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.
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Q&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 readingMayor vetoes Council’s 2020 budget changes, but cuts a deal on COVID relief
Today Mayor Durkan vetoed the heart of the City Council’s changes to the 2020 budget rebalancing package, while also announcing that she had reached a compromise deal with several Council members on a revised COVID-19 relief package that would deliver $45 million this year and next without fully draining the city’s reserve funds.
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 readingCouncil gives final approval to 2020 rebalanced budget
It happened in a blink of an eye: the bill was brought to the floor and immediately passed, and the budget was done. Just kidding. It was six hours of tedium. But there’s a rebalanced budget now — sort of. And more problems down the road.
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)
Continue readingNew lawsuit filed against City of Seattle over SPD response to protests
Yesterday five Seattle protesters filed a lawsuit against the city over alleged SPD’s use of crowd-control weapons at protests, in particular the protest-turned riot on July 25th. Their allegations, as well as their requests for the court to take action, are similar to the case filed by Black Lives Matter Seattle-King County and the ACLU — so similar, in fact, that it’s questionable whether it will be able to continue as a separate case.
Continue readingHere are the cuts that the City Council is considering for SPD’s budget
Last Friday and today, the City Council’s budget committee walked through three dozen potential amendments to SPD’s budget for the rest of the year, setting up a vote on those amendments on Wednesday. Here’s what’s on the table.
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