Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Today in Anonymous Job Interview Ti… | Fight at the Tehran Art School »

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Crime Harrell Condemns Decision to Decline Charges

Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 11:14 AM

Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell sends this statement:

I am very disappointed in the King County Prosecutor’s decision not to file criminal charges regarding the death of Mr. John T. Williams. This matter demonstrates that changes to state law regarding the Public Inquest proceedings should be made. The public must have a restored confidence that the inquest process is fair, impartial and thorough. This result erodes public confidence in that process.

Officer Birk should be disciplined to the fullest extent provided under the internal process used by the City of Seattle. Our recruitment and training of police officers must prevent this type of tragedy from occurring again. We must adopt a zero tolerance culture relative to the unlawful use of force.

My proposal that officers be required to wear body-mounted cameras when they are dispatched to potentially violent situations, as opposed to relying on their stationary dashboard cameras to provide evidence, remains a feasible solution to restore public confidence in any process that examines police accountability and possible misconduct.

Comments (11) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Does Councilmember Harrel's proposal leave enabling and disabling body-mounted cameras up to police officers?

Posted by Phil M

on February 16, 2011 at 11:30 AM

Does Councilmember Harrell's proposal leave enabling and disabling body-mounted cameras up to police officers?

Posted by Phil M

on February 16, 2011 at 11:30 AM

Is there actually anything that can be done? If he hasn't committed a crime doesn't that mean essentially he's cleared and the Guild won't allow anything at all to happen to him?

Posted by Mugwumpt on February 16, 2011 at 11:33 AM

@1: Maybe hook a switch to the snap-strap on their gun holster. They draw their gun for any reason, or even get ready to draw it, we get the situation on tape automatically.

Posted by venomlash on February 16, 2011 at 11:45 AM

sickening you can get away with murder. yes to an important extent this is a police state. we need protection from the police, and apparently the law doesn't do that.

Posted by aardvark on February 16, 2011 at 11:58 AM

Maybe the Council should man up in their negotiations with the Guild, huh?

Shoulda woulda coulda - probably too late.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 16, 2011 at 12:06 PM

@1, no, it would not.

Officers are required by SPD policy to always use the (existing) in-car video system, for all citizen contacts, including their approach to the scene whenever possible, and report technical failures at the beginning of their shift, or immediately in cases where the system deactivates when they're on the street.

It is also SPD policy that officers are to be disciplined when they improperly fail to create recordings... so I can't imagine that SPD policy for officer-worn cameras would be any weaker than what they have today for the in-car cameras.

(By the way, if you go through old issues of The Guardian, you can find much evidence of just how much our cops hate being recorded on the job. Apparently they preferred the old days, where we just took their word for everything. Go figure.)

(You can see the policy stuff for yourself. Here's the SPD Policy & Procedure Manual. Section 17.260 covers in-car video.)

Posted by Eric Arrr on February 16, 2011 at 12:14 PM

What happens with bike cops?

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 16, 2011 at 12:34 PM

Good job, Harrell. Your statement today will assist the Williams family as they begin to seek justice (at least of the financial sort) from the city.

IAN BIRK = MURDERER

Posted by merry on February 16, 2011 at 12:54 PM

@9 Double that. This situation leaves anyone downtown wondering whether some loose cannon cop is going to drop them. Such a cop just cost the city of Everett $500,000, and several such settlements took place back in 1999. This use of deadly force was (in the FRB's words) "unjustified and outside of policy, tactics and training". The BART cop in Oakland got 2 years for his mistake. And Birk's just going to lose his job??

Posted by tunanator on February 16, 2011 at 3:05 PM