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. 
So, where’s your apology PSTO?
C’mon douche-crouton, we’re waiting.
Not man enough to admit your craven stupidity, eh?
Typical, but not surprising.
Hey POST (Piece Of Shit Troll) — sorry! I meant PSTO… — So, when can we have our apology??
I gotta say that I don’t mind checking back on this article over and over to see if there are new comments because I love, love, love that illustration so much. Thank you Garrett Morlan, whoever you are.
@112 PTSD may be on his or her route right now.
Epic troll.
@114: Beg to differ, Fnarf. I appreciate that it is a skilled illustration, but it gives me the fucking heebie-jeebies. I load this page with a finger on “page-down”.
(No disrespect to the illustrator; I expect that giving people the willies was probably his intent.)
PTSO? Hello? *cricket chirp*
SPOG will never bow, never break, never back down and never yield in supporting, protecting or otherwise taking care of it’s members. In America you are innocent until proven guilty. In America each lawful resident has rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution,Bill of Rights and court decisions. Unionized workers have contract rights. The brave women and men of the SPD, represented by Rich O’Neill and his top Lieutenants are entitled to, and will always have rights. If you hate the pigs, so be it. SPOG will always flex their muscles… muscles backed by a huge war chest!!!!
Everybody light up and chill…. the cops will reign supreme!!!
@119: ” In America you are innocent until proven guilty.”
Tell that to John T. Williams.
@109,
I too will advance props for “douche crouton”, other issues under discussion notwithstanding.
@112,
Yes, some of us do work for a living. Too many of us do so in split shifts.
And I don’t believe that I was/am wrong.
Time (and better researchers than I) will tell.
Still loving the “douche-crouton” thing. Beats my own “douche-nozzle” fave, without leaving the vaginal reference behind – and adding a bit of crusty-crunchy. Well done.
Photos from the SPD rally in West Seattle on friday: http://ohpamphleteers.blogspot.com/2011/…
Interesting (or revealing) that Dominic disabled comments on his Slog post attacking me as a “limp dickbag” etc.
What fucking – what was it? “Douche crouton”?
Sheesh, Dominic – if you’re going to attack me publicly on the Slog, at least be man enough to let people respond like other articles there, you fucking pussy.
@101,
If you’re going to attack me with juvenile missives on SLOG – why disable comments?
No balls?
They happen to do this with all Slog posts that refer to Stranger articles, I believe. Comments are open on the article, so I don’t see your point anyway. So a direct quote from someone in SPD and the contract doesn’t satisfy you as better research?
Come on PSTO, can you get anything right? You were wrong as fuck about the main issue (though you can’t admit it or apologize for it), and now you’re accusing Dominic of “disabling comments” on his post when it clearly points to this here comment thread — right here — (where he originally called you out on your bullshit in the first place.) That’s how it works, dude. A Slog post that’s all about a comment thread for another post just points to the original thread, and that’s where the continued commenting goes down. Get it?
@127,
Actually a post calling me among other things a “limp dickbag” qualfies as a new thread. Looked at the Slog (which as a Stranger fan I read regularly), and couldn’t find any other posts with comments disabled.
Time will tell on the wrongness thing, at which time I look forward to apologizing, complete with a ceremonial licking of Cienna’s undoubtedly fashionable shoes. Dominic can suck my cock regardless. Unwashed and post-coital, of course.
Oh – and for Dominic, you might consider a letter to Dan. Something along the lines of:
“Dear Dan,”
“I am obsessed with penile references. Anytime someone pisses me off – I accuse them of impotence. I guess for me, that’s the ultimate shame. Could it be that I’m projecting some inner fear? Maybe a personal experience or two of humiliation in the sack? Nah. My penis is always erect when needed, and this is never more evident than when I’m at work – where it REALLY counts!”
“Sincerely,”
Been Overtly Nihilist Everwhere Required (BONER)
You’re a pathetic, puerile little piss-ant PSTO. You’ve been wrong in your assertions from your first comment on this thread, everyone here (including I suspect even you) KNOWS you’re wrong, but you don’t “have the balls” (to use your own words) to own up to it. Instead, you’re desperately grasping at any gossamer-thin strand you can find in an attempt to shift focus away from your own willfully obtuse refusal to acknowledge the facts. Nobody’s buying it.
Instead, maybe you should try being a MAN, for once in your sorry, misbegotten life, apologize for your stupidity and unwarranted vitriol, and accept the shame you so richly deserve. Seriously, it’ll make you a better person in the long-run, and if nothing else, perhaps you’ll learn to get your own facts straight, before malignantly impugning those of other people.
Otherwise, fuck-off in perpetuity.
