Marcia Harnden is currently serving as the Chief of Police in Albany, Oregon. Prior to becoming Chief, she worked at the Bellevue Police Department in Washington State since 1993. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Speech Communication from the University of Washington and a Master's Degree in Applied Leadership from City University of Seattle.
Marcia has received the Trilogy Award for FBI-Leeda (which includes Supervisory, Command, and Executive Leadership Institutes) and graduated in 2018 from the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command (Class 447). In 2024, she completed Session 90 of the intensive Senior Management Institute for Police from the Police Executive Research Forum in Boston.
During her tenure at the Bellevue Police, Marcia oversaw patrol, traffic, investigations, special operations, SWAT, and Bomb units, and served as a public information officer. She also has experience in coordinating special events with local, county, state, and federal entities and has ten years of experience with collective bargaining units at both the line and management levels.
Additionally, she has been involved in curriculum development and instruction for various institutions and organizations including APCO, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, and Oregon State Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.
At Albany Police, Marcia runs a department of over 100 staff in a city of 60,000 residents. Albany is located along the I-5 corridor and is the busiest city in Linn and Benton counties.
Marcia is a founding member of the Northwest Women's Law Enforcement Network, which works to attract and develop women in public safety professions. She also sits on the executive boards of Oregon-Idaho HIDTA and the Oregon Association of Chief of Police.