by Johnny Mao
For many in today’s Little Saigon and Chinatown-International District (CID) — if you are hanging out in front of a building, sitting on benches, or at a bus stop — the police can stop and search you with a “stop and frisk.”
Continue reading OPINION: Mayor Bruce Harrell Starts His Own Legacy of Stop-and-Frisk Policing in Seattleby Carolyn Bick
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
The Emerald has today received confirmation that the Seattle City Attorney’s Office (SCAO) told the Seattle Human Rights Commission (SHRC) not to seek amicus curiae status shortly after the commission’s vote to do so at its public meeting on April 7, 2022. It is immediately unclear exactly who in the SCAO told the commission this and why.
Continue reading BREAKING: SCAO Tells Human Rights Commission Not to Seek Amicus Statusby Guy Oron
(This article originally appeared on Real Change News and has been reprinted with permission.)
The Emerald is a blueprint to showing, sharing, and bridging Black and Brown folks through the power of storytelling. The Emerald is what we should be truly striving for as a community. Don’t just talk about it. Create a way to practice and be about us coming together. The Emerald is setting the example. Join me in supporting the Emerald as a recurring donor during their 8th anniversary campaign, Ripples & Sparks at Home, April 20–28. Become a Rainmaker today by choosing the “recurring donor” option on the donation page! —Sharon Nyree Williams, Artist, Orator, & Rainmaker
A preliminary report released by the Seattle Police Monitor shows that Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers committed violence against Black people in 2021 at a disproportionate rate, consistent with previous years. The report also suggests a small decline in minor uses of force by police officers and an increase in higher severity uses of force.
Continue reading Police Use More Force Against BIPOC Individuals, Report Showsby Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
A month has passed since the Seattle Police Department (SPD) moved its mobile precinct to the intersection of Third Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle, scattering an open-air market for drugs and stolen merchandise that had recently been the scene of two murders.
Continue reading A Month After ‘Operation New Day’ Crackdown, Impacts on Crime Remain Unclearby Carolyn Bick
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
Content Warning: This article contains images of acts of violence.
In late September 2021, the Emerald published an article detailing serious discrepancies and what appears to have been a false narrative about the events of the 2020 Labor Day protest in front of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG).
This false narrative, detailed in the Office of Police Accountability’s (OPA) Director’s Certification Memo (DCM), was based on interviews with some Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers who had been at the protest, as well as other supplemental documentation, such as body worn video (BWV).
Continue reading OPA Interviews Suggest Former OPA Dir. Retroactively OK’d Out-of-Policy Force Tacticby Carolyn Bick
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
In late September 2021, the Emerald published an article detailing serious discrepancies and what appears to have been a false narrative about the events of the 2020 Labor Day protest in front of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG).
This false narrative, detailed in the Office of Police Accountability’s (OPA) Director’s Certification Memo (DCM) for the case — 2020OPA-0583 — was based on interviews with some Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers who were at the protest, as well as other supplemental documentation such as body worn video (BWV).
Continue reading SPOG Officers ‘Were Ready to Entertain Ourselves’ — 2020 Labor Day Protestby Paul Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced on Thursday that he plans to launch a national search for a permanent police chief in April, and publicly encouraged interim Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz to apply for the role. While Diaz is Harrell’s most obvious option to lead the Seattle Police Department (SPD) permanently, Seattle’s City Charter requires the mayor to run a competitive search process for a new police chief.
To comply with the charter, Harrell will need to choose the next permanent chief from a field of three finalists, and the City Council will need to confirm Harrell’s pick.
Continue reading Despite National Search, Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz Is Well-Positioned to Staycurated by Emerald Staff
by Carolyn Bick
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
In February of last year, lawyer Sarah Lippek lodged a complaint against former Office of Police Accountability (OPA) Dir. Andrew Myerberg with the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The complaint regarded Myerberg publicly releasing a client’s medical information in a Case Closed Summary (CCS). Lippek’s client is the young woman whom an officer hit directly in the chest with a blast ball. The young woman subsequently went into cardiac arrest multiple times on her way to the hospital.
Continue reading City Hires Outside Agency to Investigate Former OPA Dir., SPD After OIG Bows Outcurated by Emerald Staff
