Black in Blue: Lessons on Leadership, Breaking Barriers, and Racial Reconciliation

Written by Carmen Best

Narrated by Jackie Schlicher

Whatever your position is on Black Lives Matter, defunding the police, and equity in law enforcement, former police chief Carmen Best shares the leadership lessons she learned as the first Black woman to lead the Seattle Police Department—a personal insider story that will challenge your assumptions on how to move the country forward.

Chief Carmen Best has spent the last 28 years as a member of a big-city police force, an institution where minorities and women have historically found it especially difficult to succeed. She defied the odds and became the first Black woman to lead the Seattle Police Department. 

During her tenure, she was successful in bringing significantly more diversity to the force. However, when the city council cut her budget amid months of protests against police violence, she had no choice but to step aside. Without the city’s support, she felt she wouldn’t be able to continue changing the status quo of the police force from within.

Throughout her career, Chief Best has learned lessons that those coming up behind her can benefit from. In this book, she will use her story to share those urgent lessons. You will learn about:

• How Chief Best grew up to believe in the change she set out to create.
• Her early days in the police force, including lessons from the academy and her time on patrol.
• How she progressed in her career within a primarily white law enforcement culture and the events that led to her becoming Chief.
• How she built her team and overcame the politics involved in her high-level position until the call for defunding came.

Carmen Best teaches the core qualities and mindset to persevere and rise through the ranks, even within a workplace whose culture and leadership must be challenged, and policies changed on the way to achieving that vision. Her motivating story serves as a master class in guiding principles for anyone striving to serve their community and rise to the highest echelon of success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
• Release date: Oct 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781400230648

Carmen Best

Police Chief Carmen Best was the first Black woman to lead Seattle's police force until she announced her resignation in August 2020 following budget cuts. Chief Best was hired by the Seattle Police Department in 1992 and, prior to being appointed chief, had held the ranks of officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and deputy chief. Chief Best took over as interim chief of police on January 1, 2018, replacing Kathleen O'Toole, and was later appointed permanent chief by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, effective from August 13, 2018. She became the first Black woman to serve as Seattle's chief of police. On August 10, 2020, after the Seattle City Council voted to downsize the department by about 100 officers, she resigned, stating that she could not in good conscience shrink and thereby reduce diversity in the department which she had just grown by 110 officers in 2019 (with 40% of those new hires being persons of color). Under police union rules, the last hired would be the first to be laid off, disproportionately affecting officers of color.

Reviews for Black in Blue

[1randal-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Carmen Best was the police chief of Seattle. She oversaw the disastrous years of 2019-2020, what with the defund the police marches, the BLM marches, several riots, and the infamous CHOP zone.Best served the Seattle PD for thirty years, making her way up the ranks.The book is an autobiography of life lessons that Best has learned. Beginning with her childhood, up to today.I found her to be an extremely well spoken person, with great insights into her life given openly.It's a shame that the ineffective political leadership of Seattle treated Chief Best as poorly as they did. For that matter, as poorly as they treated, and continue to treat, all of Seattle. Their attempts to make Chief Best the scapegoat for all the problems they created in Seattle is dishonorable. Thank goodness (as far as I know), Chief Best left on her own terms, with her head held high. And she did not (regrettably) name names and point fingers on the way out.This was just a sample of her entire book. The rest will be released on October 26, 2021. The sample left out the meat of 2019-2020. I am really hoping that she delves into it fully, and lets the public know of what really happened. I am eagerly awaiting the release!UPDATE: I have been given the entire book to read now. True to form, Best comes through. She goes into detail about the events of 2020, and of the CHOP zone. Unfortunately, she doesn't come right out and name the offending city council members, but as one who lived through the events, I can read behind the lines. Hopefully, those council members will be held accountable, and Seattle will begin to recover. I hope that it realizes the disservice it did to Chief Best, who really deserved much better. And I hope that Chief Best continues her service, if not to Seattle, then to the entire United States as a spokesperson of good and effective policing!

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a Washington State resident, I was hoping for more “dirt” about the politics of being Seattle’s Chief of Police during the Black Lives Matters period of unrest. No “dirt” but an excellent guide for all people who aspire to be leaders. You believe in the change you set out to create. You learn much from your early experiences, and how a black woman managed to head a large police force dominated by white men. And how creating a team approach is important in overcoming the politics of a high-level position. Ms. Best took the high road in her book while explaining her resignation as chief of police came because she felt she no longer had the support of the city government.