A judge ended federal oversight of the Seattle Police Department on Wednesday, more than 10 years after it entered a consent decree with the Department of Justice.
In 2012, the Justice Department found that Seattle police officers had a history of excessive force and practices that had a disproportionate effect on minority communities. In the 13 years since the police department entered the agreement, Seattle has changed protocols for holding officers accountable, adopted new use-of-force policies, and begun using body cameras.
U.S. District Judge James Robart said the city had complied with all parts of the consent decree and that the Seattle Police Department was a “model for reform.”
Seattle and the federal government first moved to end the federal oversight in 2023, but the process was delayed.
“This is a different department than it was in 2012. It’s a different department than it was in 2020. And I know it will be a different department in the years to come as we strive for continuous improvement,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a prepared statement to the court on Wednesday.
“When you look at the use of force. 2012, one out of five incidents involving police, there was unreasonable force. Now, less than 1%. We’ve made tremendous progress,” he said at a press conference.
In 2012, the original complaint against the Seattle police force estimated that 20% of serious use-of-force incidents were unconstitutional.
The complaint stemmed from an August 2010 incident in which then-Seattle police officer Ian Birk shot and killed an indigenous woodcarver, John T. Williams, giving him just four seconds to drop a carving knife that was not open. The Justice Department investigation at the time said the shooting was “unjustified” and established federal oversight.
DOJ SUSPENDS POLICE REFORM AGREEMENTS
The agreement to end federal oversight comes as the DOJ, under President Donald Trump, has ended police department interventions such as that in Seattle. The DOJ has ended many civil rights investigations across the country.
Earlier this year, the DOJ ended efforts to oversee about two dozen local police departments that have been accused of civil rights violations, including in Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Louisville, Kentucky.