DOJ Moves to End Seattle Police Supervision after Progress
The Department of Justice (DOJ) says police reforms in the City of Seattle have been successful and now the Seattle Police Department (SPD) is being hailed for its commitment to constitutional policing.
This comes as DOJ and the city of Seattle filed a joint motion to end federal supervision of the department. SPD had been operating under a 2012 consent decree which called for dramatic reform. The motion would replace the consent decree with a new agreement.
The new agreement recognizes “consistent compliance with the core requirements” of the 2012 decree. In a court filing, DOJ called SPD a “transformed organization.”
“Over the last 11 years, policing has changed significantly. And we are confident that the systems the city has built, including robust community oversight, will ensure that policing in Seattle continues to improve in the road ahead,” stated Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Civil Rights Division.
The agreement says the city has consistently complied in the following areas:
· Use of force
· Crisis intervention
· Stops and detention
· Supervision
However, the new agreement says SPD must continue to improve in two areas: crowd management and accountability. Those areas will remain under court supervision.
Crowd management was cited for the SPD’s tactics during the protests in the Summer of 2020, after George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.
The consent decree was instituted after a 2011 DOJ report found that Seattle police had “engaged in a pattern and practice of police misconduct.”
Assistant Attorney General Clarke detailed some of the progress. In her speech, she pointed out that:
· Use of force has become rare with the SPD reducing the use of force by 60 percent.
· SPD developed a crisis intervention program to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis. Use of force in crisis incidents dopped to less than 2 percent incidents.
· SPD’s stops and detentions consistently comply with legal and policy requirements, with the court monitor finding that more than 90 percent of police stops were supported by reasonable, articulable suspicion.
· SPD adopted a bias-free policing policy.
· SPD adopted a new supervision model to provide new training and to ensure that all patrol officers have a highly trained supervisor.
The agreement must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.