Seattle Police Department

The U.S. Justice Department and Seattle officials have asked a judge to end most federal oversight of the city's police department.

After serving as interim chief for two years, Adrian Diaz is now the permanent chief of the Seattle Police Department. KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick visited Seattle Police Headquarters to talk with Diaz about his ongoing tenure and top issues for the department and the community it serves.

An inquest jury has started deliberations into the actions of two Seattle police officers who fatally shot Charleena Lyles, a Black pregnant mother in her apartment. She was killed in 2017 after purportedly brandishing a knife at officers who responded to her report of a burglary. Officers Jason Anderson and Steven McNew, who are white, shot her seven times.

Three misconduct complaints against former Seattle police Chief Carmen Best from summer of 2020 stalled and are still pending. Police watchdogs and Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office say the cases sat because former Mayor Jenny Durkan’s office didn’t agree to send them to an outside investigator, though she disputes that characterization.

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 Seattle Police Department has stopped investigating new reports of sexual assaults with adult victims, according to an internal memo sent to Interim Police Chief Adrian Diaz. Reporters Ashley Hiruko from KUOW and Sydney Brownstone of the Seattle Times sat down with KNKX's Vivian McCall to explain why this is happening and what this means for victims.

The Seattle City Council has approved an ordinance freeing up more than $1 million to be used to recruit police officers to the Seattle Police department which has lost hundreds of staffers in the last two years.

A civilian oversight board says some Seattle police officers routinely — and illegally — ignored state and city mask mandates during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and refused to obey direct orders from the chief to comply. A recently released review by the Office of Inspector General exposed a “serious cultural issue” within the department.

Seattle police exchanged detailed fake radio transmissions about a nonexistent group of menacing right-wing extremists at a crucial moment during 2020 racial justice protests, an investigation by the city’s police watchdog group shows.

The first coroner’s inquest into a deadly shooting by police in King County under a new, expanded process has stalled amid concerns by all involved — the officers, the families of those killed and city officials — over the transparency and integrity of the proceedings.