Olympia’s Police Chief is retiring. Who will fill the post until a new hire is made?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Police Chief Rich Allen will retire June 16 after 31 years of OPD service.
- Allen led reforms, launched a five-year plan, and stabilized post-2020 unrest.
- Deputy Chief Shelby Parker is expected to serve interim role amid successor search.
Olympia Police Chief Rich Allen, who has spent 31 years with the department, including serving as chief since 2021, will retire, effective June 16.
Allen was on hand for Tuesday’s City Council meeting where he shared a few remarks and heard from council members.
“The first is, I just want to brag about our police department a little bit,” Allen said to the council. “You have an incredible department filled with dedicated public safety professionals at every level of our organization, whether it be our crisis response unit specialists, our professional staff or the officers, they work hard every day to provide excellent service to our community.
“Policing in Olympia is not easy, and the way that they balance politics and high community expectations with holding offenders accountable is just truly impressive, and they do it every day, and I hope someday that our community will be as proud of them as I because they do outstanding work,” he said.
“The second thing I want to say is just simply, ‘thank you.’ You know, my dad was a cop here in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and I got hired here as a cadet in ‘89, so I was raised on an OPD paycheck, and I raised my family on an OPD paycheck. ... Being a cop is absolutely the best job ever invented, and I loved it.”
Council members also praised his tenure.
Council member Jim Cooper pointed out that Allen became chief after the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020, which triggered protests throughout the country, including in Olympia.
“You came to us in a rough spot, and I’m really proud and honored that we were able to retain you as our police chief for this time, and you really helped stabilize the department in a lot of ways,” Cooper said.
Mayor Dontae Payne described his tenure as a “job well done.”
“You are leaving our department in a really good place In terms of not just how people are receiving the department from the outside, as a community, but also internally, the things that people can’t see, right? And we would be the first ones to know,” he said.
“We would be the ones to know if there was a cultural problem internally in our department, if the morale was low, if there was a lack of faith in the direction of our department and we’re hearing none of those things, and that’s a testament to what you’ve done.”
Allen became chief in October 2021. He has led the department through the state’s police reform legislation and the city’s Reimagining Public Safety initiative. He developed OPD’s new five-year strategic plan, worked with the City Council-appointed police auditor, and navigated challenging budget cycles, according to a city news release.
The interim chief, although not named in the news release, appears to be Deputy Chief Shelby Parker, according to council comments.
“And I’m so excited for Shelby and that’s a testament to Shelby and her skills, and it’s also a testament to your (Allen’s) leadership too,” said council member and Mayor Pro-Tem Yến Huỳnh.
“We know that when good leaders leave the organization, it isn’t sort of stranded, right, like in limbo without anyone else to sort of succeed,” she said. “So I’m really excited for your next adventure and then also to get to know Shelby in this new way.”
The search for a permanent chief is expected to start at the beginning of the new year, according to the city. “The city is committed to a broad, inclusive and transparent process,” a news release reads.
The chief is responsible for a staff of 127 employees and an annual operating budget of $31 million. Of that staff total, the chief oversees 88 commissioned personnel and 39 professional staff, according to city information.
This story was originally published June 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
