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June 20, 2024

OPA Publishes Community Survey Results About Police Accountability

SEATTLE — Today, the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) published its Police Accountability Community Survey Report. The report highlights data collected during the summer of 2023 by OPA and EMC Research, a local research firm, to gauge community awareness of and opinions about Seattle’s police accountability system, particularly OPA.  

While the survey was open to everyone, OPA especially wanted to hear from communities with disproportionately high police contacts based on the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) Terry stops, use-of-force, and other data.*  

 With this information, OPA identified its key audiences: 

• Those who identify as male (164 responses) 
• Black men, including African American and African immigrants (73 responses) 
• Indigenous/Native American populations (13 responses)    

OPA Director Gino Betts Jr. described understanding public awareness and opinions about OPA as a top priority:  

“Earning community trust is the most important measure of success for OPA and me as its director," said Betts. “You can’t have effective policing or meaningful police accountability without it. Listening is always the first step toward earning trust. That’s why conducting this survey and hearing directly from communities most impacted by policing is critical to our work.”   

Highlights from the survey:  

• Results showed strong public support for police oversight in Seattle. Almost everyone surveyed (98%) said it’s important for the city to have police accountability, with 93% giving it a “very important” rating.  
• 96% of respondents across all demographics said it’s important for Seattle to have a police department that holds officers accountable. 
• 67% of respondents said they had heard of OPA before this survey.   
•  Across demographics, respondents believed OPA would side with officers over community members.   
•  An overwhelming majority (66%) of respondents agreed with the statement, “Police oversight is biased.”  

Director Betts said some aspects of the results were encouraging, but undeniably, there is significant work to do:   

“The high percentage of OPA awareness among the public is a testament to the success of our community engagement work,” said Betts. “However, this report makes it clear that our work is far from done. This feedback is the beginning of an ongoing conversation with the community.”  

The results from this survey will inform OPA’s community outreach work and ensure that those most likely to need its services have access to them. OPA intends to periodically collect feedback to improve its operations and services.  

View OPA’s Police Accountability Community Survey Report: bit.ly/OPACommunitySurvey 

*To understand how OPA determined its target audiences, see “Identifying Audiences” on page 3 of the report. 

January 23, 2024
(Updated January 30, 2024)

Seattle Office of Police Accountability Recommends Sustained Findings for Officer Who Said Student Fatally Struck 'Had Limited Value'

Seattle, WA — The Office of Police Accountability (OPA) recommends sustained findings for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer who made callous remarks about 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula; struck and killed by a police cruiser driven by another officer on January 23, 2023. OPA found that the officer violated SPD’s professionalism and bias-based policing policies by laughing about Kandula’s death, describing her as having “limited value,” and making other disparaging remarks.

SPD prohibits “behavior that undermines public trust,” including “any language that is derogatory, contemptuous, or disrespectful toward any person.” It also forbids prejudice or derogatory language about someone’s discernible personal characteristics.

An SPD employee initiated OPA’s investigation by forwarding the inadvertently recorded comments captured by the officer’s body-worn video equipment. SPD also publicly released the video, resulting in hundreds of OPA complaints.
OPA Director Gino Betts Jr. described the officer’s words as “derogatory, disturbing, and inhumane.”

“The officer’s comments undermined public trust in the department, himself, and his colleagues,” Betts said. “For many, it confirmed, fairly or not, beliefs that some officers devalue and conceal disparaging views about community members.”

A discipline meeting is scheduled for January 23, 2024, where OPA and the officer’s chain of command will discuss OPA’s findings and forward recommended discipline to the chief of police.

October 3, 2023

OPA refers the ‘Makeshift Tombstone Case’ to OIG for investigation due to a conflict of interest

SEATTLE - In July, the Seattle Office of Police Accountability (OPA) received several complaints concerning a political flag and a makeshift tombstone displayed at an SPD precinct. On July 12, 2023, OPA opened an intake investigation under case number 2023OPA-0303. During the intake investigation, OPA Director Gino Betts, Jr. identified a conflict preventing OPA from further involvement. Specifically, an SPD officer assigned to OPA when the investigation was opened was among those accused of misconduct.

