Before work, Sergeant Rich O’Neill dons a blue Seattle Police Department (SPD) uniform, pins on a badge, and begins his commute—just like 1,250 other Seattle police officers and sergeants. But O’Neill never actually patrols Seattle streets. In fact, he hasn’t worked a shift as a cop since 2006, but Seattle residents still pay him $109,703 a year.
O’Neill, 52, is the president of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild (SPOG), the union representing all the city’s beat cops. He retains the title of “sergeant” per the terms of the city contract that he negotiates on behalf of Seattle officers. His other primary function is speaking on behalf of these officers, who are prohibited by the SPD from commenting to the press. But as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) begins an investigation into excessive use of force and discriminatory policing exhibited by Seattle police officers, many are calling O’Neill SPD’s biggest public relations problem.
“Rich O’Neill does a great deal of damage to the community’s perception of officers,” says Nicole Gaines, president of the Loren Miller Bar Association, a civil rights group that’s working with the DOJ on its investigation. Gaines argues that O’Neill doesn’t just speak for officers—his rhetoric pits them against the public they’re sworn to protect.
Others put it more bluntly:
“The city pays Rich O’Neill to be a total dick,” says a city hall staffer familiar with current police contract negotiations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “That’s his job—being a total dick. That’s what the public sees.”
O’Neill didn’t return several calls for comment (his secretary said he would probably never call back). But his words in the Guardian, SPOG’s monthly newspaper, and his actions speak for themselves.
“It is extremely frustrating when individuals with zero police training feel qualified to voice their opinions on police actions,” O’Neill lamented in the Guardian about recent police scrutiny. What was so “frustrating”? The media “frenzy” and public outcry after several controversial incidents that led to the federal investigation of the SPD: Officer Ian Birk fatally shooting John T. Williams (the shooting was found unjustified), Detective Shandy Cobane threatening to “beat the fucking Mexican piss” out of an innocent suspect (an internal investigation reportedly has recommended Cobane be fired), an undercover officer kicking a juvenile who had his hands up (the Washington State Patrol is currently investigating the officer), and others.
The Guardian also regularly publishes inflammatory articles—joking about shooting African Americans and showing contempt for civilian oversight, for example—all written by Seattle officers within O’Neill’s fold. For example, last fall, Officer Steve Pomper wrote that city officials conducting racial and social justice training are “the enemy” and “the city is inflicting its socialist policies” on officers. Pomper is now the subject of an SPD investigation (the exact nature of the investigation is still undisclosed).
Meanwhile, O’Neill has stood behind the most controversial cops. He calls Birk “a good young man.” In defending Pomper, he writes, “Many in Seattle can be very intolerant of anyone who is not a left-leaning Democrat.”
But while O’Neill stands by his rhetoric as a matter of the union’s free speech, the department is trying to do damage control. “It doesn’t do the union any good or the department any good,” Police Chief John Diaz said at a community meeting in January. “You can’t hide and just say, ‘Well, this is my union paper.’ It’s there for anyone to take a look at. It reflects badly. It degrades trust in our police department.”
“Without trust, police officers can’t do their jobs,” says US Attorney Jenny Durkan, the top prosecutor in Washington, whose office is leading the investigation into the SPD with the DOJ. While investigating use-of-force complaints, Durkan says her team will examine issues of trust and make recommendations to the department. “Officers rely on citizens to give them good information, to let them patrol their streets,” she continues. “Trust goes to the heart of safety. They have to trust that they’re welcome—that they can get out of their cars and be safe. It’s the linchpin to good policing.”
Seattle police officers are the highest paid law enforcement officers in the state. The wages start at $64,000, and after a decade of service, most officers make well over $100,000 a year, including overtime. But instead of building community trust, their most public face, O’Neill, is overtly political and confrontational.
