Seattle has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a race and gender discrimination lawsuit filed by longtime Seattle Police Detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin. The veteran officer, widely known for youth outreach in Rainier Beach, agreed to dismiss her suit under the terms of the deal. As part of the agreement, the city did not admit liability.
Settlement details and city statement
The agreement was finalized on Feb. 26 and requires the city to pay $750,000 within 30 days. The settlement classifies the payment as non-economic compensation and specifies that both sides will bear their own attorney fees, according to KOMO. The contract also bars Bouldin from pursuing further employment-related claims, including federal and state discrimination claims tied to her work at the Seattle Police Department.
In a statement quoted by KOMO, City Attorney Erika Evans called Bouldin "a pioneer" at SPD and said the city was grateful the matter was resolved.
How the suit began
Bouldin first filed a $10 million tort claim in March 2023 and later sued after she says the city failed to respond. In that lawsuit she alleged decades of racial and gender bias inside the department, describing incidents that included officers refusing to provide backup and other workplace harassment, as reported by The Seattle Times. Her attorneys argued that this alleged pattern of treatment created a hostile work environment that worsened in recent years.
Community role and recognition
Bouldin has long been a visible community liaison in Southeast Seattle and is known far beyond SPD for her youth outreach. She founded a youth chess club that ultimately led to the creation of Detective Cookie Chess Park in Rainier Beach, according to the city's SDOT blog. The Seattle Police Department's community page lists her as a liaison and youth specialist with more than four decades of service, underscoring the local profile she built through outreach work. That visibility helped make her case a focal point in ongoing conversations about culture inside SPD.
What the deal bars
Under the settlement, Bouldin agreed to dismiss her lawsuit with prejudice and waive the right to bring future employment-related claims tied to her time at SPD, KOMO reports. The agreement includes standard confidentiality and tax provisions and states that the payment is a compromise of disputed claims with no admission of liability by the city. Both parties will handle their own legal costs unless specified otherwise in the settlement text.
Part of a broader picture
The payout lands in the middle of a string of paid claims involving SPD. An Office of Inspector General report found the city disbursed $13,042,400 in settlements between 2021 and 2023 and noted that "the number of claims, lawsuits, and payments alone do not indicate fault or improper conduct by officers." The OIG report said it will continue monitoring efforts to address underlying causes that lead to claims. For Bouldin and community members who backed her, the settlement closes a high-profile chapter in a long-running debate over discrimination, retention and accountability inside the department.
