Rebecca Boatright

Rebecca Boatright serves as General Counsel to the Seattle Police Department, a role that provides broad legal, strategic and risk management guidance to the Department’s Command Staff and oversees a section of dedicated professionals responsible for handling day-to-day legal guidance, public records production and litigation support.  A recovering academic with a deep interest in the neurophysiology of stress and its impact on cognition, judgment and behavior, Becca has dedicated much of her career with SPD to building up comprehensive enterprise risk management structures and systems that focus on officer wellness as a central pillar of organizational success.  Prior to joining SPD in 2015, Becca spent fifteen years as an assistant city attorney, representing and advising SPD and other departments in civil litigation, including a consent decree between the United States and the City of Seattle arising out of allegations of excessive use of force and biased policing.     

Becca received a bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster (Wooster, OH) and both her PhD (1999) and JD (2002) from the University of Washington.  In addition to prior service on national taskforces in areas relating to use of force, officer wellness and performance management, she presently serves as a steering committee member for the Knowledge Lab, sponsored by the National Policing Institute, and as the chair of the Legal Officers Section of the Major Cities Chiefs Association.  She holds certifications in government leadership through the University of Washington and the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and is a 2018 graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police.