A crowd spitting nails in response to the death of John T. Williams—fatally shot by a Seattle police officer last summer—and other victims of police violence dominated the Stranger-sponsored police-accountability forum held on February 3 at City Hall. Amid the interruptions and displays of theater, eight panelists attempted to answer an overarching question: How can the Seattle Police Department (SPD) rebuild trust? Here are some of their ideas:
Revamp Training for Use of Force: Current protocols for officers using force need immediate revision said Jennifer Shaw, deputy director of the ACLU of Washington, and Anne Levinson, auditor at the SPD Office of Professional Accountability. Currently, officers are trained in cases when they are legally allowed to use force on a suspect, not when it’s actually appropriate. This stems from police academy training and the department’s own policies. One solution is to rewrite guidelines to discourage force unless it’s absolutely necessary—not just whenever it’s allowable.
Make SPD Records More Accessible: These days, discipline files on officers accused of misconduct are difficult to locate on the department’s website and lack important information (like the officer’s name). Nicole Gaines, president of the Loren Miller Bar Association, called for the SPD to include the names of the officers mentioned in the complaints.
Equip All Officers with Body Cameras: Of the many recent high-profile SPD use-of-force cases, all were caught on video—which demands the question: How many more incidents go undocumented? Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell is calling for all SPD officers to be equipped with body cameras. “This could provide a reliable source of evidence and encourage respectful treatment of all individuals,” said Pamela Masterman-Stearns, head of the city’s Native American employees’ group. But the ACLU disagrees, insisting that body cameras won’t stop incidents and that cameras may infringe on privacy.
Listen to Angry People: Many of the SPD’s 20-odd cultural advisory boards are poorly organized and their meetings are sparsely attended. Shaw argues that’s because officers lectured more than listened at the meetings. Rather than allow anger to build (and explode at a forum sponsored by a newspaper run by drunks), SPD should let these forums serve as a place for the community to air grievances and recommend changes.
Fire the Chief—or the Mayor: The underlying problem, some say, is a tainted culture at SPD that starts with Chief John Diaz and his boss Mayor Mike McGinn. During the forum, protesters unfurled an eight-foot-long banner that read “DIAZ RESIGN FOR FAILURE TO STOP POLICE VIOLENCE.” When pressed to shit-can the chief, McGinn, who appointed Diaz, said, “I’m directly accountable to the voters for this.”
How does the SPD respond? Police spokesman Sergeant Sean Whitcomb says a body-camera pilot project and a review of all training programs are under way. But releasing officer names from complaint reports will require negotiating with the police union. The city is currently in the midst of contract negotiations, so it’s “certainly possible,” says Whitcomb. 
Or how about the simplest of ideas:
1. Remove the ability for the police union and Chief to summarily undo or bury any disciplinary findings or decisions (they can do this now).
2. Empower the OPA to be totally independent of SPD and give them the power to enforce decisions transparently like a proper big city police force’s oversight should be.
3. Don’t sign any SPOG contract that doesn’t have these.
Seriously, what’s hard about this? There are like 1200 SPD. There are like 1190 good cops that we should cherish. There are like 10 or less shit cops that need to be either in jail or kicked off the force. Once the present handful of bad ones are gone, then, voila. Things will be completely normal and mundane.
Now, cops make mistakes–was Birk/Williams a mistake? If so, Birk has a price to pay, the same as I would if I made the mistake of running down someone in a cross walk by accident. Cop makes a mistake, it gets dealt with, same as anything then, and we move on. Stuff like the cops kicking handcuffed people in the head? Those are the “10 or less”.
Get rid of the police union. They are a terrorist organization and is funded by our tax money.
Get rid of the internal affairs process! Enough!
Teach officers that they are not heroes, but rather chose to do a dangerous job, and that’s why the public is paying them so much and giving them access to weapons.
NO MORE SPECIAL RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS for officers. They can not have more rights than the president!
Make officers sign a promissory note that they will be financially responsible for any mistakes they make on the job, that it will not be discharged in bankruptcy! This way taxpayers will save a lot of funds for important things like roads, schools, etc, while the officer will think twice before acting like a coward.
Stop talking about racism, in many parts of the country police departments have purposely more blacks and Hispanics because of this unproductive rant. The corruption and brutality in those areas went up and now is worst than ever. Take a look at South Florida for example. White race is the minority in the pd’s, but the departments are drowning in brutality lawsuits and corruption. The system and culture must change, not the color of the skin. So stop distracting the fight!
And did I say get rid of the police union? the most dangerous gang in this country.
Finally stop saying that this country is a free democracy! We are still funding these cowards and their agenda to harm innocent us. Our officials are all submit to police union demands across the country.
The bottom line is. This fight can only work if many people unite under one umbrella of fighting the police corruption and brutality in this country. Single people, single cases, especially those where a victim doesn’t die go under radar and nothing ever changes. Demand justice from our officials, shame them for not doing anything! Ughhhh!
And do not fight police alone. They are more dangerous than any criminal on the street. They have laws that protect them, as you see in Williams case. In fact, SPD didn’t even fire the officer, he resigned. The rest of us do not have those protections in this country.
How about the general public obeying known laws, rules and requlations and supporting public service officers whenever possible? How about billing people who file frivolous complaints and lawsuits for the costs incurred in investigating and dismissing them?
People who obey police officers requests to stop and show their hands and identification in a respectful manner are usually never injured. IMHO- people who are stopped and then resist questioning and arrest usually deserve what treatment they recieve by the police.
Support the police!
BRUTALLY HONEST @2Most murders are committed by corporate higher-ups in their corner offices(and the their puppets who hold public office on every level);to try to blame Black males for an inordinate number of murders betrays your fear/envy of them!You play word games:Your definition of “murder” is quite inadequate!Are you a Nazi or a Kluxer?
@Q8dhimmi So we should all just be good little sheep and always be willing to prove to the nice officers that we have the right to be free, and then we won’t get hurt?
No. Fucking. Way.