The Voice of Citizen Leaders

The Edmonds Police Officers Association thinks the City needs a pared down police department until the long-term solutions for its financial crisis are in place according to his public comments during the 2025-2026 budget deliberations. The size of the police budget grew significantly during Mayor Mike Nelson's tenure (2019-2023), but many budgeted positions have sat unfilled for years. At the end of 2024, the city had a total of 54 officers. It had a 6 person command staff of three commanders, two assistant chiefs and a police chief; and 15 support staff. William Morris, local president, believes the department could afford to cut 10-15 positions and still be able to respond to 911 calls and patrol the city, and provide a detective unit and a training officer, and fill public records requests. “We understand the community’s comments about our [command] structure", Morris said. “We see the financial situation and know we are not going to be able to hire officers or support staff for a while. Is our command structure set up correctly and our department size? I don’t think any of our members would say that we have the correct structure.” (April 2025 update: The Mayor eliminated two corporal positions when the incumbents retired and resigned. He eliminated one vacant commander position, and he eliminated one assistant chief position by promoting the incumbent to Chief in July 2025 to fill a vacancy created by a retirement.)​​​​​