police accountability

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has nominated Gino Betts as the new civilian director of the Seattle Police Department’s Office of Police Accountability, which investigates police misconduct and recommends discipline to the police chief.

A Tacoma police officer will not face criminal charges for driving through a crowd in January 2021. Officer Khanh Phan was one of several officers responding to an illegal gathering downtown, where people were watching drivers do stunts in their cars. Two people were injured when he drove through the group, saying he feared for his safety.

A new state agency was mandated to start investigating police use of deadly force cases on July 1, but it appears it actually won’t be ready for months. Roger Rogoff, who was appointed by the governor to run the Office of Independent Investigations, says setting up a new office from nothing has been incredibly difficult.

Seattle police officers assigned to federal law enforcement task forces will now be required to wear and activate body-worn cameras during arrests. Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz said the updated policy will ensure encounters with suspects are captured on video — and provide consistency for Seattle officers working with federal and state agencies.

The family of a Black man killed by deputies has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court against Clark County in southwest Washington, alleging that its law enforcement has a “policy, custom and established practice” of allowing officers to wrongfully wield deadly force.

The order will be signed Wednesday, the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd while in police custody. But it only applies to federal law enforcement — not local forces

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed two bills fixing parts of a sweeping package of police reform measures that lawmakers passed last year, in the wake of 2020′s widespread racial justice protests.

The spotlight is once again on police agencies in southwest Washington. A Clark County sheriff's deputy accidentally shot and killed an off-duty Vancouver police officer at his home in the city of Battle Ground on Saturday. It's one of many fatal police shootings in the region recently.

Over the past month, Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer has amassed misdemeanor criminal charges, increased calls for him to resign, and a scathing report from a former U.S. attorney that found he endangered a civilian’s life. And the fallout has landed him on the county’s so-called Brady list. With Troyer resisting calls for his resignation, it’s unclear what could happen next.

Masks are once again a hot topic, now that the highly contagious delta variant is the most dominant strain of coronavirus in Washington state. Olympia…