Drafter

Clerk 04/09/2020

Title

A MOTION  requesting the sheriff's office, in cooperation with the office of law enforcement oversight, to report on identified policy changes needed to improve internal investigative and review mechanisms regarding officer-involved shootings, including a response to each of the identified recommendations contained within the February 2020 office of law enforcement oversight report, Evaluation of the King County Sheriff's Office:  Policy, Practice, and Review Mechanisms for Officer-Involved Shootings.

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                     WHEREAS, the justice and safety goal of the King County Strategic Plan prioritizes keeping people safe in their homes and communities, and

                     WHEREAS, the services excellence goal of the King County Strategic Plan prioritizes building a culture of service that is responsive and accountable to the community, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County sheriff's office provides a variety of regional and local law enforcement services.  The sheriff's office is the first-response "police department" for all of King County's unincorporated areas.  In addition, the sheriff's office, through contracts, is the "police department" for twelve King County cities, the Metro transit department, Sound Transit, the King County international airport and several other federal, state, tribal and governmental agencies.  The sheriff's office has several important regional responsibilities, including the operation of the county's automated fingerprint identification system, which is also known as AFIS, E-911 call and dispatch, King County search and rescue and various other regional programs.  Consequently, the sheriff's office serves all two million residents of the county, along with countless others who work, visit and travel through the county, and is one of the largest law-enforcement agencies in the Pacific Northwest.  Only the city of Seattle and the Washington State Patrol have more commissioned officers, and

                     WHEREAS, according to the United States Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, building and maintaining community trust is the cornerstone of successful policing and law enforcement, and

                     WHEREAS, according to the sheriff's General Orders Manual, "a law enforcement agency must maintain a high level of personal and official conduct if it is to command and deserve the respect and confidence of the public it serves," and

                     WHEREAS, to build and maintain community trust, it is incumbent on the sheriff's office leadership to foster an environment in which rigorous and objective review of critical use of force incidents, such as officer-involved shootings, is routine and that the insights gained from such reviews are carefully considered, and where appropriate, result in adjustments to the sheriff's office's policies, practices and procedures, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County office of law enforcement oversight issued a report in February 2020, Evaluation of the King County Sheriff's Office:  Policy, Practice, and Review Mechanisms for Officer-Involved Shootings, which reviewed the sheriff offices' internal investigative and review mechanisms in the context of a specific incident involving the January 27, 2017, shooting of Mi'Chance Dunlap-Gittens by sheriff's office deputies and which contains forty-three recommendations intended to improve the sheriff's office internal review process, enhance officer safety and potentially reduce future incidences of deadly force;

                     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:

                     A.1.  It is the request of the council that the sheriff's office, in cooperation with the office of law enforcement oversight, review, revise and report on its changes to relevant sheriff's office policies and general operating procedures related to investigative and internal review processes of use-of-force incidents, particularly incidents of officer-involved shootings.  Where appropriate, the sheriff's office should utilize recommendations and lessons learned included in the February 2020 office of law enforcement oversight report, Evaluation of the King County Sheriff's Office:  Policy, Practice, and Review Mechanisms for Officer-Involved Shootings ("the February 2020  report") to update and improve policies.

                       2.  The report should include, but not be limited to:

                         a.  a response to each of the forty-three recommendations contained in the February 2020 report.  Each response to include whether the sheriff intends to implement the recommendation, in whole or in part, or not.  If the sheriff does not intend to implement a recommendation in whole or in part, then the response should also include the sheriff's rationale for such a decision; and

                         b.   Identification of each specific general orders manual policy currently in effect  related to:  use-of-force policies 6.00.005 through 6.03.115; investigations of personnel misconduct policies 3.03.000 through 3.03.325; administrative review of critical incidents policies 6.02.000 through 6.02.070; and any other relevant general orders manual policies reviewed in preparation of the report requested by this motion and for each policy a description of any addition, deletion or other modification to the general orders manual the sheriff plans to implement.  The description should include how sheriff's office personnel will be notified of and trained to comply with the changes, as well as a description of resources needed to implement the new or modified policies.

                     B.  The sheriff shall file the report required by this motion by August 31, 2020, in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief

of staff, the chief policy officer and the lead staff for the law and justice committee, or their successors.