Mayor Harrell called for an internal report after police took heat for disrupting a pro-LGBTQ protest, but the process must be public and rigorous to make a difference.
For decades, the Seattle Police Department has mishandled protest events and crowd control, and the department’s tactics have caused violence. Unfortunately, the same pattern played out last month at Cal Anderson Park.
On May 24th, the police responded to the Mayday USA Christian fundamentalist rally and counter-protests. The anti-trans, anti-gay rally took place at Cal Anderson Park, named for Washington’s first openly gay elected official located in the heart of one of Seattle’s main gayborhoods. The police responded by lining up in protective formation with respect to the fundamentalist rally, pulling counterprotesters out of the crowd to arrest, and pepper spraying protesters already on the ground. This is just the latest example of a dysfunctional police department.
Roughing up and arresting protesters only on one side has led to accusations that police sided with the conservative fundamentalists over anti-fascist counterprotesters.
Mayor Bruce Harrell’s May 24th press release notes that the police department “will complete an after-action report of this event.” Recently, Seattle’s Office of the Inspector General announced it was embarking on a review.
As residents of Seattle, we should demand an open, accountable, and community-led after-action report, and not an internal review that gets tucked away in a computer drive somewhere — likely to be buried if it turns up anything embarrassing, based on past buried reports on police accountability.
This will be one of Police Chief Shon Barnes’ first opportunities to demonstrate whether or not he is bringing a new approach to the Seattle Police Department. Barnes has promised as much, but the proof will be in action.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) offer the gold standard for after-action reports. When an aviation crash, or even a near midair collision occurs, the NTSB immediately conducts an investigation. Airplane crashes are rarely the result of a single point of failure. After-action reports capture the entire sequence of events that led to the crash. They include what factors caused the crash, and what changes need to be made in terms of training, airplane maintenance, or retrofitting of existing aircraft to avoid similar crashes in the future.
NTSB after-action reports are not some bureaucratic exercise, but rather the tools that change the industry. These reports are why air travel is currently one of the safest forms of travel.
This is the level of clarity we should demand from our police department’s after-action report. A comprehensive and thorough after-action report will only be possible with input from community members who were involved in the counter-protests on May 24th.
The best practices for crowd control are well known and can be accessed in numerous reports from entities like the Center for Policing Equity and from our own Attorney General’s Office. Police should be in contact with protest organizers. Peaceful protest, whether or not authorized by a permit, should not be disrupted by police. Officers should be prepared to engage in verbal de-escalation and tactical positioning, and they must have patience. Crowd dispersal orders must be lawful, audible, specific, and allow time to comply.
A comprehensive after-action report would answer many of the obvious questions that come out of the events from May 24th. Were the police in contact with organizers for both Mayday USA and with Refuse Fascism and the other organizations that were involved in the counter protests? Why did the police line up to protect the Mayday USA event, rather than presenting a more neutral posture?
Could the police have de-escalated the conflict, rather than pulling people from the counter protester crowd to arrest? Why did police use pepper spray on protesters who were already on the ground? A comprehensive after-action report would also include specific required steps to prevent more unnecessary violence in the future.
Unfortunately, statements from the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild (SPOG) on X attempt to shift the blame to elected officials who seek accountability. SPOG claims that “this city lacks the political will to allow police to use the necessary tools to hold back criminal mobs to protect life and property.”
Unconstitutional actions by the federal government will lead to more and larger protests in the coming months. As a community, we must demand an open and accountable after-action report that provides for community input and includes specific recommendations and steps that the Seattle Police Department should take in order to avoid future violent confrontations between protesters and the police. Then, we must follow through and ensure that the recommendations are implemented. This will require persistence and tenacity from our elected officials and engagement from Chief Barnes.
Rory O’Sullivan
Rory O’Sullivan is a founding partner at Washington Employment Benefits Advocates, a law firm that helps people with unemployment insurance claims. He has served as an Administrative Law Judge, as a pro tem judge with the Seattle Municipal Court, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Washington School of Law and Seattle University School of Law.