@130,
Wow. You must have known me for a very long time to come to such a view. You must be well acquainted with my wife, my child, my Grandparents and hey – even my pets for such a sweeping condemnation. Naturally you’ve only come to such a conclusion after we’ve broken bread together; shared conversations, laughed, cried, and discussed one another’s dreams about life, career, love and philosophy.
I guess you must be right then.
P.S. I love you, too. Still highly admiring the “douche crouton” thingy.
-J
All I know about you is what you’ve posted here in this thread. And if you can’t muster up the humility and decency to apologize to those you’ve attempted to besmirch with your egregious, unfounded, and thoroughly rebuked accusations, then really, there’s nothing more I need to know about you, is there?
@132,
“All I know about you is what you’ve posted here in this thread.”
And yet you think that’s enough for sweeping condemnation for all that I am, ever was, and ever will be.
Here’s the deal: The Stranger publishes on Thursday. It’s now Saturday – neither the SPOG nor any number of others have really had time to respond, just me and you and your pal who thinks that the status of my wiener not being erect represents some sort of malfunction in intellect.
So tell you what – if nothing has changed, or if my view or Cienna’s claim has been verified (or vilified) by next Thursday – lets have a conversation then about my legitimacy/trollhood/penile ability then.
OK? I promise, I’ll come back. Meanwhile – unlike you – I’ll wish you and your family well, and avoid a complete condemnation of the entirety of your experience and very being, ’cause I’m thinking maybe in reality you’re a pretty cool person.
Sorry to be so nice. Must throw a monkey wrench in your hateful works. So be it.
-jw
@131 God that’s desperately ignoring the fact that what got you grief was that you called Cienna a liar and had no REAL evidence to show for it. Now once it’s confirmed that you’re wrong, you still can’t just admit it and move on–but now it’s up to “better researchers” than you and “time will tell.” Oh, and Dominic is a coward because Slog posts that point to Stranger posts don’t have comments open! God what a deflection.
It’s OK to be wrong, PTSD. I am all the time. Just be honest about it.
“Cienna was spot on,” says SPD’s Spokesman Sean Whitcomb. “The city pays Rich O’Neill’s salary as per the SPOG contract. None of it gets reimbursed.”
PTSO still can’t believe that because HE’s in a UNION and they all have to be the same in his little universe.
Rot in hell John T. Williams…. another boil off the ass of society!
@128 — first off, I read your personal blog post about this, and I do want to tone down the vitriol of my past comments here, sorry about that — however… I still think you’re totally wrong, and on this issue of “disabled comments”, check here, here, here, here, and here (and that’s just for Friday.) Notice a pattern? That’s the way it works, dude. Or, why does Dominic lack the balls to accept comments about the condo boom???!!!
“Please see the union’s contract with the city, section 1.4, which specifically addresses the function of the Guild president. It states, “All compensation (including salary and the cost of all City- paid benefits) shall be paid by the City.”
———-
Two questions.
1. Does someone have a link to the text of the SPD’s contract? I couldn’t find it online.
2. If the city does pay his salary, does the union reimburse the city? If so, how much?
There have been some assertions made in the comments, but I don’t think the issue is settled.
@136… oooooh projection!
Oops, wrote too soon. Found the link in comment 15. I’m not seeing anything about a reimbursement. Would “Proud Policewoman” and PTSO please provide it? (Those flinging epithets at them, please don’t offer them in response to this. I want to hear from those two posters.)
@140:
They won’t, because they can’t. A reimbursement provision doesn’t exist in SPOG’s contract with the City, and SPOG’s own tax records provide evidence refuting the claim of reimbursement.
@133:
Your assertions about who pays O’Neill have ALREADY been refuted several times in the past two days, as have your allegations against Cienna; waiting another 4 or 5 days isn’t going to change those FACTS one iota.
So, as far as I’m concerned you have two choices: either, man-up and apologize, or STFU already.
@135,
If you’ve read my blog at all, you’d know that I am of the position that being in “a union” ain’t all that.
-jw
@128,
Thanks for the links. You rock.
PSTO, just provide the evidence of a reimbursement. I have no preconceived ideas here. Either you have the evidence or you don’t.
Hey PSTO, you obviously saw the comments from the Seattle Police Department themselves crediting Cienna for correct reporting–that Rich O’neill is paid his salary by the city, and our taxes.
So, ergo, you were wrong on that point, no?
@143 Didn’t say you were happy with the union, just that your solipsism led you to call Cienna a liar even with all evidence to the contrary.
Fer Jeebuz-sakes PSTO, now you’re reponding to your own posts? If you can’t even get such a fundamentally simple thing as comment numbering correct, how do you expect to pull off something considerably more complicated – like disproving multiple verifications that your wild assertions are full of shit?
The illustration of O’Neill is a perfect blend of fear and hatred – well done.
