Introduction

It is important to recognize that the majority of Seattle Police officers do an outstanding job everyday under very difficult circumstances. We should stand with our police officers to ensure we have the police force that our police department expects and our communities deserve. At the same time, we must recognize that the Seattle Police Department, as an institution, clearly needs to be reformed. To be effective, this effort requires the courage of the City Council, the Seattle Police Department, the Police Guild and our entire community. Guild leaders must hold bad officers accountable so good cops don’t have to bear their burden.

One of my current opponents, Jean Godden, believes that the Seattle City Council should not confirm the police chief because that is “too political.” I believe we should. In fact, that is the least the Council should do to ensure accountability. Making sure our neighborhoods are safe and public confidence in our police department is high should be one of the top priorities of this City Council.

When we see multiple instances of simple infractions turning into physical altercations with excessive force, it is time to take action.

Following are the details of my 8-point plan to help jump-start the conversation on police accountability and let you know where I stand and what actions I plan to take. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Emphasizing Community Policing and Communication in Our Training Procedures

 

According to The Seattle Times:A generation of new officers more adept at texting and Internet chat is rising through the ranks. Decent communication skills may be assumed — and nonexistent. Police training during the past decade focused more on physical control rather than verbal tactics and de-escalation.

Currently, the Seattle Police Department is working with the King County Sheriff’s office to provide new communication training for all officers. This should have happened sooner after the first several instances of excessive force.

We need to examine what is emphasized in training.  It is important that officers know how to use their weapons, drive their vehicles and investigate a crime scene.  The majority of time in officer training is spent on these tactics and procedures. However, we must realize that on the street, officers spend the majority of their time interacting and communicating with people. It’s critical to the safety of our neighborhoods that Seattle Police Officers spend more time in training on de-escalation and communication. The Council should ask for updated reports on how fast the officers are being trained and the efficacy of that training.

Once they have received that training, performance evaluations should emphasize measurable community-oriented activities and the reward structure should acknowledge community-oriented efforts, offer tangible salary raises and intangible recognition for performing accordingly.

Monitoring and Intervention

Monitoring and intervention is a shared responsibility.  When people stop bringing their problems to your attention, you have a problem.  Mistrust causes citizens not to talk and that puts both our police officers and our residents at risk.

I believe we need to make the current intervention policy at SPD more proactive, and leverage it in a way that residents can believe in.  When an officer violates the civil rights of one of our residents, leadership – including the Guild – has to call it what it is and deal with it so our residents are safe and good cops don’t have to suffer. Where there are patterns of misconduct, corrective and disciplinary action needs to be taken sooner.

As we’ve seen illustrated in recent months, there are often warning signs that are exhibited by an officer long before a crisis occurs.  Intervening in these early behaviors before they become altercations or violations  increases the likelihood of long term success for officers, reduces the frequency and costs associated with investigations and settlements related to officer conduct, and makes our community safer for our officers and residents.

In addition, the Council also needs to see monthly reports on sustained misconduct findings that include a summary of the incident, the nature of the discipline and the name of the officers disciplined.

The City Council Needs to End Lifetime Appointments and Bring the Police Chief Up for Reconfirmation

The suggestion by Councilmember Jean Godden that it is “too political” for the Council to confirm the Police Chief is simply mistaken. Our city council needs to hold the police department, and the chief, to the highest standards. This is the opportunity for the Council to look closely at the relationship between the police and our citizens.  Other department heads in Seattle city government have a reconfirmation requirement. Our public safety head should be at the top of the list.

UPDATE: We are very pleased that on June 16th, in response to Bobby Forch’s Police Plan and call to bring the Police Chief up for reconfirmation, Jean Godden annouced that she has changed her position and now agrees with Bobby Forch’s plan to reconfirm the Police Chief.

Setting Up an Anonymous Complaint Hotline for the Public to Provide Information On Officers

This is based on a reform put in place by the police chief in San Diego after a series of incidents involving excessive force. This also addresses the issues we’ve seen with problems reported, but not making it up the chain of command appropriately.  The police chief should spend some time each week monitoring these calls for incidents that require further investigation.

Speeding Up The Review Process

In the excessive force cases, the public waits too long to find out what disciplinary action would be taken. This only serves to erode public confidence and heighten the tension in our neighborhoods. We should not be waiting months to see if an officer will face disciplinary action – especially in the case of a shooting or a violent physical altercation.

We need to immediately enact #5 of the City Council’s recommendations to refer the case files where there is potential for possible criminal filing to both the King County Prosecuting Attorney and the City Attorney for review and recommendations.

Putting a Civilian On The Firearms Review Board

Let’s give a civilian real authority on the Firearms Review Board.  This means having a vote in the review process.  Everyday, we trust civilians on juries to listen to expert testimony, witness accounts, and weigh evidence to determine the guilt or innocence of individuals.  Surely, we can trust a civilian member on the Firearms Review Board to do the same.

Lets Get Back to Community Policing

We must have a plan for getting back to community policing. We have approximately 1,400 sworn officers and about 800 on patrols.  There are simply not enough officers on the street. It is easy for our police force to become too reactive spending time driving in their cars waiting for 911 calls.

Offers must get out of cars and meet with people. We must have a police force that meets with our businesses, neighborhood leaders and everyday citizens to understand  their perspective in making their neighborhood safer. Our city and our police will be safer if our officers are engaged and involved in our neighborhoods. This is a value statement that needs to be reinforced in every level of police activity. My opponent Jean Godden has been silent on these issues and the stakes are just to high.  During her two terms the City has paid out millions for police related claims.  These are dollars that could be used to improve training, expand intervention, and hire more officers.  Jean Godden has not made this a high enough priority.  Public safety is our duty to our residents.  We simply can’t afford to put off action any longer.