By undertaking the first steps of an investigation into the Seattle Police Department, US Attorney Jenny Durkan, the top federal prosecutor in Western Washington, says, âThis is not going to be a cursory review.â
On the other hand, the preliminary reviewâor full investigation, if it comes to thatâis unlikely to result in a suit against police. During a phone interview, Durkan says the decision to look deeper into Seattle police resulted from widespread complaints that officers have used excessive force and encouragement from the mayor, city council members, and police brass to probe police conduct.
âThere are various ways you can go from here,â says Durkan. âThere are times when the Department of Justice comes into a jurisdiction and says, 'We donât think you are complying under the civil rights law.' Then we can file a lawsuit to do that. Or we can do a preliminary investigation and say, âHere is what we would hope would change.ââ
Facing those options, Durkanâwho was formerly a civilian member of the SPDâs internal Firearms Review Board and part of the blue-ribbon panel on police accountability in 2007ânotes that Seattle's law enforcement is nowhere near as bad as, say, the New Orleans Police Department, which she described as troubled by corruption and the murder of civilians. The DOJ opened an investigation and also indicted several officers in New Orleans. âWe are not there,â she says. Court mandated reforms of police also take a long time to implement and create an adversarial culture between police officers and those they serve, she says. âSometimes that is all the Department of Justice has, but that is not what we have in this situation.â
Asked how common these reviews are, Durkan says, "I donât know how common they are." (I have requested that information from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division in DC and will update this post if I hear back.)
In Seattle, if the DOJ decides to take any official position, Durkan says, it would likely end by making recommendations about appropriate use of force in the department, de-escalation tactics, and training de-escalation.
Doug Honig, spokesman for the ACLU of Washington, which first requested an investigation along with 34 other organizations, would welcome to federal guidance. "The purpose of bringin in the DOJ is to get their expertise to help the department change its approach so it doesn't have the problems it is having now with excessive use of force," he says. "If they have suggestions for how to do that, it is the reason that we and other people want to see them brought in."
Durkan says that the review, done in conjunction with the DOJâs Civil Rights Division, will begin with interviews of groups that requested the review, certain elected officials, and beat cops. âWe need some sort of vehicle to talk to officers, to find out what they thinkâthat may be through unions or other mechanismsâso individuals can convey their own information and opinions,â Durkan says.