Why the Olympia officer investigated for photo was honored with an award last week
Olympia Police Officer Tiffany Coates was honored as the 2019 Police Officer of the Year by the local American Legion post last week, a department spokesperson confirmed.
Coates is the officer who was investigated earlier this year to determine whether she violated department policy by posing for a photo with armed men associated with a far-right group.
An internal investigation, reviewed by an outside attorney, recently exonerated Coates.
However, the timing of the ceremony makes for bad optics, which Mayor Cheryl Selby acknowledged in a phone call with The Olympian Saturday. A blog post from Thurston County Scanner, News, and Weather, which originally reported on the award, quickly became a topic of discussion on an Olympia-specific subreddit.
A spokesperson with the police department told The Olympian Coates was selected to receive the 2019 award well before the photo controversy, and the top leader at American Legion Post No. 3 said the group always presents its follow-up award to whoever receives the internal OPD honor.
“This is an officer with a good reputation who does good, solid police work, is proactive, cares deeply about this community and cares deeply about the people she serves,” Lt. Paul Lower said of Coates in a phone interview.
The photo
The controversy around Officer Coates was sparked by a photo reportedly taken in the early morning hours June 5, not two weeks after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody fueled outrage and demonstrations in Olympia and across the country.
Groups had been showing up to demonstrations with guns, which put protesters on edge. Also June 5, but seemingly before the photo was widely circulated on social media, Mayor Selby held a press conference that was disrupted by people forcefully demanding city officials address people bringing firearms to demonstrations.
The photo showed Officer Coates posing with a group of armed men in front of Baskin Robbins on Olympia’s west side. For some, it manifested an ongoing concern that the armed groups were allied with police. Department leadership has stated it does not align with any group.
Many of the men in the photo were flashing a hand gesture associated with the Three Percenters movement. The gesture looks similar to the “okay” sign that is sometimes interpreted to signify “white power.”
As The Olympian has previously reported, Washington Three Percent is registered as a nonprofit and claims to be pro-government and not a militia. However, the Anti Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center consider Three Percenters part of the militia movement, and they’ve engaged in paramilitary exercises and intimidation.
One example: The Seattle Times reported in May that Washington Three Percenters published the names of people who had reported local businesses for violating stay-home orders. The group also has been active in protesting against voter-approved gun laws and COVID-19 lockdowns.
Interim Police Chief Aaron Jelcick quickly released a statement in reaction to the photo, writing in part that he was “disappointed and frustrated that the photo was taken at all, but particularly at this sensitive time in our city and nation,” and expressing regret that it might damage trust with the community.
Mayor Cheryl Selby strongly condemned the behavior and said the photo illustrates “in no uncertain terms” that a culture change was warranted in the department and city government.
The issue of armed groups at demonstrations prompted citizens, businesses, clergy, police leadership, and elected officials to openly speak out against their presence. Olympia City Council began exploring whether the groups violate a state law concerning unsanctioned militias.
This month, the city council penned a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson asking for their help to support a “change in state law that provides a severe penalty” for people “who organize and form private armed militias,” and to “prosecute and enjoin this activity” in Olympia and other cities that have “encountered armed private militia groups.”
As it stands, according to the letter, current law deems a violation a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail or a fine up to $1,000 or both.
“Now is the time to act,” the letter concludes. “Please join with us to stop private armies and militias on our streets. Our primary duty is to protect public safety.”
The police department launched an internal investigation into the photo, the redacted results of which were published online last month. The investigation found the matter “exonerated,” meaning the behavior occurred, but was “justified, lawful and proper.”
Selby said Saturday she now believes she rushed to judgment in her strong rebuke and the investigation gave her more context. She thinks Coates was doing the best she could to de-escalate the situation, and she doesn’t fault the officer’s peers for selecting her for the award or wanting to honor her.
“I think she’s learned and we’ve all learned, and 2020 has been something that’s rocked everybody in different ways,” Selby said. “I think all we can ask is people move forward and learn from their mistakes. I’m learning every day.”
The 89-page report includes transcripts of interviews with two Washington Three Percent members and Officer Coates, along with a look at Coates’ background with the department and other research.
The investigation
Coates was hired in mid-2018 and doesn’t have any disciplinary or corrective actions noted in her file, according to the report, which also mentions that she was elected by her peers as “Officer of the Year” in 2019 — the origin of last week’s ceremony.
She hadn’t been with the department during previous large protests and demonstrations and hadn’t been trained to identify white supremacist groups, militia groups, or hand signals, according to the report. She also didn’t have contact with members of Washington Three Percent before or after the encounter, according to the report.
Officer Coates had been dispatched to a noise complaint at the parking lot, it reads.
Another officer had told her the group was friendly and she felt comfortable with them, according to the report, so no officers accompanied her. She said the group was friendly and polite. At one point, they told her they supported the Black Lives Matter movement, the investigation found.
As The Olympian previously reported, Washington Three Percent was one of a handful of groups that responded to the lot after the owner of Private Sector Arms put out a call on Facebook asking for people to “secure the business.” The owner told The Olympian he had heard threats and rumors that his store might be targeted.
