A report released in July by the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight calls on the King County Sheriff’s Office to change its practices for notifying families, the media and the public about police uses of force and in-custody incidents that resulted in death or serious injury.
The Office of Law Enforcement Oversight report includes seven recommendations, ranging from establishing a family engagement team to a data portal for use of force and in-custody incidents to developing policies.
“This report aims to promote trauma-informed practices and increased transparency and consistency in the aftermath of critical incidents,” said Tamer Abouzeid, director of the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight. “Critical incidents are traumatic for everyone involved, and we have made several recommendations to the Sheriff’s Office that reflect our role as an independent agency charged with representing the public’s interests.”
The Office of Law Enforcement Oversight sent the 46-page report with recommendations and analysis to the King County Sheriff’s Office in July.
“The King County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work positively and proactively with the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight as we review the recommendations and determine how they best meet the needs of our employees and the common good of the community at large,” the King County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to Sound Publishing.
Existing reporting procedures include notifying the sheriff’s office supervisor immediately after an incident involving the use of deadly force. The sheriff’s office then contacts an independent investigative team, such as the Valley Independent Investigative Team, and the independent investigative team takes control of the scene.
According to the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight report, the sheriff’s office is equally involved in notifying the public as existing notification procedures: “It is their job not to be significantly involved in notifying next of kin,” the report states.
The independent investigation team will appoint a family contact within 24 hours of arriving at the scene of the accident to identify, locate and inform the next of kin of the incident.
Throughout the investigation, a representative of the independent investigation team will inform the public and the media about the status of the investigation once a week, in accordance with existing procedures, the report said.
The report’s seven recommendations for the Sheriff’s Office include:
• Establishing a family team within the sheriff’s office to be responsible for communicating with next of kin;
• Building partnerships with community organisations to support affected individuals;
• Clarify the role of family liaison officers vis-à-vis next of kin, including the level of confidentiality within the family-liaison officer relationship;
• Publication of the minutes of independent investigation groups on the Internet;
• Creation of guidelines for press releases;
• Establish policies for video release of an incident;
• And the creation of a data portal for use of force and incidents in custody.
“OLEO believes that if the Sheriff’s Office has the legal authority to communicate with affected families, it has an obligation to do so,” the report said.
The report recommends that police officers visit relatives by bringing non-police personnel, meeting relatives in person, wearing plain clothes rather than uniforms, and providing relatives with written materials and brochures.
The report’s recommendations for media releases following incidents call on the sheriff’s office to limit initial releases to verifiable facts without bias, exclude any prior criminal history of the individual in question, disclose the names of officers who fired a firearm and used force during an incident, and refrain from expressing approval or condemnation of the officers’ actions. The report calls on the sheriff’s office to publicly release available footage within 72 hours of an incident.
The King County Sheriff’s Office continues to review and evaluate the report’s recommendations.
