As part of the implementation of Seattle Police Department’s 2012 settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, SPD command staff assigned Bob Scales to act as a liaison between the department and the Community Police Commission (CPC). The CPC asked Mr. Scales to produce a preliminary analysis of stops, citations and arrests by Seattle police officers as part of the agreement to identify and eliminate policies and practices that have an unwarranted disparate impact. His immediate supervisor was aware that he was performing this analysis. At the time that Mr. Scales shared his preliminary analysis with the Monitor and the CPC, it had not been reviewed by other data analysts in the Police Department and not shared with the DOJ or the City Attorney’s Office.
The City is still reviewing the data from Bob Scales’ s presentation, and looks forward to working with the CPC, DOJ, and the Monitor on further analyzing enforcement patterns. The City is committed to implementation of its settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, which, among other things, requires the department to strengthen policies ensuring bias-free policing and examine any practices that may lead to disparate impact against protected individuals and identify alternatives. The agreement also requires the department to provide an annual report to ensure officers are providing lawful, effective and constitutional public safety service to Seattle. We will continue working with the DOJ and the Monitor to make sure that our police department is bias-free, respectful of individual rights and effective.