For anyone wondering why this is interesting in the slightest, King County encompasses Seattle. The Seattle police also do not have a good reputation, particularly less so after the George Floyd...
For anyone wondering why this is interesting in the slightest, King County encompasses Seattle.
The Seattle police also do not have a good reputation, particularly less so after the George Floyd protests.
ACLU of WA has a great timeline summarizing Seattle PD's fuckery over the years They were under a federal consent decree starting in 2012 because of a "a pattern or practice of constitutional...
They were under a federal consent decree starting in 2012 because of a "a pattern or practice of constitutional violations regarding the use of force that result from structural problems".
A couple of notable recent events:
May 15, 2019: After reviewing the parties’ briefing and hearing arguments, Judge Robart rules the City has fallen out of full and effective compliance in the area of discipline and accountability.
May 7, 2020: The City files a motion to terminate all independent monitoring of progress on the reforms it agreed were necessary to address the Seattle Police Department’s use of excessive force and practices raising serious concerns about racial bias. The City does not address either the Court’s May 15, 2019 finding that it had fallen out of compliance with the Consent Decree in the areas of discipline and accountability or its May 21, 2019 order specifying the City would have to bring itself back into compliance and then sustain that compliance for two years before the Court would terminate the Consent Decree. The City simply says it “has taken significant steps to address these concerns and will submit a filing responding to them by August 1, 2020.”
June 1, 2020: The Seattle Office of Police Accountability reports receiving 12,000 complaints about the Seattle Police Department’s handling of the weekend demonstrations.
June 3, 2020: The City of Seattle withdraws its motion to terminate independent monitoring of compliance with the Consent Decree.
So less than a month before the George Floyd protests, they were petitioning the court "we're totally reformed now, can we please have the federal oversight taken away?"
They also used the consent decree as a shield when it suited them...the city council banned police use of tear gas in June of last year. The ban was challenged in court - and one of the arguments used (besides the "irreparable harm resulting from officer confusion and the inability to modulate force or de-escalate situations in which force may be needed" bullshit) was that the consent decree required court oversight of all such policy changes, and the court hadn't overseen this change. So even though the ban was consistent with the spirit of the consent decree, they argued that it violated the wording of it.
Another reason I'm really glad to see this happen in Seattle is our status as a tech hub means it's very tempting for facial-recognition companies to use local police departments as essentially beta testers. Axon (the company that makes tasers and body cameras, as well as charging $$$ for cloud storage of bodycam footage) has an office right in downtown Seattle with "a robust team of more than 100 engineers, designers, recruiters, and more".
For anyone wondering why this is interesting in the slightest, King County encompasses Seattle.
The Seattle police also do not have a good reputation, particularly less so after the George Floyd protests.
ACLU of WA has a great timeline summarizing Seattle PD's fuckery over the years
They were under a federal consent decree starting in 2012 because of a "a pattern or practice of constitutional violations regarding the use of force that result from structural problems".
A couple of notable recent events:
So less than a month before the George Floyd protests, they were petitioning the court "we're totally reformed now, can we please have the federal oversight taken away?"
They also used the consent decree as a shield when it suited them...the city council banned police use of tear gas in June of last year. The ban was challenged in court - and one of the arguments used (besides the "irreparable harm resulting from officer confusion and the inability to modulate force or de-escalate situations in which force may be needed" bullshit) was that the consent decree required court oversight of all such policy changes, and the court hadn't overseen this change. So even though the ban was consistent with the spirit of the consent decree, they argued that it violated the wording of it.
Oh, and the city council ban on tear gas happened after the police chief announced a 30 day ban on use of tear gas and then they used it anyway 2 days later.
Another reason I'm really glad to see this happen in Seattle is our status as a tech hub means it's very tempting for facial-recognition companies to use local police departments as essentially beta testers. Axon (the company that makes tasers and body cameras, as well as charging $$$ for cloud storage of bodycam footage) has an office right in downtown Seattle with "a robust team of more than 100 engineers, designers, recruiters, and more".