Mayor Bruce Harrell Signs Police Contract That Critics Say Weakens Accountability

by Lauryn Bray

Mayor Bruce Harrell signed the City's contract with Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) on Wednesday, May 15, after the City Council voted 8-1 to approve the tentative agreement that would allow for salary increases up to 24% and three years of retroactive pay for SPD officers.

Councilmember Tammy Morales, representing Seattle's District 2, was the sole opponent to the contract. The contract takes effect from Dec. 31, 2023, and will cost taxpayers $96 million.

"This contract with SPOG is an incredibly important vote about the future of police accountability and civilian public safety alternatives in Seattle," Morales said in a statement before the meeting. "The community deserves a chance to make their voice heard before we vote on it. We shouldn't be rushing this."

On April 29, Harrell released the details of the tentative agreement with SPOG, the city's largest police union. Since its release, neither the mayor's office nor the City have attempted to facilitate a public hearing for the community to weigh in on the contract.

Despite the lack of a formal hearing, Seattle residents attended the City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 14, to make sure their voices were heard. During public comment, residents suggested that given SPD's struggle to follow accountability measures and maintain the trust of the communities they serve, the $96 million should be spent on other solutions to public safety concerns like affordable housing and methods for addressing the city's addiction crisis.

"Maybe you're telling yourself that you're voting for this contract because you're concerned about homelessness and substance abuse in our city," said Claire Bomkamp during public comment. "These are issues we can't solve by treating the most vulnerable members of our community like problems to be swept under the rug. Instead, we should treat them like our neighbors and start adequately funding things like public housing, mental health services, treatment for those struggling with addiction, and so on. All that money the council wants to throw at SPD — there are so many better uses for it."

Another commenter questioned the council's ability to approve raises for police while simultaneously neglecting initiatives like the Affected Persons Program (APP).

"This contract is garbage. How can you possibly justify paying cops six figures minimum at a 23% raise in a $6 billion budget while withholding $100,000 for the people most impacted by their brutality?" said Robert Engel. "And when we're unlucky enough to lose a brother, sister, partner, or a loved one to some trigger-happy racist killer, your main priority is to pretend we don't exist."

Castill Hightower, former project manager of the APP and sister of Herbert Hightower Jr. who was killed by police in 2004, addressed the council with similar questions. "While you are discussing whether to back pay a whopping $96 million to Seattle police officers who have a history of racism and brutality, the City is simultaneously blocking three months of back pay that you owe me for the work I already completed for the APP prior to you cutting it for a second time and putting me at risk of homelessness," she said.

At least four people mentioned Seattle police officer Daniel Auderer's comments regarding the death of Jaahnavi Kandula as an example of the poor relationship between SPD and the community. Casper Sparks was one of them.

"This is the same police force that so badly brutalized our citizens that the city — and by that I mean the taxpayers — had to pay out a $10 million lawsuit with the police force that made international news when SPOG vice president Daniel Auderer was caught making jokes and having some laugh over the killing of Jaahnavi Kandula," Sparks said. "The same police force that is currently being sued by their own officers for gender discrimination and sexual harassment. I don't think that the public relations and hiring issues SPD is facing will be solved by giving them more money."

Following public comment, Morales moved to amend the agenda by removing the bill to allow more time for public comment.

"As I noted in briefing yesterday, I did request to delay a vote on this contract. We haven't had a single public hearing, and this is our first opportunity to have public comment since the bill became available, and I do think that the community deserves a chance to have their voice heard," said Morales before the vote. "This is a negotiated contract that asks taxpayers to pay $96 million for back salary and benefits, and there are several accountability flaws in this contract. So I would ask that we delay the vote and give folks a chance to better understand what's in it."

Councilmember Rob Saka seconded Morales' motion following a long pause. "I'll second this in the interest of moving this along. I don't support it," he said. The amendment failed to pass.

Morales defended her request for more time for public comment by arguing that the contract seeks to weaken the power of the Office of Police Accountability (OPA). She said, "The contract limits the power of civilian investigators in OPA. It allows the chief to overrule OPA findings … It continues to use an opaque, elevated standard of review that makes it harder to fire officers.

"It keeps a problematic provision in place that prohibits discipline against officers if OPA's investigation takes more than 180 days to complete. It keeps Seattle's broken police arbitration system in place with only minor changes. The contract limits the police department's ability to put employees on leave without pay prior to a full OPA investigation, even in the most serious instances of misconduct, and requires OPA investigative files to be purged after a number of years."

Morales also argued that the contract violates the federal consent decree the city has been under since 2012. "I believe this contract as bargained does not protect the city, and the lack of accountability measures puts us in continued violation of the federal consent decree, and the contract isn't compliant with the legislation that this City Council passed to ensure police accountability."

Council President Sara Nelson called for staff testimony from Council Central Staff member Greg Doss, who provided an overview of the legislation, indicating that the contract is an interim agreement and the City and SPOG will continue bargaining. In addition, Ben Noble, director of the Seattle Office of Economic Revenue and Forecasts, said the City has been accumulating reserves to pay retroactively and through 2026, but is currently $9.2 million behind actual and projected costs.

Following the vote, there was an outburst from an attendee who had been asked several times before by Nelson to refrain from speaking outside of public comment. Nelson called for a 10-minute recess as the individual was escorted out.

Editors' Note: An earlier version of this article misattributed a quote to Lauren Kay. On 05/20/2024, the article was updated with the correct attribution to Robert Engel.

📸 Featured Image: A Seattle police car at the back of the Fiestas Patrias Parade in South Park, Seattle, on Sept. 16, 2017. Photo is attributed to Joe Mabel (under a Creative Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 license).