Olympia police auditor reviews 2021 use of force, suggests further training in 2022
.jpg "Police auditor Tara Parker spoke during the Feb. 15, 2022, Olympia city council meeting about how she determined all cases of use of force by OPD in 2021 she reviewed were thoroughly reported, objective, free of bias and consistent with OPD policies.")
Throughout 2021, the Olympia Police Department responded to more than 49,000 calls. Of those, there were 2,224 arrests made. The majority took place without incident, but 59 of those arrests involved officers using force.
Tara Parker is the police auditor for the Olympia Police Department. The city hired her in 2021 through a yearly contract with the law firm of Ogden Murphy Wallace. The auditor is charged with providing independent reviews and audits of the police department’s use of force and internal investigations into the conduct of OPD employees.
There were several changes made to the police auditor’s role last year, including expanding their scope to review all use of force incidents rather than just those where a complaint was filed. The auditor’s budget also was increased to $100,000 from what was originally $30,000. By the end of 2021, $73,480 was spent.
Parker went into specifics on the 59 cases of use of force as well as eight use of force incidents with jail staff and 14 misconduct complaints, all detailed in the 2021 annual report published online.
Parker spoke during the Feb. 15 Olympia City Council meeting about how she determined all cases she reviewed were thoroughly reported, objective, free of bias and consistent with OPD policies. She also listed several recommendations to the department to continue what she said was a positive trend in transparency and accountability.
Use of force, misconduct and bias
In her report, Parker said each use of force incident was subject to internal review before it came to her. The police department found that two of 59 incidents were outside policy because the officers “did not have sufficient grounds to detain fleeing subjects when there was no imminent danger to the public.”
In both cases, she said the department took corrective action with oral warnings and mandated training on the use of force.
Of the use of force cases, 53 involved some form of takedown such as physical restraint and holds. Nineteen involved the use of the Bola Wrap, which is a remote restraint device used only by officers trained to use them. Twelve involved the use of a taser and one involved kinetic impact rounds. Some cases involved the implementation of more than one use of force tactic.
Parker broke down the data further to show that the use of force incidents involved 41 white men, 11 white women, four Black men, one Black woman, one Asian man and one Indigenous man.
In the report, Parker says she found no evidence that the officers’ interactions with subjects of color differed from their interactions with white subjects, deeming there was no racial bias in the uses of force.
During the council meeting, council member Dontae Payne asked Parker how she measures racial bias and came to a decision on the matter.
“Racially biased policing is a problem and something we have to pay very special attention to,” Parker said. “Specifically, I’m looking to see, under these circumstances, how de-escalation is articulated. Is there any difference in the way officers attempt to de-escalate, or call in the Crisis Response Unit or any other measures in a circumstance involving a person of color versus circumstances involving white people.”
According to the report, of the 59 incidents, 48 of them involved subjects who were suffering from mental illness and/or were severely impaired by drugs or alcohol.
“The records show that those individuals did not respond to officers’ de-escalation efforts, nor did they comply with orders to cease conduct that posed serious dangers to themselves and others,” the report reads.
In these cases, Parker said OPD increasingly called for assistance from the Crisis Response Unit and refrained from intervening until the CRU had a chance to respond.
Parker also reviewed the 14 misconduct complaints against the department and its employees. She said an audit of these complaints found the reports were thorough, objective, free of bias and consistent with OPD policies.
Eleven of the complaints were raised by community members and three were raised internally. Ten of the 14 complaints were filed under discourteous or unprofessional conduct and were resolved.
There was one complaint of serious misconduct following a use of force incident in 2018 that was filed by a community member, according to the report. The complaint was eventually resolved. The other three complaints were made internally; one was closed because the complainant didn’t disclose information necessary to continue the investigation. In another case, the officer involved was given oral and written warnings and additional training.
The third case was filed by the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office against an OPD employee for criminal conduct. When the investigation ended in April 2021, the department recommended termination but the employee resigned and no longer works for the city.
There is one other case still pending.
Improvements and recommendations
Parker told the city council that substantial changes had been made in the department in 2021, both in updating practices, changing policies and laws and providing thorough and transparent reporting on investigations and complaints. She said she was impressed with the amount of due diligence the department showed in reporting incidences and responding to her recommendations.
Parker and the city’s General Government Committee both made several recommendations to the auditor and the police department on the work they will do in 2022.
The General Government Committee recommended the auditor add a review of public demonstrations when an event results in an act of violence to determine if the response was “in alignment with Guiding Principles for Demonstrations and Crowd Control,” according to a report from Debbie Sullivan, assistant city manager.
Sullivan said in an interview with The Olympian that the addition is to provide more transparency to the public and is in response to the number of demonstrations from previous years that have resulted in violence. There was a Proud Boys demonstration in September 2021 that resulted in a person being shot, and Interim Police Chief Rich Allen said an assault took place at a January 2021 Capitol Campus protest.
The department also has requested body cameras and dashboard-mounted video recorders, which will be a first for the city. The equipment is expected to be in place this summer, Allen said.
Much of the recommendations made by Parker surround further training for OPD employees to continue on what she sees as a positive trend.
She recommended that OPD finalize its adoption of the draft changes to its Personnel Complaint Policy, which was originally recommended last year and was done to increase transparency and communication with residents.
She also recommended the OPD continue training in de-escalation, especially when dealing with mental health crises; continue training and conversations around anti-biased policing and cultural awareness; and continue to research and invest in what the best practices are for uses of force and reporting those incidents.
The Washington state Legislature passed a series of police reform bills in 2021 that significantly changed some of the roles and duties of law enforcement. According to the report, House Bill 1310, which focuses on use of force and its definition, raised the threshold for when police officers are allowed to use force to intervene in crisis situations.
This led to concern from the community that the police would no longer respond to calls dealing with people reported to be suffering from mental illness, substance abuse and public disturbances that aren’t posing a threat to public safety.
Parker said she found no evidence that the bill altered the way OPD responds to crisis calls.
“Because of funding from Olympia’s Public Safety Levy, the OPD has been able to diversify its resources and responders to include members of Olympia’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU) and Designated Crisis Responders, who are licensed mental health professionals,” the report says.
Allen said he’s looking forward to updated language to the bill and a more clear definition of use of force for further transparency.
When it comes to anti-bias training, Parker said that despite the lack of bias she found in use of force cases, the community has continued to express concern that the department’s overall policing has been biased against people of color.
Allen said the department will participate in more sessions on the topic and the history of race and police relations this spring. He said they have also committed to training their officers in procedural justice, which teaches officers how to best demonstrate respect for residents and treat them with dignity and fairness.
“We welcome the work of the auditor,” Allen said. “We do good work, and we are an open book. If there are areas of improvement that we can make, we’ll certainly make them. It increases the public’s trust in our police department.”
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