❓WHAT HAPPENED: The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington formally ended federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) after 13 years under a consent decree.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The Seattle Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller, and Seattle Police Officers Guild President Mike Solan.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The ruling was issued on Wednesday by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
💬KEY QUOTE: “For close to 14 years, the tax base in the city of Seattle had put forth over $200 million into this process. It’s crushed morale, we’ve lost over half of the department, and it has decimated public safety,” Mike Solan said.
🎯IMPACT: The end of the decree marks a return of full control of SPD to the city but has left lasting effects on morale, staffing, and public safety.
The 13-year-old consent decree governing the Seattle Police Department (SPD) officially ended this week, following a ruling on Wednesday by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington declaring the 2011 Department of Justice (DOJ) order fulfilled. Established in the wake of United States v. City of Seattle, the consent decree had subjected the SPD to over a decade of federal oversight aimed at addressing issues surrounding use of force, crisis intervention, and accountability within the department.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division welcomed the District Court ruling, stating, “We congratulate the Seattle Police Department on its achievement of sustained substantial compliance with this consent decree.” Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller praised the department’s efforts, saying it had become “an example for other police forces.”
However, Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Mike Solan criticized the Barack Obama-era federal oversight requirement, claiming it was more about enriching oversight staff than reform. “For close to 14 years, the tax base in the city of Seattle had put forth over $200 million into this process. It’s crushed morale, we’ve lost over half of the department, and it has decimated public safety,” he complained.
Solan also tied the oversight bureaucracy to broader issues within King County, pointing to a $1.5 billion social justice spending spree with no accountability. He noted that the timing of the decree’s initial planned end coincided with the George Floyd riots, which reset progress. Solan remarked, “Just one week before Floyd’s death, city leaders and the DOJ had agreed that SPD was ready to exit the decree. Then George Floyd happens, and we’re back to square one.”
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