It is with rageful sorrow that the Seattle Human Rights Commission (the Commission) condemns the recent murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. The disproportionate killings of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other people of color by police officers across our country must end. We are especially alarmed by the too-frequent failure to charge and convict such officers for deplorable crimes against civilians. The loss of life and subsequent failure of prosecution for these officers violates the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As a body tasked by the City of the Seattle to implement the City’s commitment to human rights, the Human Rights Commission stands with those who proclaim that Black Lives Matter. The Commission supports greater transparency, accountability, and increased community confidence in law enforcement’s ability to protect the lives of those they serve. While we support those individual officers who take seriously their duty to the community, real change requires systemic reform, not reliance on individual commitment.
The Seattle Police Department required DOJ intervention in 2012 to deal with its documented history of institutional racism and violence against African Americans and other people of color, as well as against those with mental health problems. Despite the federal government’s intervention to eradicate racial bias and excessive force in SPD practices, the Seattle Police Guild continues to publicly express hatred towards African Americans and other minorities on social media. Police continue to use excessive force against peaceful protesters and communities of color, including African American students at a book-club meeting in a Seattle Public Library. The Commission condemns these incidents, as they undermine the integrity of police reform efforts in Seattle.
The Commission strongly recommends the City of Seattle strengthen accountability by creating a civilian-inclusive Inspector General position and office that will last beyond the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding and the Federal Consent Decree. Independent civilian oversight is integral to ending the police misconduct that threatens the civil rights and safety of every person, especially Black people and other people of color. The City must ensure the tenure and independence of the Office of Police Accountability indefinitely. Furthermore, the independent integrity of the citizen complaint process requires those handling such complaints be free of conflicts of interest through affiliation with the same bargaining unit as police officers.
However, mere oversight has not been and will not be enough. Accountability officers in the City of Seattle must have the ability to act beyond investigation and review of the police department’s handling of citizen complaints of abuse. It must have the authority and mandate to engage in a community-inclusive disciplinary process that results in formal disciplinary recommendations for officers who have been accused of excessive force or other misconduct. The City should work with the Seattle City Attorney and King County Prosecuting Attorney to develop guidelines for City and County prosecutors to ensure that these disciplinary recommendations have the capacity to become prosecutorial charges.
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For more information:
Marcel Baugh
(404) 791-4737
marcel.baugh13@gmail.com
Margaret Bayaban
(206) 795-5358
margaret.babayan@gmail.com
Danielle Wallace
(678) 463-3390
wallace.danielle.marie@gmail.com