Citizen Will Head Panel To Review Police Actions

Acknowledging the need for a new type of police oversight, Mayor Paul Schell today endorsed a report calling for a civilian to oversee internal investigations in the Seattle Police Department.

But Schell rejected a proposal to open all internal-affairs files to public scrutiny, which was a cornerstone recommendation of a citizen-review panel he appointed to examine how the department investigates itself.

Schell and Police Chief Norm Stamper, who joined the mayor at a news conference this morning at Capitol Hill's First African Methodist Episcopal Church, said full review of those files would dissuade citizens, police officers and witnesses from coming forward with complaints.

"I do not want to chill the process," Schell said.

The four-member citizen-review panel, in a report issued last month, said public scrutiny of the files was essential to bringing accountability to the internal-review process.

The panel ranked that proposal second to its central recommendation - that the Police Department form an Office of Public Accountability (OPA), headed by a civilian, to direct internal investigations.

Civilian oversight, long resisted within Seattle police ranks, was embraced today by Schell and Stamper, who said they want to hire someone of stature for the OPA post by Jan. 1.

The director would be appointed for three years and be paid about $100,000 annually, the equivalent of an assistant chief. The chief could overrule the director's recommendations only with a written finding, providing just cause for doing so.

Schell said he would ask for new funding for the OPA office, as suggested by the citizen-review panel.

Stamper to focus on panel's list

Schell also gave his full backing to Stamper during the news conference, saying he wanted to take the issue of public safety "out of the realm of personalities and politics."

"In our community, people are saying they like Chief Stamper," the mayor said. "I'm seeking to make a good department a better one."

Stamper, admitting that the focus on his leadership has been trying, said he now plans to concentrate on his job and on carrying out changes proposed by the citizen panel.

"I am a very enthusiastic supporter of the panel's recommendations," he said, referring to the OPA proposal and 21 other recommendations submitted by the citizen panel.

The panel found that although the Police Department doesn't suffer from widespread corruption, the public and some officers have lost confidence in the department's ability to police itself, in part because of serious breakdowns in some internal investigations.

In response, the mayor and chief unveiled an "Accountability Action Plan" that includes:

-- A rule that lying, cheating and stealing will result in dismissal.

-- Regular oversight of the internal-review process by Stamper, and more involvement by the chief in ethics training.

-- Direct interviews with officers who are under investigation for misconduct, instead of submitting questions in advance.

-- Internal-review files would be kept for seven years instead of three, with complainants given a detailed summary about allegations that aren't sustained.

-- The immediate appointment of an ethics officer. Capt. Jim Pryor, who has most recently headed the Audit and Inspections Section, has been named to the post.

Panel accepts mayor's plan

The citizen panel was headed by retired King County Superior Court Judge Charles Johnson. Its other members were Jenny Durkan, a Seattle attorney; Mike McKay, a former U.S. attorney in Seattle now in private practice; and Burdena Pasenelli, the recently retired special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office.

McKay, speaking for the panel at the press conference, said, "We support the mayor's plan." McKay said the plan "fully embraces the spirit and intent of our recommendations."

The decision to substitute a summary of unsustained findings to complainants instead of allowing full public access strikes a "reasonable balance," McKay said.

Schell appointed the panel following revelations in April that eight Seattle police officers, including an internal-investigations sergeant, failed to promptly report allegations that a veteran Seattle homicide detective, Earl "Sonny" Davis Jr., had stolen money from a crime scene nearly three years ago. Davis, now retired, in now on trial in King County Superior Court on a first-degree theft charge.