Reform/Transform: An Investigation of Policing in 12 Cities

Jurisdictions »

Seattle

Civilian review boards exist to provide independent, civilian oversight of law enforcement. In addition to civilian review boards, some cities also have inspectors general or oversight commissions, which are third-party government agencies or officials that provide external oversight of law enforcement policies and practices.

Dozens of jurisdictions across the country have some type of civilian oversight body, but despite the growing prevalence of civilian oversight in cities across the country, many communities have lost faith in their effectiveness. Effective oversight is only possible if oversight bodies are independent from the police department, representative of communities most impacted by police brutality, adequately funded, granted subpoena power, and equipped with full investigatory and disciplinary power.

For policy background and further resources, see our toolkit page on independent oversight here.

This jurisdiction has multiple oversight bodies, which are evaluated below. The overall score reflects evaluations of all applicable oversight bodies.

City Data

  • 688,245 Total Population
  • 12.5% Poverty status in the past 12 months
  • 1,444 No. of Police
Sources »

Racial and Ethnic Demographics

  • 6.5% Latinx
  • 7.1% Black/African American
  • 65.3% White, non-Hispanic
  • 14.5% Asian
  • 0.6% American Indian and Alaska Native
  • 0.4% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander
  • 2.2% Some other race
  • 6.6% 2 or more races

Civilian Review Board:

Office of Professional Accountability i

1Independence: Does the Civilian Review Board conduct investigations independently of the police department?

  • y

    Does the Civilain Review Board conduct investigations independently of the police department?

    Source »

2Investigatory Powers: Does the Civilian Review Board have necessary investigatory powers?

  • y

    Does the Civilain Review Board have either subpoena power or administrative powers that enable direct and unfettered access?

    Source »
  • y

    Does the Civilain Review Board have the power to compel witnesses?

    Source »
  • y

    Does the Civilain Review Board have the power to compel testimony?

    Source »
  • y

    Does the Civilain Review Board have the power to compel documents?

    Source »

3Disciplinary Authority: Does the Civilian Review Board have disciplinary authority?

  • n

    Does the Civilian Review Board have disciplinary authority?

    Source »

4Funding: Does the Civilian Review Board have necessary funding for thorough and timely investigations?

  • n

    Are investigations completed within 120 days?

    Source »
  • n

    Is funding no less than 5% of the total police department budget

    Source »
  • n

    Is funding tied to the police department’s non-capital budget (so that increases in the police department budget result in increases in funding for oversight)?

  • n

    Does funding cover an investigative staff, with at least one investigator for every 70 police officers or four investigators at all times (whichever is greater)?

5Community: Does the Civilian Review Board have membership that reflects the diversity, expertise, and connection to the community?

  • n

    Does the legislation explicitly have a statement about diversity of the board?

  • n

    Does the legislation require the membership of community members most impacted by police surveillance, abuse, and brutality?

  • n

    Does the mayor appoint less than 50% of board members? (For true independence, members should not be majority-appointed by the mayor.)

    Source »

6Public Access: Does the Civilian Review Board have public access that allows residents to file complaints through a variety of methods and during non-business hours?

  • Can residents file complaints:

  • y

    by phone?

    Source »
  • y

    online?

    Source »
  • y

    in person?

    Source »
  • y

    after hours and during the weekend?

  • n

    in multiple languages / locations?

    Source »

7Policies and Practices: Does the Civilian Review Board have broad jurisdiction to investigate police department policies and practices (may also be in form of an inspector general or commission)?

  • y

    Does the CRB, inspector general, or police commission have authority to review and make recommendations on police department policies and practices?

    Source »

8Transparency: Is the Civilian Review Board transparent to the public on complaints and dispositions (without personally identifiable information)? i

  • n

    Are reports issued quarterly, and to the public?

    Source »
  • y

    Do reports include demographics of complainants?

    Source »
  • y

    Do reports include status and findings of investigations and actions taken as a result of investigations?

    Source »



External Oversight Agency:

Office of Inspector General for Public Safety and the Community Policy Commission i

1Mandate: Does the locality have an external oversight agency that has a clear and permanent mandate?

  • y

    Does the entity have a clear mandate that spells out the purpose of the external oversight body?

    Source »
  • y

    Does the entity have an authority that is permanent?

    Source »

2Independence: Is the external oversight agency independent from law enforcement with the authority to determine what to investigate?

  • y

    Can the entity conduct itself independently from law enforcement?

    Source »
  • y

    Is the entity structurally designed to be free from the influence of law enforcement (i.e., law enforcement does not determine the majority of staffing nor oversee the agency)?

    Source »
  • y

    Can the entity independently determine what policies and practices to review?

    Source »

3Patterns and Practices: Is the oversight agency mandated by law or policy to monitor and investigate patterns and practices of police interactions?

  • Is the entity required by policy or law to investigate patterns of police interactions by: i

  • n

    race?

  • n

    gender identity?

  • n

    sexual orientation?

  • n

    immigration status?

  • n

    housing status (homeless people, those living in public housing)?

  • n

    disability status?

  • y

    Does the entity investigate patterns of use of force?

    Source »
  • n

    Does the entity investigate patterns of weapons discharges?

  • y

    Does the entity investigate patterns of officer misconduct?

    Source »
  • y

    Does the entity investigate patterns in civilian complaints and officer discipline?

    Source »

4Policy: Does an external oversight agency issue policy changes?

  • n

    Is law enforcement required to adhere to the entity’s policy changes?

  • y

    If not, is law enforcement required to respond to recommendations?

    Source »
  • y

    Does the entity share policy changes in a publicly accessible format?

    Source »

5Investigatory Powers: Does the external oversight agency have subpoena power (or other means of direct and unfettered access)?

  • y

    Does the entity have either subpoena power or administrative powers that enable direct and unfettered access?

    Source »
  • y

    Can the entity compel testimony?

    Source »
  • y

    Can the entity access relevant internal documents?

    Source »
  • y

    Can the entity access relevant personnel of the police department?

    Source »

6Outreach: Does the agency have an outreach capacity?

  • y

    Is the entity directed to and equipped to hear concerns from the public?

    Source »

Independent Oversight Methodology

Center for Popular Democracy researchers evaluated each jurisdiction based on a full set of policy criteria as developed in the Reform/Transform toolkit in collaboration with policy experts and advocates. Because the original tool is lengthy and the questions are numerous, we organized the full list of questions into a smaller number of thematic groupings. This process yielded 14 broad groupings of questions (which encompassed all of the sub-questions from the original, full-length tool).

Finally, we developed a ranking system to differentiate jurisdictions’ performance based on how successfully the authorizing legislation and/or other written policies governing their civilian review boards and/or other external oversight agencies fulfill these 14 broad criteria. Because not all questions should be weighted equally (some criteria are more essential to giving a policy teeth than others), our ranking system reflects researchers’ judgements about what components are critical to real accountability based on research and previous conversations with policy experts. Read more »

Reform/Transform is a project of Local Progress, a movement of local elected officials advancing a racial and economic justice agenda through all levels of local government. We are elected leaders who build power with underrepresented communities, share bold ideas and policy among our network, and fight to reshape what is possible in our localities all across the country.

For any inquiries or questions, please contact [email protected]