About Shawn Ledford

Shawn began his career in 1989 at the Federal Way Precinct as a patrol deputy. During his time in patrol, he was a field training officer, master police officer, and negotiator on the Hostage Negotiations Team. He became a detective in the Special Assault Unit and then Major Crimes. In 1999 he was promoted to sergeant and worked at the Maple Valley Precinct. Shawn was selected to be the Chief of Police for the City of Newcastle (KCSO partner city) where he worked for five years.

In 2006 Shawn was promoted to captain and worked at the Southwest Precinct (Burien). He transferred to the North Precinct (Kenmore) as the operations captain. As a captain he also worked assignments in contracting and the Criminal Investigations Division. In 2012 Shawn was selected by the City of Shoreline (KCSO partner city) to be their police chief. Shawn worked as the Shoreline Chief for nearly ten years before being promoted to Division Chief with the Sheriff’s Office. Shawn was the Patrol Operations Division Chief for one year and transferred to the Criminal Investigations Division in January 2023.

Shawn has worked hard to promote community policing and setting the expectations to treat people in a fair and objective manner. He also understands that many of the issues that law enforcement members deal with on a daily basis have a nexus to behavioral health issues; often fueled by drug, or alcohol abuse. In 2015 the Shoreline Police Department submitted for and received a Department of Justice, smart policing grant for RADAR – Response Awareness De-Escalation and Referral. The program (RADAR) provides information to officers up front to try and reduce use of force incidents. It also pairs mental health professionals with officers to follow-up with people in need and connect them to behavioral health services. In 2018 the cities of Bothell, Kenmore, Kirkland and Lake Forest Park joined the RADAR program. The cities work collaboratively and have been funded by King County Mental Illness Drug Dependency funds, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chief grants and a second Department of Justice grant.

Chief Ledford has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in sociology and criminology from Western Washington University.