Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has filed for federal court approval of the Seattle Police Department’s (SPD) revised crowd management policies and seeks termination of the Seattle police consent decree, the Office of the Mayor announced Tuesday.
Harrell outlined various reforms that have led to safer interactions between police and the community, including the rare use of force, de-escalating crises, department accountability, and effective crowd management techniques.
“Today, the city attorney submitted our request to fully close out this agreement based on SPD’s strong record of improving training, policies, practices, and accountability,” Harrell said. “An end to the consent decree does not mean the work is done – we are committed to being a learning, growing organization.
Beginning of Seattle police consent decree
Seattle entered a settlement agreement in 2012 with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) following an investigation that estimated 20% of serious use-of-force incidents were unconstitutional…