Seattle District 2 Councilmember Tammy Morales called for immediate action and Mayor Bruce Harrell apologized to the family of Jaahnavi Kandula after bodycam footage showed Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer laughing and joking while discussing the 23-year-old’s death after being struck and killed by a speeding Seattle police car enroute to a call.
Report reveals officers who made decisions to permit police tear gas use were treated only as witnesses by 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 documents that reveal new information regarding one of the two open 2020 protests-related investigations into former Seattle Police Department (SPD) Chief Carmen Best. The documents the Emerald obtained are draft reports that specifically regard the investigation into the use of tear gas on protesters on June 7, 2020, into the early hours of June 8, 2020. The incident ties into the abandonment of the East Precinct on June 8, 2020.
While these documents are technically drafts of a forthcoming report by the Seabold Group — the outside agency the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) contracted to investigate the two cases involving Best — they appear to highlight several key points, based on the investigative interview snippets contained within. Based on the file names of the documents the Emerald received, Seabold submitted its first draft report on Oct. 26, 2022, and an amended draft report on Jan. 4, 2023. The Emerald will be focusing on the most recent version of the draft report, dated Jan. 4, 2023. Neither draft report contains conclusions.
Despite contract going into effect in August 2022 and expiring in December, SPD did not file with the City Clerk’s Office until April 2023.
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 learned that the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) retained Seattle-based firm the Seabold Group to investigate former Seattle Police Department (SPD) Chief Carmen Best over her actions and decisions during the 2020 protests, including the abandonment of the East Precinct, alleged improper deployment of tear gas, and allegations of dishonesty in the media.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 both 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 some of the content of a March 2022 meeting among the federal monitor, members of the monitoring team, and a local lawyer and her colleague attempting to shine light on sexual abuse allegations against Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers. Based on the available evidence, it appears that allegations regarding officer sexual misconduct may exist as “contact log” complaints. However, the federal monitor appears to have dismissed this potential source of sexual abuse data without looking at any of the available contact log complaints.
Member of Federal Monitoring Team Put Onus on Local Lawyer to Reproduce Data, Protect Complainants
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 learned that the Community Police Commission has apparently either lost or destroyed survey data pointing to allegations of sexual abuse by Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers.
