(The Center Square) The Seattle Police Department is reevaluating how to patrol a nude beach in the city following complaints by area residents of frequent masturbation at Denny Blaine Park.
Last month, a community group, Denny Blaine for All, sued the city over what it claims is ongoing and unaddressed illegal activity at the park. The lawsuit alleges nearby residents often witness “lewd” public acts.
In addition to being an unofficial nude beach, Denny Blaine Park has historically been a gathering place for the LGBTQ community, which Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes acknowledged in a statement on Thursday. Barnes issued the statement after a Sunday incident where Seattle police showed up at the beach for a premise check and threatened to bar anyone from the park who didn’t put on clothes – and trespassed one person who refused.
Park-goers are not committing a crime just for being in the buff. State law does not make being nude in public a crime. However, a person is guilty of indecent exposure if they intentionally make any open and obscene exposure of themselves in a way likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm. Barnes acknowledged that in his statement.
“Simply being nude at this park is not a crime, [but] we do not have tolerance for illegal indecent or lewd behavior at the park,” Barnes said. “Every person in the park should feel safe. This is something I have heard from both park users and neighbors.”
Barnes added that SPD will explore how to patrol the park to “best meet the needs of the community,” while enforcing the law, but left it unclear whether this reevaluation means more hands-on policing – or backing off entirely.
The police chief’s statement comes after calls to end patrols at Denny Blaine Park from Katie Wilson – a candidate for Seattle mayor in the upcoming November election – who said SPD should prioritize violent crimes rather than nude people at a public park.
Wilson accused wealthy neighbors near the park of being behind the push to end nudity there, with Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration obliging to do so. She pointed to a KUOW article from 2024 that revealed Stuart Sloan – a wealthy Seattle resident – offered a donation to a planned $550,000 children’s playground project at Denny Blaine Park to deter public nudity that was ultimately scrapped.
“How can people have faith in an apparatus they see doing favors for the wealthy and well-connected — a millionaire campaign donor who texts back and forth with the mayor — while the rest of us are an afterthought,” Wilson posted on social media. “Mayor Harrell and SPD need to reassess their priorities and make a clear public statement that this treatment of Denny Blaine beachgoers will end.”
Barnes’ statement came two days after Wilson’s post, although he did not acknowledge Wilson’s post.
Harrell’s office did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment on SPD’s patrols of Denny Blaine Park.
