It’s been a busy day for the city in court. Here are four updates — if nothing else, reading the briefs might just cure your insomnia.
Continue readingTag: crowd control weapons
Contempt charge against SPD for violating crowd-control weapon injunction inches toward evidentiary hearing
This morning U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones held a status conference with attorneys for the ACLU, Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the City of Seattle. They met to hammer out some of the details of an evidentiary hearing on whether the city should be found in contempt of Jones’s preliminary injunction restricting SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons. But those details, as it turns out, are messy.
Continue readingCity, DOJ formally sweep SPD’s crowd-control controversy into consent decree process
This summer there have been two legal threads related to SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons: two similar lawsuits asking for restrictions; and the Department of Justice asking for and receiving a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking implementation of the City Council’s ordinance prohibiting the police department’s use of crowd control weapons. Earlier this week there was activity in the first thread; today there was an important update in the second.
Continue readingPair of lawsuits over SPD’s crowd control tactics both ask for new injunctions over recent incidents
You may recall that there are two pending lawsuits charging SPD with violating protesters’ constitutional rights for its crowd-control tactics and specifically its use of crowd-control weapons. This week both have filed new motions with the court asserting recent violations of the injunction already in place.
Continue readingCouncil discusses crowd-control weapons with CPC, OPA, OIG
Friday morning the City Council’s public safety committee met with leaders of the city’s three police-accountability organizations to discuss their recommendations on SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons, in a follow-up to their written reports from three weeks ago.
Continue readingRecommendations on ‘less lethal” weapons highlight difficult policy tradeoffs for SPD in use of force and crowd control
On Friday, the three accountability bodies that watchdog the Seattle Police Department — the Office of Police Accountability (OPA), the Office of the Inspector General for Public Safety (OIG), and the Community Police Commission (CPC) — released their written recommendations on SPD’s use of so-called “less lethal” weapons such as tear gas and blast balls. Taken together, the reports make it clear why it’s so difficult to make policy around the use of these weapons for crowd control and other purposes.
Continue readingBreaking: OPA, OIG and CPC issue recommendations on SPD crowd-control weapons
As expected, this afternoon the Office of Police Accountability, the Office of the Inspector General for Public Safety, and the Community Police Commission issued their reports and recommendations on SPD’s use of “less lethal” weapons for crowd control such as tear gas, blast balls and pepper spray. Here are links to the reports: OPA report OIG report CPC report The reports are lengthy, as is approporiate for the topic, and their recommendations are complex and nuanced. I will have a full report after I’ve read them all through and analyzed their recommendations. In the meantime, I caution against believing …
Continue readingJudge denies “protest tax” plaintiffs a temporary restraining order
This afternoon, Judge Richard Jones weighed in for the first time on the “protest tax” lawsuit filed against the City of Seattle, denying the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order.
Continue readingBLM lawsuit over crowd-control devices shelved for now after parties agree on updated injunction
This morning, the City of Seattle and plaintiffs Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the ACLU jointly asked Judge Jones to approve an update to his earlier order on SPD’s use of crowd-control devices. Judge quickly approved it. His order also dismisses the plaintiffs’ contempt allegation, and stays the case until Judge Robart rules next month on the validity of the City Council’s ordinance banning crowd-control weapons.
Continue readingCatching up on the legal machinations around SPD’s use of crowd control weapons (updated)
There has been a flurry of activity this week, as the wheels of justice creak forward in trying to resolve the various legal challenges to SPD’s policies for use of crowd-control weapons. Let’s get caught up. (updates below)
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