Documents show tension between Seattle police chief, oversight agency

SEATTLE – Interim Seattle police Chief Sue Rahr has overturned or modified more disciplinary recommendations from the department’s citizen watchdog in six months than the previous two chiefs over the past five years, underscoring an accountability conflict the chief says is driving discontent among SPD’s rank and file.

Rahr has complained about management of the Office of Police Accountability, whose civilian director, Gino Betts Jr., was appointed by Mayor Bruce Harrell.

The chief is required to justify in writing to the mayor and the Seattle City Council any deviation from an OPA director’s disciplinary recommendation, a mandate put in place in 2007 by the City Council after former Chief Gil Kerlikowske was criticized for overturning discipline by the former Office of Professional Accountability. Likewise, in 2014, then-City Council President Tim Burgess raised concerns over a string of controversial OPA disciplinary modifications made by another interim chief, Harry Bailey.

Since taking over the department in June following the demotion of Chief Adrian Diaz, Rahr has notified the mayor of four cases where she has disagreed with OPA’s recommended discipline and either overturned or modified it.

In the most high-profile case, Rahr overturned a sustained finding of biased policing against former officer and police union vice president Daniel Auderer, whose dismissive comments over the death of a young woman struck and killed by a speeding police cruiser caused the department international embarrassment.

Rahr upheld a finding of unprofessional conduct against Auderer and fired him. He has appealed and filed a $20 million tort claim against the city.

Auderer and SPOG President Mike Solan – the person Auderer was talking to when he made those comments – have mounted a vitriolic campaign against Betts and OPA, amplifying their complaints through interviews with right-wing columnist and talk-radio host Jason Rantz.

Meanwhile, an anonymous group of self-proclaimed OPA “whistleblowers” sent a lengthy letter to the mayor, the City Council and Seattle media complaining about Betts’ management style and priorities.

In addition to dismissing the biased-policing claim against Auderer, Rahr has reduced or dismissed discipline in three other cases:

• In June, Rahr overturned a sustained finding against an officer who failed to turn on his in-car video before responding to help another officer who was being assaulted, which Rahr called a “technical” policy violation that should have been handled by counseling.

• In August, Rahr overturned discipline for an officer who OPA concluded failed to give a timely Miranda warning to an arrested suspect, which she considered a “minor policy violation.” She also complained that it took six months to complete the OPA investigation.

• In September, the chief overturned a sustained use-of-force violation against an officer who OPA concluded did not do enough to de-escalate a situation involving a “large naked and bleeding individual” who was eventually subdued by the officer using a Taser. OPA also recommended discipline because the officer “inadvertently” shocked the individual again after he was in handcuffs.

Rahr declined to talk on the record regarding her decisions, but the letters contain sharp language directed at OPA and, by extension, its director:

“I have talked with over 300 patrol officers in the last three weeks as I am getting to know the department,” Rahr wrote in the June letter, just weeks after her appointment as interim chief.

“Nearly every group I’ve spoken to mentions their reluctance to do proactive policing for fear they will accumulate a series of minor, technical errors and establish a negative personal record,” Rahr wrote in the letter justifying her decision.

Betts declined to be interviewed. In a statement, he wrote that OPA is following the “authorities and responsibilities” contained in the city’s police accountability ordinance and pointed out the Office of Inspector General, which reviews OPA’s work, has consistently given the office “high marks.” Betts said OPA has also garnered national recognition for “achievement in oversight” at the 2023 conference of the National Association for Civilian Oversight in Law Enforcement.

A former attorney in the Chicago police oversight agency, Betts was appointed as OPA’s fifth director by Harrell in 2022 and, like his predecessors, he has faced pushback from the Seattle Police Officers Guild and its leadership. The guild’s animosity toward Betts, however, has grown intense and relentless since Betts’ recommended Auderer’s termination.

SPOG Chairman Mike Solan has blamed Betts for leaking the existence of the Auderer recording to the media, resulting in a firestorm of public outrage.

OPA under Betts has been aggressive in reviewing citizen complaints, logging 3,417 citizen contacts in 2023 – a nearly 52% increase over the previous year, according to the agency’s most recent report.

A list on OPA’s website indicates Diaz overturned one disciplinary recommendation. Before him, Carmen Best modified four OPA disciplinary recommendations in her two-year tenure as chief.

Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess, a former Seattle police officer and City Council member with extensive involvement in police oversight and reforms stemming from a 2012 settlement agreement with the Department of Justice, declined to discuss the complaints about OPA or Betts’ future.

Asked whether Harrell has confidence in his OPA director, Burgess said: “The mayor has confidence in the system and that it is working effectively.”