For example, O’Neill has used his paid position to campaign against candidates he dislikes. In 2009, he and SPOG members picketed city attorney candidate Pete Holmes, who used to serve on a police oversight panel. O’Neill and others blocked his campaign signs and accused him of “divisiveness” and “grandstanding.” And last year, O’Neill clashed with Holmes again (who won the election for city attorney despite SPOG’s campaigning), this time when Holmes suggested that cash-poor Seattle use city attorneys to defend misconduct lawsuits against Seattle officers instead of the highly priced private firm Stafford Frey Cooper. O’Neill’s response? “We will file legal action against the city,” he said.
SPD won’t directly comment on O’Neill’s behavior. But city officials are aware that he is a public relations liability. “In city hall, there’s general agreement that Rich’s comments are not helpful to his own cause,” said a city council member who asked to remain anonymous.
The DOJ investigation into SPD’s police misconduct and public trust issues has no timeline, Durkan says. And thus far, O’Neill appears to be playing nice. “[SPOG’s] statements to us have always been, ‘We’ll be as cooperative as we can be,'” says Durkan.
But whether or not the DOJ finds O’Neill and the union to be part of the problem, it’s unlikely that the city can be rid of him anytime soon. In January, union officers reelected O’Neill to his third three-year term with over 78 percent of the vote. 
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Sally@47: yes, in your example, the taxpayers are paying for the teacher’s groceries. That’s what a salary is: the money that buys your food and shelter. If you pay my salary, you are paying for my groceries, which is the reason I work for you, not your innate awesomeness.
For the record: I’m not opposed to teachers buying groceries or to police officers having strong union representation. I think those are both good uses of taxpayer money. But I do think that those selfsame taxpayers have a right to be aggrieved when the union rep they pay for espouses policies and positions that are openly hostile to the interests of his employers, ie the people who live in Seattle.
@55:
Try this link. (And you know, finding this stuff is really NOT that difficult.)
I actually sort of agree that the reference is bad, @53. You’ve done a paraphrase and not provided a link to the closed publication from which you are quoting. This is compounded by this paraphrase of the paraphrase in the present article.
Unless I am missing the link to Leyba’s letter in the sidebar?
@51 I am a public employee in WA and “Union membership is required within thirty (30) days of employment.”
So, does this article imply that Rich O’neill does private union business using City of Seattle resources? Such as any .gov email addresses, his hours worked as a city employee, or with official city vehicles?
Ok, stand corrected, sorry. I found the letter. It’s sort of confusing to my half-attentive self.
Also I am pretty sure Mr. Leyba doesn’t understand double jeopardy with respect to grand juries doesn’t exist. You’d think law enforcement officers could be better trained, huh?
@54 “except that is not an actual quote. What you “quoted” in no way proves that they “joked about shooting African Americans”. That is your interpretation of some text that you failed to include for some strange reason. Try again!”
here is the full QUOTE:
“To some extent, I want to propose an
unusual thought to you. Perhaps there
are ways in which civilian oversight
does benefit us. Wait! Please don’t
break leather on those guns, ladies and
gentlemen! I’m not an ACLU hipster
or Urban League lackey in disguise, I
assure you. I am just attempting to
give you something to ponder over for
a second.”
Is your reading comprehension that poor? Chris Leyba is joking about confusing him with an “ACLU hipster or Urban League lackey in disguise” and “break[ing] leather on those guns” because of such confusion.
Maybe “breaking leather” and “those guns” is a metaphor for something else? Maybe “ACLU hipster or Urban League lackey” is code for white people? If so, my bad.
http://www.thestranger.com/extras/images…
@8/9 and all others who are pissy that us liberals “vilify” police officers: We don’t hate police officers in general. We hate crooked cops, racist/discriminatory cops, unnecessarily violent cops, and those who defend them. There has been a rash of incidents featuring these awful sub-species, and it doesn’t foster goodwill between the SPD and the people of Seattle.
The problem with O’Neill is that, whether explicitly or implicitly, he’s defending these douchebag cops, rather than acknowledging that the force has a few bad eggs and reassuring us that the rest are still trustworthy, stand-up folks. He’s supporting Guild members, yes, but at the expense of public trust, and in that he’s doing the entire SPD a disservice. This is an example of when “one for all and all for one” is not the best policy.
