Carmen Best, Seattle’s top cop, emails resignation notice to officers: report

Carmen Best, the Seattle police chief, emailed her resignation notice late Monday, hours after the city council made good on its promise to approve sweeping proposals that would cut about 100 officers and slash the department’s budget. 

Best’s email, which was obtained by Jason Rantz, a local radio host, said that her retirement will be effective Sept. 2.

“I wanted you to hear this from me, but some media have reached this conclusion on their own,” she wrote. “This was a difficult decision for me, but when it’s time, it’s time.”

She thanked Mayor Jenny Durkan for her “her continuous support” and said that the Seattle PD is “truly the best police department in the country, and please trust me when I say, the vast majority of  the people in Seattle support you and appreciate you.”