Seattle PD, Police Reform Agreement, Washington 2024

The United States has entered into a comprehensive, cooperative agreement with the city of Seattle to implement sustainable reforms within the Seattle Police Department (SPD), the Justice Department announced today. The agreement seeks to resolve issues raised by the Justice Department’s investigation into SPD through federal court oversight of reform efforts to ensure effective and constitutional policing in Seattle.

The settlement agreement will require SPD to revise its use of force policies and enhance its training, reporting, investigations and supervision of uses of force. It also requires revisions to policies, training and supervision relating to both bias-free policing and stops and detentions; improves supervision and accountability mechanisms to ensure implementation of the reforms on the ground; and creates the Community Police Commission, a civilian oversight board with responsibilities regarding particular areas of reform detailed in the settlement agreement and MOU.

The MOU is an agreement that will be enforced by the parties with community oversight. The MOU specifically provides for the Community Police Commission to assess SPD’s outreach efforts and initiatives; provide input regarding data collection around stops and detention; and ensure transparency and public reporting. As part of the MOU, the Community Police Commission also will lead a review of the structure of the city’s police accountability system.

“This agreement provides a blueprint for reform with innovative methods for ensuring community engagement and sustainability,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with the city, Mayor McGinn, the Seattle Police Department and the community to ensure that effective and constitutional policing takes place in Seattle.”

A court-appointed monitor, to be selected jointly by the city and the Justice Department, will oversee the implementation of the settlement agreement and provide expert assistance to the Community Police Commission in the MOU.

The department’s investigation of SPD was announced on March 31, 2011, and conducted by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. The investigation focused on whether SPD engages in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing through the use of excessive force or discriminatory policing. On December 16, 2011, the department issued a written report of its findings. The department found reasonable cause to believe that SPD engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994.

The agreement includes a settlement agreement and stipulated order of resolution (settlement agreement), filed in federal court in Seattle today, that is subject to an independent monitor and court oversight, and separately a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be enforced by the parties with community oversight and the assistance of the monitor.

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