“the union rep they pay for espouses policies and positions that are openly hostile to the interests of his employers, ie the people who live in Seattle.”
I was born and raised in the City of Seattle, attended Seattle public schools throughout my life. So, I figure I have a little insight into the “culture” and the “interests” of O’Neil’s employers.
The culture of this City is one of ideologically hen pecked men and brackish, chilly women who both don’t want to know, or acknowledge the truth about this City (humanity). We are all animals with base desires and needs, and we are willing to lie, cheat and hurt our fellow citizens in order to fulfill those desires. Civilization isn’t kept by mayoral decree or a new SMC passed by the City Council. Black ink on white paper won’t keep the red from spilling from your nose.
What keeps all of us in line is violence, and the threat of it. The police are our paid bullies. We need them, because we as a citizenry have become frail and fearful.
Oh, and the interest of this city is to ignore all that I said above, because, come on! We’re Seattle!
@67 Thanks for making the case to arm the Urban League and the ACLU. I can see it now: Urban League Militia or the Really New Black Panthers.
Also, go read some Margaret Mead on the necessity of war and violence in humanity.
Yeah…war is an invention…hahahahahahahaha…mother nature doesn’t do war.
@47:
Why not? In principle that’s Capitalism in a nutshell: someone exchanges something of value (e.g. currency) they received in exchange for their own labor or their capital stock, for a good or service they are either unable or unwilling to provide out of their own labor. That currency is likewise distributed to those who created the good or provided the service, and which they also exchange what they receive for other goods and services. Lather, rinse, repeat.
In other words, in a Capitalist System we are ALL continuously “paying each others’ salaries”, either directly, by choosing to purchase specific goods and services ourselves, or indirectly, by providing the means for others to purchase someone else’s goods or services NOT of our choosing.
So, it’s not inaccurate to say “I am purchasing that teacher’s groceries”, because I am contributing tax revenue that pays the teacher in exchange for their labor, that in turn provides them with the currency to purchase those groceries in the first place. Conversely, it would not be inaccurate for the teacher to say, “I pay COMTE’s salary, because I purchase a product, the manufacturer of which hired an ad agency to advertise their product, which in turn hired an actor to perform in the ad, who pays dues to the union that pays his wages.”
It’s all interconnected; is HAS to be, otherwise the system wouldn’t work. The only question, really, is: How MUCH of any one person’s salary do you pay, and how much influence does that give you as an individual with regards to how that person does their job – all of which is a subject for a future discussion on the subject.
@71 it’s a better theory than your “base desires” bullshit from the 19th century.
re that letter your ran in a followup item, from a policewoman, she says in fact the city pays his salary – but REIMBURSES the city. It appears you are half right, and failed to make that distinction.
Then, @74, it should be a simple matter for the union and the city to produce parallel documents showing that the union has issued regular payments to the city equalling his salary/benefits, and the city has received and deposited same.
@60,
Eat a bag of dicks COMTE. I fucking know how to look up shit. I was merely pointing out that Dom made a small mistake in his link. I wouldn’t expect the douchbags he was addressing would know how to look it up and thought he might want to correct it (which as you can see he did and thanked me)
Just as, @76, I wouldn’t expect the douche-crouton who pointed out the mistake to be able to post a proper link in their response either, so there you go.
The brown rice and collard greens I had for lunch were quite filling, but thanks for showing concern. Besides, even though there’s a Dick’s just up the street, greasy burgers and French fries are off my diet for the time-being.
It will be a fight to take this sucker down (Rich O’Neil). But squash him we will, nice and legal like to be exact.
Call me crazy, but I believe this man to be a clear and present danger to a civilized society. A growing malignant tumor that must be stopped!
We are living in perilous times that may last a long time.
Do you want your 20 something child gunned down by some extremist cop? I think not!
