by Tobias Coughlin-Bogue
In 2006, Seattle Police Department (SPD) detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin started the Detective Cookie Chess Club, a program aimed to provide Rainier Beach youth with something positive to do in their spare time, exposing them to a game that, as the Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA once said, “is good for everyday thinking, especially for brothers in the urban community who never take that second look, never take that second thought.”
In 2022, the City of Seattle honored Bouldin’s decades of effort with the opening of the Detective Cookie Chess Park, a corner park on Rainier Avenue South, 51st Street South, and South Barton Place, anchored by a giant chessboard, itself flanked by a semicircle of chess tables.
On March 10, 2023, Bouldin filed a $10 million claim against the city, alleging ongoing harassment and discrimination along racial and gender lines throughout her more than 40 years at SPD.
On Nov. 3, Bouldin sued the city, after it “failed to respond meaningfully” to her original claim, which it had 60 days to do.
Continue reading Det. Denise ‘Cookie’ Bouldin, Revered SPD Community Liaison, Sues Department and City