I love it. Everyone is pissed that the City officials agreed to pay the SPD guild rep. to represent the Police officers. Yet we keep electing the same morons to run our city. O’Neill is a stud. If I were him, I would frame the picture and hang it in my office. It just proves how stupid the voters in Seattle really are. Maybe we should get rid of unions?
Holy Cow! I just looked up the 2009 compensation list for the City of Seattle. 2496 Employees of the City of Seattle made a base salery of over $100,000.00! That doesn’t include overtime! No wonder our parking rates are going up.
After looking closer, 7093 Employees earned over $100,000.00 in 2009. I should get a job w/ the city. The other 4086 earned less than 100k.
PSTO and Proud Policewoman, where are you with the evidence that the union reimburses the city?
Hrrm how about all you wannabe lawyers actually ask a SPD COP how that guy gets paid. They could probably tell you. Oh and as for why this guy has the ability (Note: ability. Nobody has shown that he does or did) to put in timesheets to the state? Maybe he has some vaca on the books that hes saved for a few years that hes cashing in to take care of his mom or something. And as far as this guy being a dick goes (to who? the state when he negotiates or handles issues between officers or when payroll screws someone outta their 2 hours overtime on their paycheck?) honestly… Its his job to be a dick to the state if thats what it takes to protect/represent the officers. And telling some journalist to suck it when they badger an officer about an alleged (innocent till proven guilty remember?) misconduct is definately warranted. Oh he supported someone politically? Wait so supporting someone who wont try to rape your union contracts “because the state is outta money” instead of actually taxing huge businesses? Thats totally out of the scope of his responsibilities huh?
All this stuff he does, good for him, he is representing the people HE works for. And Cienna really needs to back up that income source statement before putting out statements like that. Half-truths and decieving statements only hurt the readers.
Sienna Madrid = Suzannah Frame?
Check out this link if you like to dig for nuggets of info.
http://twitter.com/InjusticeNews
Cops lie, cheat and steal. They are human. They need to be policed very very very very closely. Keep and reward the good ones, dump or incarcerate the bad ones.
@154:
> Hrrm how about all you wannabe lawyers actually ask a SPD COP how that guy gets paid.
Christ almighty, man, could you pay attention just a little bit?
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/mobile/…
The rest of your rambling comment doesn’t even seem to relate to O’Neill as far as I can tell.
from lbloom.net 2009 City of Seattle Employee salaries (sorry if this has already been posted):
Oneill R Pol Sgt-Patrl Police Department 109703.92 6/11/80
The city pays O’Neill’s salary directly.
http://lbloom.net/
So PSTO and Proud Policewoman are nowhere to be seen. Looks like the Stranger got it right, then.
So, we live in a city and state that vote’s Pro Union over and over again. Yet we are upset when we find out we are footing the bill for the Union Rep? Then the Stanger writes a piece on how bad it would be for unions if McKenna were elected Gov. Of course if elected, some laws could be changed and maybe we wouldn’t have to pay for the Union Rep. Of course, that would be bad for Unions, and we wouldn’t want that. Right? So which is it? Are we for collective bargaining or against it? If you are for it, then you get to pay for O’Neill or whomever the Police Guild elects to represent them. If you are against it, you can get rid of O’Neill.
@160, this isn’t an article that argues for or against unions or collective bargaining, and if you’re boiling it down to those two simple-minded perspectives, you’re missing the point entirely. Here’s a boiler plate for you: “Rich O’Neill Never Works a Policing Shift but Gets $109,703 a Year in Taxpayer Money to Run the Citizen-Antagonizing Police Union.” Or restated *yet again* for your reading comprehension: we’re paying his salary and as a beat cop’s main mouthpiece, his inflammatory rhetoric is pitting cops against the public, and that is bad for everyone.
@PSTO, proud police woman, I really don’t give a shit if you apologize. I try to report as accurately as possible and I will correct mistakes as quickly as possible. That is my job. It takes guts to admit when you’re wrong but I don’t necessarily expect that from you.
And to everyone defending me here (*blush*) thanks!
Cienna, That you were accurate about the one fact doesn’t mean that I (for one, for what it’s worth) was “defending you.” In my world, you get to have opinions, but the facts are independent entities.
As for your story, I think it took the easy path, which was to look at O’Neill strictly on the surface. It gave me very little insight into the police department. Probably the most salient fact, even more so than the one that was at issue, is that he was elected for a third term with 78% of the vote.
I’m interested in why. Knowing the Stranger, your explanation will be to draw a caricature of racist, brutal cops voting 78% for a fellow racist, brutal thug. Maybe that’s true, but would I trust that coming from you guys? I can say this much: The report will need to be a lot deeper than this story was.
And no, I’m not a Republican jerk. I’m someone who has built a life in Seattle, and who anticipates living here until I am carried out feet first. I’m in for the long haul, and that simple fact makes me look at all of these stories with a certain perspective.
So keep digging, but dig deeper.