Citizens who accuse a Seattle police officer of misconduct and are unsatisfied with the results of an internal investigation should be allowed to appeal to a citizen oversight panel, according to a report today issued by the Seattle Human Rights Commission.

Currently, citizens file a complaint with the Seattle Police Department's internal Office of Professional Accountability (OPA). But seen by many as a mechanism to acquit officers of wrongdoing, the OPA uses a byzantine system for the disposition of cases that typically leaves officers without any record of wrongdoing even if investigators found the officers acted improperly. That current misconduct complaint system "confuses rather than illuminates an investigation’s final conclusion," according to the recent report by the US Department of Justice on unconstitutional Seattle policing.

Explaining that the "Seattle Police Chief is not a neutral or impartial decision-maker," the human rights commission report says that lacking an neutral arbiter "violates basic tenets of due process. As such, the current structure violates human rights requirements." The commission recommended in its 10-page report that OPA's oversight panel—the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board, or OPARB)—be empowered by the city council to "function as an appeals panel for citizens who are not satisfied with the outcome of police misconduct investigations" and "to independently investigate appealed cases and recommend discipline."

The commission added two more recommendations: (1) creating a Community Problem Oriented Policing strategy that involves cops, city hall, and citizens; and (2) requiring the SPD to publish all incidents involving the use of force or discharging a firearm. Further, the commission seeks "an expert panel to determine whether there is a disproportionate impact on communities of color or other vulnerable populations within Seattle."