Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson reportedly relieved Police Chief Shon Barnes of his duties after criticism of his leadership and availability. The move matters because it places the city’s police department under new scrutiny during concerns about its response to serious incidents and public confidence in its leadership.

According to the article, criticism centred on Barnes’s absence from Seattle, a delayed public response to a mass shooting, an encounter with a reporter and questions over how often he was outside the city. Fox News reported that Wilson, described as a democratic socialist, asked Barnes to resign during a meeting on Wednesday night; the article’s title also said a Black protest was planned.