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Labor Policy related to implementation of the recommendations of the King County Auditor’s 24 July 2012 report and the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight’s 17 August 2012 report on the King County Sheriff’s Office

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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. In May of 2009, the County Council adopted Ordinance 16511, which, among other things, directed the County Auditor’s Office to establish a permanent, ongoing law enforcement audit process, focusing on the Internal Investigation Unit (IIU) of the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) and on the effectiveness of the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) in providing oversight of KCSO.
2. The County Auditor recently completed an audit pursuant to Ordinance 16511. That audit was conducted in conjunction with a national law enforcement consulting firm, Hillard Heintze, LLC. The primary purposes of this audit, as described by the County Auditor, were to evaluate the Sheriff’s Office internal investigation operations and to assess the effectiveness of OLEO. The audit also included a review of best practices for managing citizen-initiated and internally-generated complaints concerning police misconduct and use of force.
3. Based on the results of the audit, the County Auditor identified significant issues with KCSO’s policies and procedures for investigating complaints and inconsistent adherence to those policies and procedures within KCSO. The Auditor concluded that those issues undermined organizational and individual accountability in KCSO and were inconsistent with best practices and the standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
4. The Auditor further concluded that, as a result of the issues described above, the County may be exposed to greater risk from claims (e.g., claims arising from vehicle accidents and allegations of excessive use of force) and may be unable to maintain its CALEA accreditation.
5. The Auditor recommended, among other things, that KCSO develop more de...

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