Bellingham police chief Doll announces plans to retire; Simon to be interim chief
Bellingham Police Department Chief Dave Doll announced Thursday that he will retire after a 40-year career with the department effective Jan. 4, 2021.
In announcing his retirement, Doll thanked the men and women of the department.
“It has been an outright privilege to grow with you, work alongside you and ultimately lead you as your Chief,” Doll said in a city news release Dec. 3. “Your dedication, professionalism, sacrifice and commitment to serving all our community is what makes and has always made our department one of the best in this nation.”
Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood will appoint Deputy Chief Flo Simon to Interim Police Chief, and the city will conduct a search for a permanent replaced during the first half of next year, according to the release. Simon currently serves as Deputy Chief of Operations, and she will become the first woman to lead the Bellingham Police Department, Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
“Chief Doll has provided excellent leadership and quality police work throughout his career with Bellingham Police,” Mayor Seth Fleetwood said in the release. “It has been my good fortune to be able to rely on his skills and experience especially during these challenging months navigating COVID-19 and calls for social justice and law enforcement reform. He has been a key member of my management team and will be missed.”
Doll began his career in 1980 as a Explorer Cadet with the Bellingham Police Department and was hired as a commissioned officer in 1984.
He stayed with the department throughout his career, serving as a patrol officer, K9 officer, school resource officer, investigator, emergency manager and 911 center manager. Doll received the department’s medal of valor while serving as a K-9 officer, according to the command staff webpage.
Doll served 12 years as deputy chief and the past three as chief of the department.
“The announcement came as a surprise to the Guild membership,” Bellingham Police Guild President April Mitchelson told The Herald in an email. “On behalf of the Bellingham Police Guild we wish Chief Doll well in his retirement and thank him for his service.
“The Guild is looking forward to the next chapter and is committed to providing our community with timely and excellent service. We expect a smooth transition of leadership that will benefit the department and the City of Bellingham.”
Doll was appointed to chief by then-Mayor Kelli Linville on Dec. 1, 2017, according to The Bellingham Herald’s archives, after Clifford Cook retired following more than four years as chief in Bellingham. Todd Ramsey (2007-2012) and Randy Carroll (2000-2007) have also held the post since 2000.
During his tenure as chief, Doll was instrumental in the department implementing a new Behavioral Health Officer position, modeling it after the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office’s Crisis Intervention Deputy. Fleetwood’s proposed 2021-2022 city budget shifts three more officers on the force to behavioral health response.
On May 31 of this year during the height of Black Lives Matter protests across the county and in Whatcom County, Doll had removed a sign outside Bellingham Police Department headquarters that contained an image of the “thin blue line” intended to symbolize fraternity and community sacrifice.
Doll told The Herald during an interview while he attended a June 6 Black Lives Matter rally at Maritime Heritage Park that the decision to do so “was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” and that a meeting with the department over his decision brought “a lot of hurt, a little bit of anger and a lot of understanding.”
One Bellingham officer was arrested during Doll’s tenure as chief in 2018 and was sentenced to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of nine charges relating to a pattern of domestic violence abuse of a woman. The officer resigned from the department, and the city settled a lawsuit last February that claimed the same officer used excessive force during an arrest and that the department had a policy of tolerating violent officers.
Doll has lived in Whatcom County all his life, according to the command staff webpage, attending Sehome High School, Whatcom Community College and Western Washington, as well as Columbia College and Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command.
Doll said he plans to “give back to his family, chill out a bit and seek new adventures” after Jan. 4.
“I wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement,” Fleetwood said. “ We are quite fortunate that Deputy Chief Simon is willing and highly qualified to lead the department during this transition. She is well known and respected in our community and I look forward to working with her in this leadership role.”
Simon has served with the department since October of 1989 in a variety of roles, Murphy said, including patrol, as a DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer, in special investigations and as a field training officer.
She was promoted to sergeant in 2000, Murphy reported, and has supervised the bike unit, patrol and detective divisions. She was promoted to lieutenant in 2016 and supervised the Investigations Division until being promoted to deputy chief in 2008.
Simon also serves on a number of community boards, according to Murphy, including the Bellingham Public School Foundation and Whatcom Community Foundation, and she is a member of the Bellingham Bay Rotary Club.
Recent Bellingham Police chiefs
▪ Edward H. Bartleson (May 1, 1955, to Feb. 16, 1964)
▪ Cecil B. Klein (Feb. 16, 1964, to Aug. 1, 1973)
▪ John C. Burley (Aug. 1, 1973, to Jan. 19, 1976)
▪ Harold R. Raymond (Jan. 20, 1976, to June 30, 1976)*
▪ Terrence J. Mangan (July 1, 1976, to July 21, 187)
▪ Daniel L. Fitzgerald (July 16, 1987, to Jan. 11, 1988)*
▪ Donald G. Pierce (Jan. 11, 1988, to Jan. 15, 2000)
▪ Randall H. Carroll (Jan. 16, 2000, to Jan. 31, 2008)
▪ Todd G. Ramsay (March 7, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2012)
▪ Cliff R. Cook (Feb. 1, 2013, to Nov. 30, 2017)
▪ David G. Doll (Dec. 1, 2017, to present)
*Interim chief.
NOTE: The gaps between Carroll/Ramsey and Ramsey/Cook were filled by interim chiefs from the deputy chief ranks. Deputy Chief Flo Simon will be appointed interim chief after Doll retires Jan. 4, 2021.
This story was originally published December 3, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
