OPINION | Seattle Police Are Not Reformed. Ending Federal Oversight Betrays Public Safety.

On Sept. 3, Judge James Robart lifted the consent decree and ended 13 years of federal oversight, leaving the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to police itself once again. Federal intervention began after SPD officer Ian Birk shot and killed Indigenous woodcarver John T. Williams in 2010 — a shooting so egregious the department's own Firearms Review Board ruled it unjustified. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller celebrated the lifting of the consent decree, calling the current SPD "an example for other police forces." City officials applauded. But for those of us who've lived through SPD's violence, it felt like abandonment.

I know this personally. A Seattle police officer assaulted me with chemical weapons at the 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally and was shielded from accountability. The memory is not abstract — it is the searing pain of hot pepper spray in my eyes, it's the sound of peaceful protesters screaming in fear, it is the humiliation of being treated like an enemy in my own city. And I am far from alone. SPD's record is scarred by the people it has brutalized, dehumanized, and even killed.

Supporters of lifting the consent decree point to falling use-of-force numbers, new data systems, and training programs. Yet, as Jazmyn Clark, attorney and smart justice policy program director for the ACLU of Washington, explained: "The Seattle Police Department is not a transformed institution, and ending the consent decree does not make today's court decision the success the city claims it to be. Racial disparities remain, and use-of-force issues persist with SPD." The recent numbers bear this out: Black people are 6.7% of Seattle's population, yet accounted for 31% of all uses of force — and 43% of those at whom SPD pointed a gun.

But you don't have to take the word of legal experts or read detailed use-of-force reports. Ask Seattle resident Sam Sueoka, who had to go to court to force SPD to release the names of the six officers who attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — more than from any other city in the nation.

Or ask the parents of Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old Indian student struck and killed in 2023 by an SPD officer who was speeding through a crosswalk. Instead of empathy, SPOG Vice President Daniel Auderer, joking with President Mike Solan, made national headlines for laughing that her life had "limited value," suggesting they "just write a check" for $11,000.

Or ask one of the transgender people who rallied to defend their lives on May 24, when the far-right group Mayday USA staged an anti-LGBTQ+ event at Cal Anderson Park — the heart of queer and trans Seattle. That day, Seattle police brutalized trans and queer counterprotesters, unleashing pepper spray that also struck journalists documenting the scene. Just days later, at a follow-up rally at City Hall, SPD once again chose sides. As Rev. Dr. Kelle Brown — a Black pastor who came with other clergy to shield queer and trans youth put it — police stood "unapologetically" on the side of the right-wing extremists. Police arrested counterprotesters while treating provocateurs as if they deserved deference from the state.

These are not isolated "mistakes," but the continuation of a culture of force, bias, and impunity that federal oversight was supposed to address.

Let's be clear: The federal consent decree was never enough. But it was something — an acknowledgment of SPD's biased policing, one that forced the department to gather data, document its uses of force, and appear, however rarely, before a federal judge. It gave community groups a foothold to demand answers. It didn't bring justice, but it shone a light on impunity. Already since the decree was lifted, SPD and the city have moved to expand surveillance powers in ways overwhelmingly opposed by the public. Both the Office for Civil Rights and the Community Police Commission warned that the expansion would deepen mistrust and expose Seattle communities to federal overreach and misuse of data.

Ending oversight now rewards the very obstruction that made the decree fall short. It tells officers: You can wait out accountability. It tells SPOG: Resistance to accountability works. And it tells those of us harmed by SPD: You're on your own.

If we want to build a city that fosters public safety, we need governance that sends the opposite message: You are part of a loving community. The safest neighborhoods in the U.S. are not those with the most police, but those with the most resources.

Real safety means knowing you can call for help without risking your life because an unarmed CARE team will respond without escalating the situation into violence. It means youth in well-resourced schools with wraparound and mental health supports who don't live in fear of gun violence. It's trans people gathering without being attacked. It means our unhoused neighbors are offered housing, not handcuffs. It means families have access to health care instead of facing medical bankruptcy.

The judge may have ended federal oversight, but the people of Seattle have not ended the struggle for genuine public safety.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Jesse Hagopian is a Seattle-based educator, author of "Teach Truth: The Struggle for Antiracist Education," and serves on the national steering committee of Black Lives Matter at School.