Cienna, thanks for stepping up and writing this, and writing it well.
So, if this guy is paid by the city, he can be fired by the city, no?
Sure, he’ll still be union president, but no longer employed by Seattle.
I have my own criticisms of SPD, but I’m sorry – this headline is a lie. As The Stranger is a non-union shop, you clearly don’t know how unions work.
O’Neill may be a “dick” (I won’t address that here), but the taxpayers don’t pay his salary – the members of the Police Officer’s Guild do. POG members pay monthly dues – dues which are used to pay the expenses of the union, including salaries of the Guild Executive members.
O’Brien’s status is likely on leave from the POG, but retaining his title (but not his salary) paid by the City of Seattle.
In short – taxpayers aren’t paying this “dick’s” salary – police officers are, out of their own paychecks.
Get your facts straight. I’ll be looking for a future correction.
Who pays your salary? This article sucks.
@75 Neither the City nor the Union needs to produce any such documents. They’are available to you (and the author of this article with the lying headline):
http://www.guidestar.org
http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/…
Can’t wait to see The Stranger publish that correction to this HUGE LIE.
Looks like Cienna Madrid is a “dick” as well. Or maybe just a shitty journalist.
@22,
Where do YOU work? Unless wherever (if) you are employed is outside the Country, then your salary too is “paid by the taxpayers”.
Ok hold on folks. Regardless of who pays O’Neill’s salary, is 109k really an excessive amount for a 30 year vet?!?!
For those who says he should acknowledge there are a few bad apples, consider this: he does not work for you. his job is to represent the cops. So even if there is an instance where a cop messes up, its his job to defend them whether he believes they were right or wrong. That’s his job. Just like a public defense attorney has to defend criminals whether or not they are innocent or guilty. He’s just a man doing his job.
And for all you who hate the police (most of you). Let’s talk about the wood carver incident. Let’s say the officer saw this man with a knife on the street and chose not to confront him…and then lets say that man walked 2 more blocks and stabbed someone to death. You all would want his head for not confronting the man.
How bout you all recognize that being a cop is not easy, and you have to make split second decisions and you dont have time to gather all information and sit at your computer like us and dissect the situation. It’s a tough job. These guys are all doing their best. And all of you should shut the f*** up because you really sound ignorant.
All you loud fucking mouth mother fuckers who wnat to bash O’Neill…… why don’t you bash the fucking defense attorneys who defend criminals.. criminals such as child rapists… teachers who fuck their students, filthy theives, piece of shit gang bangers? Why not bash them? All they are doing is defending their clients? That is all O’Neill is doing… more to the point he his ensuring due process rights of his members and that the contract that the city negotiated, and which is binding IS FOLLOWED…… He was overwhelmingly re-elected, along with some other heavy hitters by the membership to fight for them!!!
Get over yourselves already!!!!
@82, 84 Prove it please. Prove all of your assertions that are contrary to the writer’s “lies.”
if you’re going to come on here and call somebody a liar, produce better links than the specific agreement between the City and the Guild referenced earlier…not the lameness you pilfered.
#88,
The proof is all online – and why aren’t you asking Madrid for proof? Here are ethe links again:
http://www.guidestar.org
http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/…
Do your own fucking homework, you lazy-ass. You’re as bad as Madrid. It’s all public record.
This situation is extra sad because it plays directly into what the TeaBaggers, Republitards, etc. are spewing in Wisconsin.
I want to believe in labor unions and labor representation, I really do. But people like O’Neill hobble labor unions.
@89: Physician, heal thyself. “Articles presented on PSTO are not intended to tell the entire story – but rather to start a conversation. Help fill in the blanks, provide alternate perspectives, correct errors or just join in the conversation by adding and responding to comments. Your participation is welcome and necessary…”
Cienna pointed out, quite precisely, THE CONTRACT stipulation that O’Neill’s pay comes from the city. Your gesturing vaguely in the general direction of aggregated information doesn’t cut it. I can’t point to my tax return and say it’s proof that I gave disposable income to homeless people rather than spending it on booze and rentboys. If you have proof that SPOG makes or made regular, unambiguously identifiable reimbursements to the city for O’Neill’s compensation, trot it out, or pipe down.
