Tag Archives: SPOG

News

Unreleased Investigation Sheds Light on Police Use of Tear Gas on Protesters in 2020

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.

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News

Seattle-Based Seabold Group Investigated Fmr. SPD Chief Best — Unclear Where Investigation Stands

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. 

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News

Fmr. Mayor May Have Pushed OPA to Delay Investigations Into Fmr. Police Chief

City hired outside firm to investigate; OPA currently reviewing documents.

by Carolyn Bick

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

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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

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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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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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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News

Fed. Monitoring Team May Have Ignored Potential Source of SPD Sex Abuse Data

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 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.

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News

CPC Lost or Destroyed SPD Sexual Abuse Data After Omitting It From Report

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.

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News

Fmr. OPA Dir. Subverted Agency’s Own Rules, City Ordinance by Withholding Information

City Refuses to Answer Essential Questions About Publicly Funded Investigation

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 multiple documents that show that former Office of Police Accountability (OPA) Dir. Andrew Myerberg appears to have withheld key information from the Office of Inspector General — the OPA’s accountability partner agency tasked with certifying OPA investigations — by submitting a case for certification and later adding information to the case report. In doing so, and in drawing conclusions from said information, Myerberg appears to have subverted not only the OPA’s own rules and procedures but also the City’s 2017 Accountability Ordinance. 

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