City of Seattle Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor

NEWS ADVISORY
SUBJECT:   Mayor takes action on police accountability recommendations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:    2/4/2008  11:30:00 AM	FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Alex Fryer  (206) 684-8358

Mayor takes action on police accountability recommendations
More than half of the recommendations will be implemented immediately

SEATTLE - Last week Mayor Greg Nickels accepted all 29 recommendations offered by the Police Accountability Review Panel. Today he announced the city will immediately implement more than half of those recommendations.

“I’m committed to ensuring that we have a police accountability system which the public and police officers believe in,” Nickels said. “That is why we are implementing more than half of the panel’s recommendations immediately and over the next two weeks we’ll sit down with the unions and discuss how to move forward on the rest.”

Read the Mayor's letter to the Police Accountability Review Panel
- Acrobat PDF
Read the Plan for Implementing the Panel’s Recommendations
- Acrobat PDF

The implementation plan released by Nickels breaks the recommendations into three categories:

• Fifteen recommendations are within the Executive’s authority and within the city’s management right to implement immediately. The mayor has directed staff to do so.
• Eleven are within the Executive’s authority and require further discussion with the city’s police unions before they can be implemented. The city has agreed to meet with the police unions on these issues. Over the next two weeks, the city and the police unions will be working together to resolve this.
• Three are within the Council’s authority - one of those can be implemented immediately and the other two require further discussion with the police unions before they can be implemented.

A copy of the implementation plan is available on the mayor’s Web site:
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/

After seven months of work, the 2007 Police Accountability Review Panel, chaired by Judge Terrence Carroll, ret., released its final report on Jan. 29, 2008. The panel concluded the general structure of Seattle’s police oversight system - with its civilian director, auditor and review board - should continue. The panel found all three components play roles in the oversight process. The panel also found many aspects of the current police accountability system are valuable and encourage an effective citizen-complaint process.

• Accountability & Public Confidence
  
• Independence
  
• Professional Conduct
  
• Transparency

The panel’s recommendations focus on the following areas:

• Expanding the role of the OPA auditor;
  
• Increasing independence and authority of the OPA director;
  
• Establishing the OPA Review Board as the key link to the community;
  
• Maximizing public access to information regarding the accountability system;
  
• Maintaining the highest professional standards; and
  
• Enhancing the cooperation and coordination of the OPA entities.

On June 29, 2007, Nickels appointed an 11-member panel to perform a thorough and comprehensive review of Seattle’s police accountability system. The panel members were: Judge Terrence A. Carroll, ret., chair; Bob Boruchowitz, vice chair; Jenny A. Durkan; Lorena González; Pramila Jayapal; Gary Locke; Hubert G. Locke; Judith Krebs; Mike McKay; Norman B. Rice; and Jennifer Shaw.

Seattle’s multilayered police oversight structure is unique. Seattle’s current system has operated for six years and has three separate components:

• the Office of Professional Accountability, which is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints of misconduct and making recommendations to the police chief;
• the OPA auditor, which is responsible for auditing completed case files and reviewing and making recommendations on pending investigations; and
• the OPA Review Board, which is responsible for reviewing the OPA complaint process and resolving disputes between the auditor and the police chief.

The OPA director is nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the Council. Under city law, OPA directors can serve a maximum of six years. The mayor also appoints, subject to Council confirmation, the auditor, an independent civilian contractor. Under city law, OPA auditors can serve a maximum of three two-year terms. The OPA Review Board is a three-member citizen panel created and appointed by the City Council.

A copy of the panel’s entire report may be downloaded from the panel’s Web site:
http://www.seattle.gov/policeaccountabilityreviewpanel/

Visit the mayor’s Web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm

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Office of the Mayor

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