I’m baffled as to why you would pick a fight with The Stranger, one of the best advocates in the whole region for public transit and working people, on behalf of a small group of rogue cops.
Nice try 84/89, but if you’d actually bothered to READ SPOG’s tax reports on GuidStar, you’d see that in 2009 (the latest reporting year on-file) they directly paid O’Neill only $31,177 (cit ref Pg. 7, Part VII, Column D).
So, since I’m guessing your math skills are about on a par with your research skills, let me break that down for you: assuming only a slight adjustment to the the $109,709 salary reported by Cienna (which I’m guessing were earnings from 2010) that means more than 2/3 of his annual compensation comes, as has been demonstrated at least two separate occasions in this thread, from the City of Seattle (i.e. the taxpayers) per the terms of the SPOG Agreement.
And that’s assuming the compensation reported on SPOG’s 2009 Form 990 is included in the salary figure Cienna cites, which I’m not at all certain is the case. In other words, it’s entirely possible that O’Neill’s TOTAL compensation currently stands at around $140,000 per year, roughly 3/4 of which is paid to him by the taxpayers of this City.
Breathlessly awaiting YOUR correction (and apology to Cienna) for YOUR BIG LIE…
#91,
I’m not a journalist – I’m a bus driver. My blog isn’t a profit-earning enterprise, The Stranger is.
Miller, in posting outright falsehoods in her article violates journalistic integrity, spreads misinformation, exposes her ignorance and (regrettably) detracts from the very real issues surrounding how SPD is viewed, and distracts from focusing on attitudes that most would find disturbing in public servants in law enforcement.
By all means call O’Neill a dick. By all means, call the POG on their shit. By all means, expose the ignorant, racist, teabagger (paradox) mentality of many active duty officers. But don’t do so by starting out with a lie.
@24 “Wait… I thought that we love love love Unions… ?!?! I’m confused.”
You’re confused because you’re stupid. We want the ability to have organized labor, that’s all.
@87 “All you loud fucking mouth mother fuckers who wnat to bash O’Neill…… why don’t you bash the fucking defense attorneys who defend criminals.. criminals such as child rapists… teachers who fuck their students, filthy theives, piece of shit gang bangers? Why not bash them?”
Because the article isn’t about them. And only a mouthbreather like yourself would need a lengthy article to tell him that rapists are bad.
#93,
Actually I did read the Guidestar report.
The number you cite doesn’t represent his salary.
For real info – dig up the LM-2.
Union Presidents are not paid by the City.
@91,
“I’m baffled as to why you would pick a fight with The Stranger, one of the best advocates in the whole region for public transit and working people, on behalf of a small group of rogue cops. “
I’m not “picking a fight with the Stranger”. In fact, it’s one of my favorite reads, contains some of the best writing (reporting as well as humor and satire) since the National Lampoon, and Lindy West is a stone cold hottie.
I’m not even disagreeing with the gist of Cienna’s article – which is regrettably buried behind this concept of “this douchebag is on YOUR payroll”.
See – the President of my own labor union earns way too much IMO. He’s paid over $130K a year with another $67K in bennies. Thing is – King County doesn’t pay him. I do, as well as my other union members. That’s how unions work – their officers are paid through the dues of the members, not the employers that the Officers are paid to negotiate with. Sometimes those officers as part of the labor agreement with the employing body remain on the payroll of the employer in name only – with expenses like salary and insurance premiums paid by the labor union (reimbursed to the employer). This allows union Officers to return to their former employment when they leave office (voluntarily or if they lose the election) and to continue to participate in the benefits pool (heath care) while they hold office.
