(Image: City of Seattle)
The U.S. Justice Department and city officials say Seattle’s police reforms have worked and it is time to lift the consent decree put in place in 2011 after a civil rights investigation found evidence of excessive force and biased policing.
Officials asked a federal judge Tuesday to end most of the federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department saying the department has made “far-reaching reforms” over the past 12 years and is now a “transformed organization.”
The filing says SPD has made reforms in key areas including use of force policy and increased community participation and civilian oversight from the city’s community policing commission.
“We know there remains work to be done to reduce disparities in policing, and we are committed to doing so as a learning, growing organization, with a department culture where accountability, continuous improvement, and innovation are always at the center,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement on the filing.
But the fallout of the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations, CHOP protests, and subsequent anti-police marches and property damage still shadows the department. The filing recommends continued federal oversight of SPD’s crowd control measures including “improving the use, reporting, and review of force in crowd settings” and improved accountability for its chain of command.
Revelations from the 2020 protests revealed major gaps in the department’s accountability measures including commanders approving actions like the Proud Boy radio ruse in the midst of tense days with thousands of protesters in the streets of the city. New policies to limit SPD’s use of crowd control weapons have also been shaped by criticism of SPD’s approach to managing the protests.
Meanwhile, analysis has shown SPD continuing to fail to live up to disciplinary action standards.
Federal officials say the transition for SPD could be an important milestone for the country.
“Seattle stands as a model for the kind of change and reform that can be achieved when communities, police departments and cities come together to repair and address systemic misconduct,” assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke said at Tuesday’s press conference in Seattle.
The city says it has spent more than $200 million on the reform process.
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Reforms have worked? LMAO Wut??
But still training with Israelis? Same as it ever was.
I don’t think anyone of any disposition who isn’t an Agent of The State believes the ‘reforms worked’ in any capacity, and even those who are saying it are just saying it to close the case on that one.
Spent $200 million on “reform” without changing anything. Impressive!
On one hand, it clearly has not worked, so this is a bit absurd.
On the other hand, well, it clearly hasn’t worked anyway… And in fact asking myself what actual impact the consent decree has, I’m only remembering it used a few times to *block* reforms.
I mean the victory lap is absolutely nonsensical, and we need more oversight, not less… But the feds don’t seem to have any real idea how to help anyway.
Here we go again. My perspective differs from the current “fuck all of them no matter what” perspective. As someone who has been abused by the SPD on a number of occasions over 25 years, I fucking hated the organization. I have to admit that they have objectively changed the way they do business. Perhaps there is still room to grow, but as someone who has had to call them for assistance on a number of occasions over the last 2-3 years, I’ve been impressed with the professionalism, sensitivity and respect that they’ve operated their role.
I’m sure I’ll get called a boot licker and an “Agent of the State”, but I’m just a fella with a broad set of experiences, and surprise, it’s different than yours. SPD is objectively making progress.
This is the least “real talk” I’ve ever seen on here.
…says the person whose username is “Defund SPD”.
But you’re not biased or anything, are you?
Oh dear “Defund SPD” doesn’t think reform went far enough.
Nice gatekeeping
This reads a bit like the pundits that would give Trump a pass after he could read off of a teleprompter without saying or doing something absolutely ridiculous for an hour…
I’m glad to hear your experience has improved, but this article points out a few examples of many that show the department still has a lot of issues in equitable policing. The department is also still undergoing major changes as they transition to the dual dispatch system and are way understaffed and will be recruiting and onboarding many new officers. Given the departments past and recent history, I think continued federal oversight would be a good thing.
I resent your childish comments comparing me to Trump.
Cops are humans. The department is run by humans. And contrary to the ACAB mentality, not all of them hate you. If you want to change the behavior of a human, you make a correction and recognize improvement. You’d want your boss to treat you this way, wouldn’t you? Also, I didn’t say they didn’t need to continue improving, now, did I? Words have meaning, please don’t put them in my mouth, and stop Trumpifying the least bit of nuance.
In the time since CHOP, I’ve had to call them for a number of things, as my neighborhood has a lot of concerns. Among them, a man of color with a gun threatening to kill his friend, a man of color with no pants yelling at people in a bar, a man of color stalking an employee, a homeless man shitting and pissing and leaving needles on private property, and in every single case, they were appropriate, calm and measured. They brought a mental health professional in cases that called for it. They deescalated violent situations and recognized mental health problems when they existed. Much of the time, these cops were people of color, women or gender neutral presenting. It is clear that some degree of progress has been made in hiring, accountability and training practices.
How do you suppose those (human) cops would feel about these efforts if my response was, “oh yeah, and fuck you, still.” Continue holding cops to the fire, but thank them when they do it right, because there is a human in there.
Wow, I didn’t compare you to Trump… In my metaphor you would have been the mainstream media, representing a very status quo viewpoint, giving Trump a pass after showing a bit of poise for a short period of time.
Setting the metaphor aside, there has been improvement since the consent decree, but also lots of structural issues that remain, and crucial moments ahead as the department builds back from record lows in staffing. To me, ending the consent decree now, so soon after the repercussions to SPD for how they handeled the George Floyd protests, sends the message that this is a victory lap (despite Harrell saying the opposite, the statement from SPD reads like they’ve solved all the problems). That’s concerning!
I never suggested you, nor anyone, go out and say FU to the cops, I just said that I think there should be continued federal oversight as the department is currently under major transitions… Also, I’m all for giving gratitude to other humans, our society is full of difficult and/or dangerous work that gets doesn’t get enough appreciation.
