O'Toole's new hires

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jul 8, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>O'Toole's new hires</h1>
                <h2><p>The Seattle Times preempts the announcement SPD Chief Kathleen O'Toole will make later this morning by reporting the chief's four new assistant chief hires: two insiders, two outsiders. And the winners are . . .

Robert Merner, Boston PD's chief of detectives is Seattle's new,</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://dev.cascadepbs.org/content/images/sites/default/files/images/article/gallery/kathleen_otoole550_allyce_andrew.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Kathleen_OToole550_Allyce_Andrew" loading="lazy" width="550" height="267"></figure><p>The Seattle Times <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/otoole-finds-new-blood-for-spd-in-yakima-boston/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">preempts</a> the announcement SPD Chief Kathleen O'Toole will make later this morning by reporting the chief's four new assistant chief hires: two insiders, two outsiders. And the winners are . . .</p><p>Robert Merner, Boston PD's chief of detectives is Seattle's new, um, chief of detectives. Perry Tarrant, head of  Yakima’s gang-free initiative, takes over SPD's Special Operations Bureau. In a break with tradition SPD Lieutenant Lesley Cordner gets bumped to assistant chief in charge of federally-mandated forms. (Typically you have to be a captain to be considered for assistant chief.) And current SPD precinct captain Steve Wilske becomes assistant chief in charge of patrol operations.</p><p>And there you have Kathleen O'Toole's new posse. Good luck and congratulations to all. (Look for our full coverage later today.)</p>
          </article>

The Seattle Times preempts the announcement SPD Chief Kathleen O'Toole will make later this morning by reporting the chief's four new assistant chief hires: two insiders, two outsiders. And the winners are . . .

Robert Merner, Boston PD's chief of detectives is Seattle's new, um, chief of detectives. Perry Tarrant, head of Yakima’s gang-free initiative, takes over SPD's Special Operations Bureau. In a break with tradition SPD Lieutenant Lesley Cordner gets bumped to assistant chief in charge of federally-mandated forms. (Typically you have to be a captain to be considered for assistant chief.) And current SPD precinct captain Steve Wilske becomes assistant chief in charge of patrol operations.

And there you have Kathleen O'Toole's new posse. Good luck and congratulations to all. (Look for our full coverage later today.)

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Monthly Viewer Guide

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue

By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,