Seattle Public Safety & Human Services Committee – 9/11/20 Meeting

Members present: CMs Herbold, Lewis, Morales, and Sawant.

Virtual Meeting Highlights:
Public input seemed adequate. People called in and were given 2 minutes to speak. Everyone who wanted to speak had an opportunity. (Note: There was a discussion about operation of regional emergency radio system that League Observer did not watch.)

Public Comments

• Ballard resident—Suddenly disbanded community police team in her neighborhood. Currently has inadequate policing with no current holistic leadership or accountability at neighborhood level.
• Constituent from D7—Police accountability needs improvement. Need discussion about violations of 1st amendment rights; Community Policing Commission (CPC) has shut down public comment. Accountability partners have become unaccountable.
• Constituent from D7— SPD is not providing public safety and aren’t accountable.
• Constituent from D2—Following this since 2010; SPD shouldn’t be allowed to use CS gas, rubber bullets, blast balls. This is a partial solution and we need to change structure of policing and accountability.

Presentation by Shayleen Morris, Community Policing Commission
Discussed CPC recommendations on crowd dispersal and less lethal weapons (see report). Stressed the importance of community-centered review process.

CM Gonzalez:
(1) What would community-centered process look like,
(2) Re: Recommendations 3 and 4—who is “the City” referring to in terms of who should take responsibility for these actions, and
(3) Who should the independent reviewing agency be?

Answers:
Response often comes from agency level first. Community is already driving the work, have been demanding a seat at the table. “The City” includes SPD, Council, and Mayor’s Office, although SPD is the one who will be implementing change in their culture and being held accountable. Community is at center of decision-making. CPC has been listening to the community. They are an independent agency making a community-centered decision on this.

CM Sawant—Council and Mayor have obligations to listen to community and act on their concerns. Crowd control weapons ban is an example of this. Should revisions in policy manual be made in accordance with the crowd control weapons ban?

Answer:
Revision of use of force policies should comply with ordinances. Overhaul of manual with community members’ input –need to do a deep dive with consideration of what has happened in the last few months.

CM Herbold—Written questions from other Councilmembers:
(1) Should flash bangs be used? (v. blast balls) (blast balls aren’t as bad but have been outlawed).

• Answer: Flash bangs not supposed to be part of crowd control, so their use hasn’t been addressed by CPC.

(2) Should title of ordinance be changed removing the term “crowd control”?

• Answer: There is a distinction between what’s available for crowd control and other situations, so these measures should be available, but not for crowd control. Police  should never use blast balls and tear gas.

(3) What elements should be considered to determine what’s an unlawful assembly?

• Answer: Standard of 4 or more people is too low. Stakeholders should set standards on this.

CM Mosqueda—Confirmation re recommendation to eliminate tear gas and blast balls; recommendation re what to do in the interim before they’re eliminated and a determination is to made re unlawful assemblies.

Answer:
Recommendation against tear gas and blast balls in 2015 said the ban should start immediately. Even more so now with the pandemic. Use of weapons during protected assemblies should be limited to situations involving imminent harm to people.

Presentation by Andrew Myerberg, Dir. of Office of Police Accountability (OPA)
Discussed Crowd Control Weapons (see report). All less-lethal tools should be authorized for non-crowd control. SWAT should be able to use tear gas but should not be available to patrol.
If protests are against law enforcement, cops should minimize their presence—otherwise, they are exacerbating the problem.

CM Sawant—What has OPA actually done to hold officers accountable?

Answer:
Haven’t issued any findings yet (87 cases). First findings should be issued next Friday.
Ordinance passed by City Council was too broad.

CM Gonzalez
Didn’t find Sawant’s line of questioning helpful to addressing the issue of what less lethal weapons should be used. Believes OPA is independent. Confirms that OPA believes status quo isn’t working. Need clarification on use of force to prevent property damage. 

Answer: Blast balls may be appropriate, but not to prevent property damage. They are okay to use to move a crowd back if cops are getting injured by rocks thrown, etc., but should only be rolled on ground to create space, not thrown at people.

OPA agrees that community needs to be involved in the process. Okay to have executive approval for riot declaration but concern about Mayor’s office making tactical decisions.

CM Herbold—Written questions from other members
(1) How do we define categories for use of less lethal, by situation or by group (i.e. SWAT)?

• Answer: Either is fine, but should work with stakeholders to come up with definitions. Can’t just say “non-crowd-control” situations because this is too broad—i.e. only when the only other alternative is use of lethal force.

(2) What are the recommendations regarding targeted arrests during demonstrations?
(3) Clarification re use of blast balls

• Answer: All less lethal means can cause injuries. The question is are there other options to disperse a crowd.

CM Morales—What info do we have about how many times riots were declared and specific weapons were used? Clarified interest in use of non-lethal weapons in stationary (as opposed to moving) crowd.

Answer: Acknowledged that regular tactics don’t work in static crowds—need to develop better tactics. They can track info about who used force, when, and where to identify trends.

CM Herbold—Is it appropriate for accountability partners to make recommendations just based on what they’ve seen from all the protests as opposed to responding to specific complaints? Why did cops create issues on Labor Day by continuing to escalate situations? How do we stop this??

Answer: They do communicate with each other and SPD in real time, but SPD apparently is not listening. Community not satisfied with being told to file a report when nothing changes.

Presentation by Inspector General Lisa Judge, Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
Discussed OIG crowd dispersal recommendations (see report). They have identified actions that can be taken today.

CM Mosqueda—Response to protests against use of excessive force was to use excessive force. Clarification about cause and effect?

Answer: There were instances of excessive force. Mission of SPD seemed to change. They didn’t expect level of anger at cops. Culture has to acknowledge this anger.