This afternoon the Office of Professional Accountability released its findings on SPD’s decision to evacuate the East Precinct last June. It provides a detailed account of the meetings and decisions leading up to the evacuation, and confirmation (mostly) of KUOW’s reporting on who ultimately made the decision.
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OPA investigation finds two SPD officers participated in January 6th insurrection
This afternoon the Office of Police Accountability released its long-awaited and much-anticipated report of its investigation of six SPD officers who were in Washington D.C. on January 6th, the day of the Trump-inspired insurrection. It concluded that all six officers joined the rally at which then-President Trump spoke, but it only found evidence that two of them participated in the illegal storming of the Capitol that followed. It found conclusive evidence that three of the other four were elsewhere at the time, and its investigation of the fourth was inconclusive. Omari Salisbury and I discussed today’s OPA report with OPA …
Continue readingHerbold challenges Diaz on reversal of OPA findings in “pink umbrella” case
Last Thursday and continuing today, Councilmember Lisa Herbold and SPD Interim Chief Adrian Diaz have been exchanging emails over Diaz’s reversal of an OPA discipline recommendation last week.
Continue readingSPD Chief Diaz overturns OPA’s findings of violations in last summer’s “pink umbrella” protest incident
In a surprise announcement yesterday, SPD Interim Chief Adrian Diaz announced that he has overturned a finding by the Office of Police Accountability that a police supervisor violated department policies last June when he ordered a crowd of protesters to be dispersed with blast balls, pepper spray, and tear gas.
Continue readingDurkan, Herbold announce bill to strengthen subpoena power of OPA and OIG
This morning Mayor Durkan and Councilmember Herbold announced a bill that would revise the subpoena powers that the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) and Office of the Inspector General for Public Safety (OIG) wield under the 2017 police accountability legislation.
Continue readingOPA releases its second batch of SPD officer misconduct reports stemming from protests
This morning the Office of Police Accountability released its second batch of closed cases from investigations into alleged SPD officer misconduct during the pat summer’s protests, just over a month after its first round was released. This batch contains five additional cases, two of which resulted in OPA sustaining charges of misconduct.
Continue readingOPA releases first set of findings from investigations into SPD officers’ misconduct at protests
This morning, the Office of Police Accountability released its first set of “closed case” summaries for five cases lodged against SPD officers related to misconduct during this past summer’s protests — including two incidents from May 30 that went viral on social media. Also: here is my in-depth Q&A with OPA Director Andrew Myerberg, where we touch on the issues raised by these cases, the status of OPA investigations into police misconduct at the protests, and many other topics related to police accountabilty.
Continue readingQ&A with OPA Director Andrew Myerberg
In anticipation of today’s release by the OPA of its first batch of findings from complaints arising from this summer’s protests, OPA Director Andrew Myerberg graciously sat down with me yesterday for an interview. Here is the full interview, lightly edited for clarity. Kevin Schofield: How do you feel that the investigations are going so far? Andrew Myerberg: I think they’re going well. As you can imagine the cases, they kind of range in complexity. Using the pepper spray case for an example, it was an easier case in some respects to start to isolate the video, because there …
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.
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