the high level of police service in Burien. Under Chief Boe’s leadership, Burien PD has made 439 arrests, led by 82 arrests for public use or possession of drugs and 70 arrests for assault. Auto theft, residential burglary, vandalism and assault are all down from last year over the same time period. An increase in robbery was tied to a specific crime spree where the suspects are now in custody. These results were consistent with preliminary 2023 stats, which showed a 7% decrease for Burien in both crimes against persons and crimes against property.
“These results demonstrate excellent policing and do not show that there is a failure of leadership in the Burien Police Department. Indeed, at a February 12, 2024, special meeting of the Burien City Council, Councilmember Akey thanked Chief Boe for his work and noted the great amount of respect in the community for the Burien Police Department. Councilmember Andrade echoed these remarks, pointing out that Burien holds its police department in high regard. Councilmember Matta said that Chief Boe had ‘done a great job as the executive head of the police department.’
“Because the facts show that Chief Boe is doing a great job leading the Burien Police Department, Sheriff Cole-Tindall told City Manager Bailon that the timing of his request to remove the chief raised its own concerns. Chief Boe has provided sworn testimony in a lawsuit regarding the constitutionality of Burien’s current public camping ordinance. State law prohibits any local government from retaliating against a person for raising concerns with the constitutionality of government action. King County cannot be party to retaliatory action against the chief.
“Moreover, in response to Bailon’s unsupported demand to remove Chief Boe, the sheriff pointed out that Burien was withholding all payment for police services at the city manager’s direction, even though those services continue to be provided every day to the residents of Burien. Until the city resolves this breach of its agreement with the Sheriff’s Office, there is little need to account for the city manager’s undisclosed concerns.”
Below is full text of Bailon’s letter:
April 10, 2024
Patti Cole-Tindall
Sheriff King County Sheriff’s Office
516 Third Avenue, W116
Seattle, WA 98104Subject: Intent to Recruit New Chief of Police
City of Burien
400 SW 152nd Street Suite 300
Burien, WA 98166-1911“Dear Sheriff Cole-Tindall:
“This letter is to inform you of my decision to seek a new Chief of Police for the City of Burien.
“I can no longer state that I trust Chief Boe to fulfill the requirements listed within the Interlocal Agreement (i.e. the conditions listed under Exhibit C, Section B, Paragraph 3, Subparagraphs (c) and (f)) between the City of Burien and King County. More specifically, efforts to address specific issues of concern within the City of Burien have led me to determine that Chief Boe’s actions no longer represent the City of Burien best interests, vision, and goals, ni a manner that supports trust between the City and King County Sheriff’s Office.
“Please let me know at your earliest convenience with whom from your staff I should work with to commence the recruitment process.
“Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
“Sincerely,
Adolfo Bailon
City Manager”
Read our extensive previous coverage of this issue here.
The post UPDATE: ‘I can no longer state that I trust Chief Boe’ – Burien City Manager officially requests replacement of Police Chief Ted Boe; Sheriff’s Office responds appeared first on The B-Town (Burien) Blog.
