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Seattle

In 2017, 1,147 people were killed by the police,[1] and in the 100 largest cities between 2013 and 2017, Black people comprised 39 percent of those killed despite comprising only 21 percent of the population.[2] Police in the United States kill more people per day than other countries do in years.[3] Despite the pervasive use of force employed by police departments across the country, there is no national standard governing use-of-force policies,[5] which leads to significant subjectivity when prosecuting officers for excessive use of force.[6]

To achieve greater accountability, local elected officials can play an important role in advocating for strong use-of-force policies that prioritize the sanctity of life, put limits on the type of force officers can use and under what circumstances, and require robust data collection and reporting.

For policy background and further resources, see our toolkit page on use of force here.

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

Use of Force Methodology

Center for Popular Democracy researchers evaluated each city 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 seven broader buckets of questions (which encompassed all of the sub-questions from the original, full-length tool).

Finally, we developed a ranking system to differentiate cities’ performance based on how successfully their use of force policies fulfill these seven 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.

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