Workplace of Police Accountability (OPA) Director Gino Betts resigned final week as head of the town’s police watchdog division following an unrelenting anti-Betts marketing campaign from the Seattle Police Union, Interim Chief of Police Sue Rahr, and sure right-wing radio hosts. For individuals who don’t know, virtually anybody you’ve ever examine in Unhealthy Apples, Betts investigated and advisable their self-discipline —or lack thereof.
Throughout his two-and-a-half years investigating the Seattle Police Division (SPD), Betts advisable termination for officers like former Seattle cops’ union Vice President Daniel Auderer, who laughed after SPD Officer Kevin Dave hit and killed 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula, in addition to Officer Burton Hill, who referred to as his neighbor a racial slur. As a part of that investigation, Betts required Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG) Chairman Mike Solan to attend a second clarifying interview. In response, Solan threw a match calling it inappropriate, based on the Seattle Instances. Earlier this 12 months, Betts additionally opened probes right into a deputy and an assistant chief at SPD. Each of whom Rahr allowed to proceed working.
Regardless of all this bellyaching from SPOG and Rahr, Betts acted pretty usually for an OPA director, a minimum of based on the numbers. Below former OPA Director Andrew Meyerberg in 2020, OPA categorized about 430 instances for investigation leading to about the identical variety of oral reprimands, written reprimands, suspensions with out pay, and OPA advisable firings as below Betts in 2023 when the workplace categorized about 550 investigations. Nonetheless, he couldn’t maintain onto his place for a full four-year time period. I’ll bear in mind him most notably for altering the OPA experiences so his suggestions for self-discipline could possibly be in comparison with regardless of the Seattle Police Chief finally imposed, a transparency measure I hope whoever takes over for him maintains. Betts, we hardly knew ya. Now, let’s check out among the newest instances OPA investigated below his management.
Drunk home violence in Boston
Case #2023OPA-0145
On April 1, 2023, Boston Police Officers arrested Seattle West Precinct Officer Brady O’Keefe for assaulting his companion. Witnesses informed officers they noticed O’Keefe allegedly seize his companion by her hair, push her down, and trigger her to fall and hit her head on the concrete. One of many witnesses tried to intervene and converse with O’Keefe, he allegedly grabbed the witness by the throat and yelled, “Who do you suppose you might be?”
O’Keefe informed officers he and his companion had traveled to Boston for a Crimson Sox sport, admitting that his companion had gotten drunk and he may additionally have been intoxicated as properly. When officers interviewed the lady, she denied O’Keefe had harm her and stored telling the officers he was good at his job and “obtained an award.” Prosecutors finally dismissed the fees towards O’Keefe.
O’Keefe informed OPA investigators that the lady had tripped and fallen on her personal. OPA discovered the witness’s account of what occurred extra credible. Nonetheless, OPA didn’t maintain a coverage violation for O’Keefe for failing to comply with the regulation as a result of excessive commonplace of proof imposed by the SPOG contract for critical offenses. Nonetheless, OPA did maintain a coverage violation towards O’Keefe for his lack of professionalism. Betts advisable anyplace from a written reprimand to a 5 day suspension for O’Keefe. Chief of Police Sue Rahr went with a two day suspension.
O’Keefe made greater than $100,000 in 2023.
Shifting the extra time window
Case #2023OPA-0024
Subsequent up is North Precinct Officer Ron Willis, who each DivestSPD, Publicola, and the Seattle Instances have lined previously for his large extra time pay and failure to reply to a name about home violence regardless of the caller reporting that the assault left the sufferer bloody and injured. Most just lately Rahr disciplined Willis for supposedly working 19 hour days back-to-back. Rahr doubled the self-discipline advisable by the SPD disciplinary committee to a 90-hour suspension, as her means of underscoring the purpose that Willis can’t violate the division’s extra time insurance policies which stop officers from working greater than 90 hours in per week. Willis apparently did not be taught that lesson again in 2021 when the OPA suspended him for beforehand violating SPD’s extra time insurance policies. I carry Willis up as a result of he constantly appeals OPA disciplinary findings as “extreme.”
Willis is a superb instance of how cops merely disagree they need to be held accountable or disciplined for violating SPD insurance policies, even those comparable to Willis who made $329,000 in 2023 and in again pay alone from the brand new coverage union contract will make $131,000.
Bullying youngsters
Case #2024OPA-0069
Lastly, Officer Christian Lara, who I discussed in final month’s Unhealthy Apples and who now not works for SPD. On November 13, 2023, Lara and one other officer responded to a name about an assault. They stopped two individuals who the officers believed had been concerned in or witnessed the assault. Lara informed the 2 folks they had been detained and that the officers had been going to query them. One of many people was below the age of 18, which Lara knew, based on what he later informed OPA investigators. At one level the child informed Lara he was simply attempting to get residence. Lara responded by stating that the child matched the outline of somebody concerned within the assault after which mentioned, “So that you’re being detained, proper? Rattling, I am unable to imagine your homies ditched you want that. Your different two homies that had been with you?” The child by no means referred to his buddies as “homies.”
Lara requested the child a whole lot of main inquiries to attempt to power him to implicate himself and his pal in an alleged assault, all with out an legal professional current, regardless of SPD coverage requiring officers to supply entry to an legal professional earlier than this sort of questioning can happen. Class act Lara, sorry to listen to you’re off the power, however hopefully you may take consolation in the truth that you made $168,000 in 2023.
