The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
by Carolyn Bick
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
by Marti McKenna
The Emerald will be observing a team-wide wellness pause from Dec. 15 to Jan. 2, and most publishing will be on hiatus, with the exceptions of four pieces, of which this is one, wherein editors look back at 2022 and some of the work that made the Emerald shine.
As an editor here at the Emerald, it brings me such joy to work with our contributing writers, photographers, and artists to bring you stories you won’t see anywhere else. I’m proud of the work we do, and I’m grateful to the community for responding to that work with the support that makes it possible. We couldn’t do this work without you. Thank you.
As I prepare to leave 2022 in the rearview mirror, I’m thankful for the opportunity to look back over the year and highlight a few pieces, among so many, that I was privileged to work on with Emerald contributors this year. Enjoy.
If you appreciate the work that the Emerald does, please become a Rainmaker — and help us hit our goal of reaching 1,100 recurring contributors who help sustain us on a regular basis throughout each year!
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.
Continue reading City Silent About Ongoing, Potentially Flawed Investigation Into Former OPA Directorby 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.
Continue reading OPA May Have Broken City and State Records Laws By Not Retaining Emailsby 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.
Continue reading OIG Fired Auditor for Alleged Misconduct, but Court Disagreedby Carolyn Bick
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
The Emerald is in receipt of an open letter from the Seattle Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in which four SHRC commissioners, including three co-chairs, have resigned en masse, citing a lack of respect, marginalization, and lack of institutional support.
Continue reading BREAKING: Human Rights Commissioners, Including Co-Chairs, Resign En Masseby Carolyn Bick
Last Updated on October 12, 2022, 3:50 pm.
The Emerald’s Watchdragon reporting seeks to increase accountability within our city’s institutions through in-depth investigative journalism.
The Emerald has discovered that Mayor Bruce Harrell received small personal campaign donations from both the CEO of and a department director within ShotSpotter — a gunfire detection system that Harrell has been championing for almost 10 years — in both his 2013 mayoral campaign and his 2021 mayoral campaign.
Continue reading ShotSpotter CEO and Dept. Director Donated to Harrell Campaignsby Guy Oron
(This article was originally published on Real Change News and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
For Carolyn E. Bick, journalism must be confrontational and challenge the status quo, even if that risks losing access to powerful people and institutions.
Continue reading Editorial Excellence Award Winner Carolyn E. Bick Reveals Truth Behind Police NarrativesThe 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.
Continue reading It Has Been One Year Since Whistleblower Complaint Against OIG: A Retrospectiveby 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.
Continue reading OPA May Have Misclassified These Complaints, Effectively Sweeping Them Under the Rug
