A Seattle arts and entertainment publication called on local residents to flood the city’s Office of Police Accountability with complaints against officers in hopes of bringing about change at the Seattle Police Department.
Earlier this week, blog post The Stranger magazine encouraged Seattle residents to report instances where police appear to be driving “egregiously” or ignoring traffic signs. We also provide readers with detailed instructions for submitting a report.
The subheading reads: “If we call the police enough for bad driving, they might stop killing us and charging us money.”
The post acknowledges that a minor traffic violation charge is likely not enough to “fire” an officer, but author Ashley Nerbovig notes that firing an officer is not always the case. He points out that this is not the final goal of the project. Rather, Nerbovig hopes that so many complaints have been filed with OPA that “SPD higher-ups” will consider more and more officers “litigious” and “start cracking down” on their driving. .
conservative talk show host Jason Lantz OPA Director Geno Betts said he would investigate a number of seemingly frivolous reports, including reports of “driving in bus lanes” and “failure to use turn signals,” and said he would investigate such complaints. He claimed that he had tacitly solicited the campaign.
Betts, an activist and former prosecutor, is on record as complaining about unfair treatment as a “young black boy growing up on the south side of Chicago.” A video promoting the office’s work shows Betts working with several police officers and several civilians (a young woman with Hello Kitty posters around her desk) to investigate complaints against police. ).
Luntz argued that for many police officers, even those who are ultimately acquitted, the process is a punishment. “They are in a position to explain why they faced a complaint in the first place. In this case, a traffic violation on the job could lead to dozens of complaints,” Lantz said.
Lantz also noted that police officers may have to circumvent established traffic rules to properly discharge their sworn duties. As examples, Lantz said, officers should exceed the speed limit when driving to the scene of a mass shooting, park in bus lanes to arrest thieves, and even put lives at risk. He argued that red lights should be turned on at deserted intersections when there is a risk of exposure.
When competent police officers constantly fear societal or departmental retaliation for actual or perceived lapses, it is the victims who suffer the most, Lantz said. “If the officers do not speed up on the way to the scene of the shooting because this is the 20th politically motivated charge, activists will shed even more blood,” he said. wrote.
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