Although that officer has since transferred from OPA, it was determined under section 2.2 of the Seattle Office of Police Accountability Internal Operations and Training Manual that he had professional relationships with OPA’s investigators and leadership, creating the appearance of partiality.

On September 12, 2023, the director referred the case to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). For the reasons above, OPA will not participate in future aspects of the investigation.

For further information, please contact the Office of the Inspector General at: oig@seattle.gov.

May 22, 2023

OPA Releases its 2022 Annual Report

SEATTLE - The Seattle Office of Police Accountability (OPA) released its 2022 Annual Report today highlighting the office’s data trends and police accountability work from the previous year. The report includes a summary of OPA’s complaint, investigation, and discipline data as well as information about its policy work.

2022 was a transition year for OPA. The office saw major changes in leadership and capacity, with three directors within a year, operational vacancies, increased workloads, and roughly two-thirds of staff having less than a year on the job.

Despite these challenges, OPA achieved notable wins in 2022, including:

•          Raising awareness about OPA and police accountability throughout Seattle’s BIPOC and other marginalized communities.

•          Hiring a complaint navigator to educate complainants about OPA’s processes, provide case updates, and guide complainants through the complaint process.

•          Completing over 95% of investigations within the statutory and bargained 180-day timeline.

•          Expanding OPA’s leadership to include a general counsel and assistant general counsel to increase OPA's capacity and efficiency for Director Certification Memo processing.

•          Issuing a Management Action Recommendation for Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) response to subjects with edged weapons, which SPD fully implemented.

The report also includes a letter from OPA’s new director, Gino Betts Jr., detailing his vision for the office:

“I am fully committed to making OPA the national standard for police accountability and earning public confidence in our work,” Betts said. “With bold leadership and an engaged community, there is no place better than Seattle to demonstrate excellent policing and meaningful police accountability. Together, as One Seattle, I am convinced we will reimagine policing and improve police oversight.”

Check out the report’s “Facts at a Glance” below and read the full report here: seattle.gov/opa/news-and-reports/reports

February 1, 2022

Seattle police oversight entity finds officers failed to de-escalate before fatal shooting; recommends changes

SEATTLE - Today the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) released the results of an investigation concluding that two Seattle police officers violated policy when they failed to de-escalate a situation before fatally shooting a man last February. The investigation also examined whether the officers' use of deadly force was consistent with policy.

The incident occurred on February 15, 2021, when two Port of Seattle officers saw an individual- now known to have been Derek Hayden-on Alaskan Way holding a butcher knife to his throat. They requested assistance and multiple Seattle police officers responded. This initial group of officers began developing a tactical plan while keeping a safe distance from Mr. Hayden. In the meantime, two additional officers - the employees at the center of this investigation arrived at the scene and intercepted Mr. Hayden. They stopped their patrol vehicle in his path, moved away from the cover it provided, and, with weapons drawn, began giving him commands. Mr. Hayden advanced toward one of those officers with his knife raised up while saying, "Do it, please, just shoot me." Both officers fired shots at Mr. Hayden, who was struck and killed.

OPA's investigation concluded that the two officers who fired the shots violated the Seattle Police Department's (SPD) de‑escalation policy because they did not engage in any planning or tactical discussions, and their actions undermined the critical principles of time, distance, and shielding. When they came into the path of Mr. Hayden with firearms drawn, this eliminated time, which the investigation report refers to as the most crucial factor of de-escalation. It says, "If there is more time, there is more opportunity to gain voluntarily compliance, build rapport with the individual in crisis, or call in more resources. Had there been more time, the threat would have been minimal, and they could have taken as long as needed to reach a peaceful resolution." The officers also positioned their vehicle directly in the path of the subject and moved away from cover, both of which limited their options for responding.

While the investigation found that both officers failed to de-escalate, it did not conclude that they violated SPD's policy governing the use of deadly force. Rather, OPA opined that the employees were permitted to fire their weapons in defense after Mr. Hayden advanced toward one of them with his knife raised and pointed down. Citing to another recent case in which OPA found that SPD officers used inappropriate tactics and failed to de‑escalate, OPA re‑issued a policy recommendation purposed to prevent such tragic situations from reoccurring. The recommendation is focused on revamping the training-and even piloting a new less-lethal tool-for responding to individuals with knives.