“They said that the gun shop owner had asked them to protect it, because they had heard that ... the Antifa group was coming to Olympia to burn down the city,” Coates said in her interview for the investigation, according to the published transcript. She also said they asked how things had gone downtown and whether “Antifa” was still there. She told them she thought “there’s a few left, maybe at the Voyeur,” according to the transcript.
Members told Coates about the group’s nonprofit status and said they help veterans and homeless people, according to the report.
A member also described the group as “constitutional conservatives” in an interview, and said they lobby legislators and are very politically active, “specifically in regards to trying to protect our rights,” they said, naming the Second and First amendments.
“We do train our people to defend themselves and how to safely handle firearms,” the interviewee said, in part. They also said the group “does not allow any racism whatsoever” and is a diverse group.
According to the investigation, an “African American male in the group” asked Coates if they could take the photo with her — the group members said the hand gesture, which Coates reports not seeing, represents their group and is not racist.
She got the name and number of a group leader, which she later emailed to her department manager, explaining what she learned about the group. “He was interested in speaking with my command in hopes to connect about their intentions,” it reads.
In her interview, Coates acknowledged that, as it says in the original Facebook post with the photo, she probably thanked the group for protecting businesses. She said she doesn’t associate with racist groups and was “shocked” when she learned many people had contacted the city to complain about the photo.
The investigation found the group didn’t present themselves to Coates as a white supremacist group that night and that she didn’t perceive them to be promoting a racist ideology when the photo was taken. OPD encourages officers to engage with the community, which sometimes has meant taking photos with community members, according to the report.
“The officer’s interaction with the group was found to be courteous, professional and in keeping with her training in de-escalation,” a statement from Interim Chief Jelcick about the investigation reads.
To decide whether the photo violated an internal policy around authorizing photos for the use of a staff member’s name in connection with testimonials, advertising, and other similar purposes, the investigation took into account photos of Mayor Selby, City Manager Jay Burney, and Jelcick kneeling with a group of Black Lives Matter activists.
In that case, photos were also published on social media and people commented with support or criticism — but they weren’t subject to an internal investigation, the report notes.
The investigation concluded that photos showing Department staff with community groups “of different political outlooks are not necessarily interpreted as advertisements for or testimonials supporting the group’s respective outlooks” so don’t violate the policy.
“While a more experienced member of the Department might have been aware there was a possibility the group would publish and distribute the photograph in a way that suggested she or the Department supports the group, Officer Coates appears to have been genuinely ignorant of that possibility and the impression the photograph might convey,” it reads.
The behavior wasn’t considered “unbecoming conduct” because, while critics asserted she was posing with a militia-style group, others support “the right of such groups to exercise their First and Second Amendment rights.” As long as the groups are “peaceful, law-abiding, and do not espouse racist or other hate-based goals,” there doesn’t seem to be a policy that requires treating groups differently than “groups who espouse racial-justice or other ‘liberal’ goals,” the investigation reads.
The investigation highlighted that “a large portion” of OPD staff hasn’t “experienced the politics and vocal activism that comes in connection with large-scale events, protests and demonstrations,” it reads.
“It would be beneficial for the Department management team to help educate, coach and guide our junior staff through the nuances of the Olympia community’s politics and culture.”
The full investigation and Jelcick’s statement are available online.
Who makes an ‘Officer of the Year’
The Officer of the Year Award is presented each year to a commissioned officer, according department policy Lt. Lower emailed to The Olympian. Each team of officers — patrol officers are split into two teams, Lower said — puts forward at least one nomination. If there’s more than one per team, there’s a vote to decide who is nominated to the police chief, who has the final say.
Nominations are made throughout the year, Lower said, and the winner for 2019 had been selected by the beginning of 2020.
According to the department policy, nominations are based on how an officer has:
- “Helped the Department earn the trust of residents and visitors in our community;
- Demonstrated a team approach to proactive policing, corrections, community education and support services;
- Operated under a ‘one team’ concept;
- Problem-solved at the lowest level possible;
- Supported/facilitated open communication between members of the Department and the public; and
- Represented the Department as being compassionate, respectful, highly-trained and innovative.”
Typically, the department would’ve held an internal award ceremony in February or March, but that was canceled due to the pandemic, according to Lower. A number of annual awards were presented informally during briefings over the summer, he said.
Every year, the American Legion reaches out and offers their award to the department’s Officer of the Year, Lower said.
American Legion Post No. 3 normally presents the honor at a City Council meeting in March, Scott Olson, commander of the post, told The Olympian.
While some other posts do it differently, Post No. 3 doesn’t choose the officer, Olson said. It presents a trophy and makes out a $750 check to the Cops and Kids Foundation in the name of the officer OPD chose.
The event took place last Wednesday evening in the City Council Chambers at Olympia City Hall, according to Olson, and he estimated a group of about 30 people attended, including three American Legion representatives, police, and the Scanner blog. Each group aside from the police force was given a number they could have attend, he said, and the event wasn’t announced publicly.
Masks were required at the event, though a photo from the Scanner blog shows a group of at least 10 officers posing shoulder-to-shoulder unmasked.
Olson said everyone was wearing masks, but a couple took them off for photo ops or to enunciate during a speech. Lower said the officers in the group photos have their face coverings around their necks, and they must have pulled them down just for the photo.
Lower called Coates “very deserving of this award.” The Olympian reached out through Lower to Jelcick and Coates for comment, but did not hear back as of Sunday.
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