Also, the amount of times you feel the need to add the qualifier “man of color” speaks a lot about your mindset and views…
I don’t know what this is supposed to mean – I described the people this way because historically, SPD has had issues with a racist application of the law, and been cruel to the homeless population. I gave examples of incidents in which they appear to have changed. What does this say about my mindset and views? Are you just being slanderous because you don’t like my experience?
I guess I understand where you’re coming from… it seemed a bit like you were perceiving threats in your neighborhood to be disproportionately from “men of color”, but I’m assuming now that you highlighted specifically instances you thought were relevant.
Generally, for these types of things I like to look at more representative evidence outside of personal antectdotes. SPD still shows wide disparities in policing depending on where you live and what you look like.
Progressives overplayed their hand in 2020 and did defund police. Crime subsequently spiked upward throughout America and in Seattle.
People who aren’t ACAB types want a good competent police force, and know they are required. Including many POC.
This irks the Progressive activists and makes them big mad. Their reforms were and are a miserable failure. People want their orderly society back, we don’t want street crime running rampant on a daily basis downtown or on the Hill or anywhere else.
Notice many of the Council from 2020 are declining to run. They know. Polling is telling them they can’t win on Defund anymore, and their names are tied to Defund.
The majority of the voting public wants Seattle to follow Harrell’s request and remove the Consent Decree.
“Defund” in Seattle and most other places was generally moving traffic operations and dispatch out of SPD, not actually defunding. Crime is up all over the place, even in places that increased police funding. We’re still seeing the impacts of a global pandemic and global inflation. Is defunding the reason there has been a rise in road rage and outbursts on flights? We’re seeing a large portion of society at their breaking point from an increasingly tumultuous time in our country.
I will also acknowledge that the department is at a low in staffing, but this isn’t due to funding, officers left. Many public facing jobs face public backlash (and actual defunding), especially when some of their leadership decisions protect abusive employees. Even in the midst of the consent decree, the SPD continues this type of leadership, which makes me nervous about what it will look like without a federal monitor.
I’ve never been all in on the defund movement, but I understand the sentiments, and think we need to significantly overhaul how we structure and evaluate policing. I think a lot of people have a knee-jerk reaction to the term without actually considering why they are advocating for it.
Apologies, I misunderstood your comparison and now resent the comment less than before, but only because the press isn’t exactly hoping for results, they want a story. As a long time Seattle resident, I am a stakeholder in SPD reforms and give many shits about seeing things change from the old ways.
100% agree with this. As someone who has been “criminal adjacent” since a teen, been harassed, arrested and beat on by police, in no way are the police of today the same as the police of the 80’s, 90’s, or 2000’s. They don’t even look the same. And they smile, where in the past they would always mean mug and try to intimidate. You new school cop haters have no idea. Most of the things I see folks getting away now on a daily basis would have meant a trip to jail, and a beat down if you started talking back.
No tabs, no license plates, shoplifting, doing drugs and drinking in public, selling drugs, carrying guns while selling/ doing drugs, jay walking, sitting on the sidewalk, the list goes on and on.
Times have DEFINITELY changed.
It’s about time we stop paying the federal monitor and his staff ridiculous wages, housing, supplies etc.
As opposed to paying for settlements for reckless and abusive policing?
The federal monitor doesn’t have the power you apparently think he does, nor does his incredibly expensive personal assistant. And why should we pay for his housing for 10 years? He can’t pay for his own housing on the enormous salary he takes?
I see a diverse and diligent SPD. Get out of the way and let them clean up our city. Get a hobby or something, or see if you’re capable of cleaning up your own life rather than turning your own self-disappointment on our over-worked public servants, such as the police.
Some of us came from very difficult circumstances and made life better by learning to take responsibility for our own actions. But some of America’s residents are making their own lives harder by thinking they should be above the law, that police -and everybody else- should feel sorry for them and let them go unpunished for crimes and misdemeanors. Well I think not. If people can’t govern themselves and want to inflict their infantile behavior on others, participating in crime, then you deserve to be removed from the society the rest of us work for.
Don’t take our precious officers for granted.
Lmao, we will knock another couple hundred of your precious babies off the force if given the inflection and numbers like in 2020.
Dont forget to tuck them in and give a kiss on their forehead before then.
No you won’t because the social experiment of having fewer officers failed, obviously. Nobody actually wants short-sighted, reactionary defunding of police, because it clearly does NOT work. We need a Just AND robust police department and criminal system to handle those who will repeatedly harm others and their property. Maybe you should consider joining an oversight committee so you can see:
1. Who is in our police department: who are our actual SPD officers? They are not racists! Do you know them?
2. What is actually happening on the streets. What problems are residents faced with on a daily basis that cause them to need police attention? Walk more of the streets and see what’s out there. It’s not pretty. We can’t afford to NOT have more officers, considering what’s going on.
A well-rounded approach would be to learn what is really happening and make judgements based on that. The only people who stand to (temporarily) benefit from defunding police are criminals.
The problem with this is that when police officers feel disrespected they often behave like children and do less work to attempt to prove their point. Not in a strike, like other professions do, because obviously there would be uproar and an instant movement to replace them, but in a work slowdown.
Policing was developed to protect property and it’s owners. These recent mottos about “protection and service” were only recently meant to include most citizens, but the reality is that they largely operate under the original goal…
Others have come from difficult circumstances and learned to both take responsibility for their own actions and hold others accountable for theirs…
Of course it is laughable to think that the SPD has been “reformed”, but I doubt that continuing the consent decree would make any difference. I don’t think that organization can be reformed; we need to find a better way altogether.
Until police are held accountable for unacceptable actions by third party auditors, change will never occur. Police departments auditing themselves sounds like the Vatican investigating perverted priests. We need community cops walking familiar beats and we beed problem officers off the force. For the good cops with integrity, I thank you.