So by all means, The Stranger – do your expose’s on police dickhood. But this “these shitheads are on our payroll” thing isn’t the way to go. As President of the POG, this guy is accountable ultimately to those who elected him – and who pay him, and that’s the cops themselves.
@67: “hen pecked men and brackish, chilly women
…
What keeps all of us in line is violence, and the threat of it”
You literally want Fascism, congrats.
So @96, if you DID in fact read the 2009 990, what part of “Reportable Compensation From The Organization (W-2/1099-Misc.)” in the section I cited is still unclear to you?
(And BTW, there does not appear to be an LM-2 on-file for SPOG on the U.S. Department of Labor web site; in fact, SPOG doesn’t even appear to have a listing there. Odd, no?)
Additionally, Article I, Section 4 of the SPOG/City of Seattle Agreement clearly states: “Guild Presidency – At the Guild’s option, and after reasonable notice to the City, the Police Officer or Sergeant who serves as the elected Guild President shall be assigned to the Guild office for the purpose of administering the collective bargaining agreement. The Guild President SHALL SUBMIT A TIMESHEET WITH APPROPRIATE NOTATION OF VACATION, SICK LEAVE, HOLIDAY LEAVE, OR OTHER TIME BALANCE WHICH HE/SHE HAS USED DURING THE PAY PERIOD.” (emphasis mine)
Furthermore, Section I.5.D states: “Police Guild officers WILL NOT BE PAID BY THE CITY (emphasis mine) during negotiations.”
So, please tell us again WHY the SPOG President is submitting payroll information to THE CITY, and why the CITY would require such language as above be codified in the contract if he was NOT BEING PAID BY THE CITY?
@PTSO Wow, you are a fucking trolling asshole. Congrats on making yourself a less credible source on your own pet issue now.
Who’s lazy, the person who asks for real proof of a journalists alleged lies (Guidestar doesn’t prove what you purport) or the person who posts a couple of links (AGAIN) and then ignores the specific agreement between the city and SPOG [not to mention the actual filing]?
As I reported on Slog: I talked to SPD Sergeant Sean Whitcomb, asking who pays O’Neill and whether the city is reimbursed by the union.
“Cienna was spot on,” says SPD’s Whitcomb. “The city pays Rich O’Neill’s salary as per the SPOG contract. None of it gets reimbursed.”
Yo, PSTO,
Why can’t I look at any information on the links you provided? One is requiring me to register and the other is a dead link.
Got anything else?
PSTO’s links are full of crap. He or she thinks that some generic page of labor-management boilerplate trumps the union contract the cops have with the city. That contract says O’Neill gets paid by the city.
Cienna is right, PSTO is wrong. End of argument.
ha, ha, fucking HA, PTSO!
But he’s in a UNION.
Shouldn’t that be more than enough for the Stranger to support what he’s doing.
When has the Stranger ever criticized a Union?
I’m going to get the SEIU on this. They pay you good money for unions to get a pass from you guys.
Grats on your epic trolling PSTO
It takes skills to get on the front page of Slog via trolling, I’ve only pulled it off once myself, and I had to troll the hell out of editor@thestranger.com (and all the staff members that took the bait) to do it.
I don’t get why conservatives think that those of us who like government and regulations and unions are good are willing to put up with people who SCREW this system.
Listen, I like the government, the military, police, unions, taxes, regulations, yada yada, but NOT individuals are FUCKING things up!
I like when they work well and I dislike when they don’t.
Who, in their right mind, would think its an entirely all-in concept? It is easily possible to like parts of something.
If anything, I (and possibly we) understand that these things aren’t fool-proof and therefore need to be watched and brought into line occasionally!
Geesh.
Comte, @ 77, I just wanted to give you some big internet props for ‘douche-crouton’.
That one literally made me L.O.L.
🙂
@97: Sorry about the low-brain power affliction. Good luck with the bus driving. Just stop wasting everyone’s time, mmmkay?
Let’s see if PTSO has the balls to say he’s wrong now that the SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT has stated he’s wrong.