Tag Archives: Seattle Police Department

News

City Silent About Ongoing, Potentially Flawed Investigation Into Former OPA Director

Charging Thousands of Dollars Per Month, Outside Firm Waited Almost a Year to Interview Former OPA Director

by Carolyn Bick

The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.

Since the beginning of this year, the Emerald has been following and reporting on developments in the ongoing investigation into allegations of medical privacy violations against former Office of Police Accountability Dir. Andrew Myerberg and still-unnamed — and, possibly, still unknown — Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers.

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News

OPA May Have Broken City and State Records Laws By Not Retaining Emails

by Carolyn Bick

The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.

The Emerald has discovered that officials within the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) may have broken — indeed may be continuing to break — public records laws by either manually deleting or allowing certain emails to expire before the two-year mark prescribed by City and State records laws. At least one of these emails concerned an item of public interest. State law makes the intentional destruction of these records a felony offense, if any law enforcement agency should choose to investigate.

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News

OIG Fired Auditor for Alleged Misconduct, but Court Disagreed

Auditor Fired Shortly After Attempt to Open Misconduct Investigation into OPA

by Carolyn Bick

The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.

The Emerald has obtained a copy of a 2019 termination letter that the Office of Inspector General (OIG)’s Inspector General Lisa Judge sent to former OIG staffer Sarah Lippek. The letter shows that the OIG fired Lippek for alleged misconduct, including, among other things, allegedly fully certifying a single Office of Police Accountability (OPA) case without accessing information beyond the initial intake.

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Features

Community Groups Say ShotSpotter in Proposed Mayoral Budget May Harm South End

by Lauryn Bray

On Sept. 27, 2022, Mayor Bruce Harrell delivered his budget proposal for 2023, which included a $10 million increase in funding for the Regional Homelessness Authority, a $1 million increase to the $6 million budget for projects designed to reduce traffic collisions in the Rainier Valley, and pay increases for homelessness service providers. The budget also outlines increased spending for police, using the JumpStart payroll tax for non-JumpStart programs, moving the City’s parking enforcement back to the Seattle Police Department, and installing ShotSpotters in Rainier Beach. As Bruce Harrell attempts to follow through with his campaign promise to address public safety concerns, he seeks to undo the abolition efforts of the 2020–2022 state of civil unrest.

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News

Harrell’s Budget Would Move Parking Enforcement Back to SPD and Use JumpStart to Backfill Budget

by Erica C. Barnett

(This article originally appeared on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s first budget proposal would use JumpStart payroll tax revenues to shore up spending for non-JumpStart programs, move the City’s parking enforcement officers back into the Seattle Police Department (SPD) from the Department of Transportation (SDOT), and provide pay increases to homeless service providers well below the rate of inflation.

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News

NEWS GLEAMS | Seattle Police Chief Has Been Appointed, Free Eye Exams at Seattle/King County Vision Clinic

A round-up of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!

curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷

Continue reading NEWS GLEAMS | Seattle Police Chief Has Been Appointed, Free Eye Exams at Seattle/King County Vision Clinic →
News

It Has Been One Year Since Whistleblower Complaint Against OIG: A Retrospective

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by Carolyn Bick

The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.

A year ago today, the Emerald published its first story on a whistleblower complaint filed against the Office of Inspector General (OIG). That complaint contained serious allegations — including warnings from OIG leadership to staff to avoid criticizing the OPA in writing  — not only against Inspector General Lisa Judge but also against now-former Deputy Inspector General Amy Tsai and now-former Office of Police Accountability (OPA) Dir. Andrew Myerberg. 

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Voices

Real Change and South Seattle Emerald Call for Police Accountability and Transparency

by the Real Change and South Seattle Emerald Editorial Teams

Real Change and the South Seattle Emerald know that many of our readers support Mayor Bruce Harrell, have high expectations for him in general — particularly regarding public safety — and want to see him succeed. They hope he will make real progress on public accountability and reducing the harm caused by the Seattle Police Department to poor, unhoused, and BIPOC communities. We also understand our responsibility to our readers and the democratic process to hold the mayor, all police forces, police oversight entities, and officials in the region accountable through fair, accurate, and unrelenting reporting.

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News

NEWS GLEAMS | New Director of the OPA Nominated by Harrell, 16th Annual Duwamish River Festival Aug. 6, & More

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A round-up of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!

curated by Vee Hua 華婷婷

In anticipation of possible future Supreme Court decisions ahead, the House just passed legislation to protect marriage equality, but the fight is not quite over. Mayor Bruce Harrell has also nominated a new director for the Office of Police Accountability; plus, we offer a brief recap of his plans to bring more police to Seattle and City Council’s new legislation to strengthen police accountability.

On a brighter note, it has been some time since the Duwamish River has looked as sparkly as it does now. Don’t miss the free all-day festival that pays homage to the importance of clean water through art, activities, and community.

—Vee Hua 華婷婷, interim managing editor for the South Seattle Emerald

Continue reading NEWS GLEAMS | New Director of the OPA Nominated by Harrell, 16th Annual Duwamish River Festival Aug. 6, & More →
News

OPA May Have Misclassified These Complaints, Effectively Sweeping Them Under the Rug

by Carolyn Bick

The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.

Author’s Note: This article is one of two released today that discuss issues related to the Office of Police Accountability’s (OPA) contact log complaint classification. Complaints designated as “contact log” are not subject to investigation and are effectively “closed” according to the OPA manual.

This article addresses the OPA’s misclassifications of what appear to be serious, investigation-worthy allegations as contact log complaints. Documents obtained by the Emerald show that these allegations include retaliation and bias, as well as more than 40 complaints against Seattle Police Officer Guild (SPOG) President Mike Solan, grouped together as one complaint and classified as a contact log.

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