The Seattle Community Police Commission (CPC) has made eight recommendations to the Mayor and City Council regarding upcoming police contract negotiations with the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG). These recommendations, if implemented, will enable Seattle to implement a strong police accountability and disciplinary system and bring more transparency to police contract negotiations.

The Recommendations

These recommendations, which are the result of years of community engagement, touch on three main areas:

1) Fully implementing the reforms in the landmark Accountability Ordinance.

That law, which was unanimously passed by the City Council, aimed to implement a strong police disciplinary and accountability system in Seattle – that includes removing any limitations on civilians investigating police misconduct. However, less than two years later, many of those reforms had been undermined by new police contracts. City leaders need to keep their promise to community and fully implement the law.

2) Ensure the contracts promote police accountability

When the CPC analyzed the current SPOG contract in 2018, we found it undermined police accountability in surprising ways we did not even know were on the negotiating table. One example is that the current contract makes it harder to fire an officer for misconduct if that misconduct is “stigmatizing” to a police officer and makes it harder for them to get another police job. We cannot allow surprise stipulations like that one to be put in the contracts again.

3) Bargain the police contracts in a more transparent and accountable way

In the past, police contract negotiations have taken years without any information being shared with the community about their progress or even about what the City is attempting to accomplish through negotiations. For the community to have trust in the process, this must change. We are calling on the Mayor and City Council to, among other things, make the City’s bargaining priorities public, give community regular updates about the progress of bargaining, and publicly explain what the City got and gave up at the conclusion of bargaining.

Additionally, CPC is committed to finding ways to divest from policing and reinvesting in community-approved alternatives. We believe the contracts should allow for that to be done in the best way possible. The CPC may consider additional recommendations on that issue in the near future.

Background

Police contracts have been used as tools to undermine accountability across the country for decades. Protesters, labor advocates, and Seattle community members have been clear – this must end.

As we have been since our inception, the CPC is committed to ensuring the collective bargaining rights of all people are protected. However, we must acknowledge that police are vested with unparalleled authority in our society to carry weapons, use force, and deprive people of their liberty. Because of this unique dynamic, police officers must be subject to higher standards including transparency in collective bargaining that may not be appropriate for non-law enforcement unions.

We are working to find out more information about last night’s police shooting from the Seattle Police Department. Regardless of what happened, our thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy.

The CPC is concerned with this tragic loss of a community member and is deeply committed to working with our accountability partners to ensure that SPD acts in accordance with its policies, the consent decree, and community expectations regarding the use of force—especially deadly force.

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by last night’s police shooting. We are still working to learn more. As is standard in all police shootings, the Office of Police Accountability and Office of the Inspector General responded to the scene last night.

The Seattle Community Police Commission (CPC) has selected Brandy Grant to be its next Executive Director. This comes after an extensive search that involved many well-qualified candidates from around the country and input from the Seattle community. Her selection is subject to confirmation by the Seattle City Council.

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The Community Police Commission has issued 15 recommendations to the Seattle Police Department in response to their proposed use of force and crowd control policy changes. These recommendations are a result of hundreds of community comments gathered by the CPC.

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The Seattle Community Police Commission has submitted the following letter, along with 15 recommendations and more than 150 public comments, to the Seattle Police Department concerning their proposed use of force and crowd control policy changes.

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The Seattle Community Police Commission (CPC) is nearing the end of an extensive search for our next permanent executive director. Before we decide, we want to give community a chance to hear from the candidates, ask questions, and give feedback. Event details and the Zoom link for the meeting can be found here.

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La Rond Baker and Erin Goodman have been elected to be the Community Police Commission’s (CPC) 2021 co-chairs.

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The findings announced today by the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) demonstrate what the community already knows. There are systemic problems with the manner in which protests are policed in Seattle. After months of abuse, the community no longer trusts the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to properly use crowd control weapons like tear gas and blast balls during protests.

Today, OPA released 22 additional completed investigations into police misconduct connected to protests this summer. In a number of instances, the OPA found SPD had either improperly used tear gas and blast balls or that SPD policies are insufficient to control officers’ use of crowd control weapons.

The findings released by OPA make the new policies SPD is proposing even more concerning. Instead of limiting the use of these weapons, SPD’s proposal would allow the department to increase its arsenal. Under SPD’s proposal, police would continue to use all the current weapons, including tear gas and blast balls. However, they would also be allowed to use an additional weapon against protesters — guns that shoot pepper spray pellets.

SPD’s proposal misses an opportunity to mend and forge relationships with the Community in this moment in police accountability. SPD is asking to grow its crowd control weapons arsenal while abuses of crowd control weapons continue to come to light. This undermines community trust in its police department.

The people marching in the streets were exercising their First Amendment rights to protest police violence against communities of color. SPD’s response was violent. SPD used chemical weapons that affect the respiratory system against members of our Communities during a pandemic. We will not accept law enforcement using tactics like this. Violence and excessive force will not be accepted as the new normal.

What community members can do

We are currently collecting public comments on SPD’s new policy proposals. To meet the SPD deadline, we are asking that people submit their comments to us by January 26, 2021. Community members can read more about the proposed policy changes here. To submit public comment follow the link on the site or email us at OCPC@Seattle.gov. 

We are outraged both by the potential participation of Seattle Police Department officers in this violent riot and by the comments made by officer Mike Solan. These actions only serve to further diminish the trust the community has in its police force.

Today, the Community Police Commission (CPC) is exercising our authority under the landmark 2017 Accountability Ordinance to request all internal communications sent within the Seattle Police Department regarding this attempted coup. Our goal is to look into the systemic issues that may be in operation and review policies that may need to be changed in order to address the systemic problems that gave rise to these events. We have requested all of those documents be sent to us as soon as possible, but no later than January 22, 2021.

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