CPU #50: 2021 Annual Report Highlights

City of Seattle, Washington sent this bulletin at 04/05/2022 10:15 AM PDT
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Case & Policy Update

Volume 50 | April 5, 2022

Today the Office of Police Accountability released its 2021 Annual Report. Below are a few excerpts you might find interesting.

Complaints & Cases

OPA opened 558 cases in 2021, a 28% decrease from 2020. When OPA is contacted multiple times about the same incident, they are combined into a single OPA case and processed as one complaint.

Cases Opened by Year

Cases Opened by Year (2018-2021)

Allegations

OPA recorded 1,485 total allegations of potential policy violations in 2021. Professionalism, Bias-free Policing, and Investigations & Reports were the three most common allegations received. There were 140 allegations (9% of total) for improper use of force, a 61% decrease from 2020.

Count of Allegations by Type

Count of Allegations by Type (2021)

Classification

OPA classified 52% of all 558 cases for full or Expedited Investigation in 2021, down 4% from 2020. Contact Logs decreased 7% from 2020. OPA sent 115 complaints back to the chain of command for Supervisor Action, which represents an 8% increase from 2020. No cases were resolved through Rapid Adjudication, and two were resolved through Mediation.

Number of Cases by Classification Type

Number of Cases by Classification Type (2021)

Findings

OPA issued findings for 1,208 allegations in 312 investigations in 2021. Twenty-six percent of completed investigations contained one of more sustained findings. This represents an 8% increase from 2020.

Findings Issued for Allegations by Type

Findings Issued for Allegations by Type (2021)

Discipline Imposed

OPA sustained 185 allegations in 80 cases in 2021. A total of 98 SPD employees received at least one sustained finding. Nine of the employees were civilian and 89 were sworn. Ten employees received sustained findings in more than one OPA Investigation.

Discipline Imposed by Type for Sustained Findings

Discipline Imposed by Type for Sustained Findings (2021)

Unsubstantiated Misconduct Screening

In 2021, SPD supervisors screened 194 potentially-refutable allegations of police misconduct with the OPA director. Of these, the director requested a formal complaint referral in 31 (16%) of the cases. The rest were investigated and documented in the field by the chain of command rather than referred to OPA as complaints. For comparison, in 2020, OPA requested a complaint referral in 19% of UMS.

The legal analysis and opinions herein are OPA’s own and do not state the positions of the Seattle Police Department (SPD). SPD employees should seek the formal advice of SPD Legal, Precinct Liaisons, and the City Attorney's Office when legal questions arise in the field.

OPA also posts past issues on the Case & Policy Updates page.