Audit found gaps in independent investigation team’s police shooting probe

On October 26, the Office of the Washington State Auditor released a report of its findings on the use of deadly force by an officer of the Olympia Police Department (OPD) after responding to an incident involving a suspect allegedly wielding a weapon on the responding officers.

The case dates back to March 31, 2022, when OPD officers responded to a 911 call.

The incident involved a man who had started a fire in front of a neighbor's door, prevented others from extinguishing the fire, superglued the neighbor's front door shut, and then retreated to his apartment.

The incident led to an altercation, during which the suspect used pepper spray on one of the responding officers.

The situation escalated; both officers were allegedly stabbed by the suspect, which resulted in one officer firing two shots at him.

In cases where law enforcement officers use deadly force on a suspect, an independent investigation team is to be formed under the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 139-12-030 in which members are investigators from local law agencies not involved in the case, as well as civilian representatives.

In response to this specific incident, the Capital Metro Independent Investigations Team (CMIIT) was formed to conduct an independent investigation.

The CMIIT team includes members from Lacey Police Department, Tumwater Police Department, Yelm Police Department, Washington State Patrol, and community or civilian representatives.

The CMIIT team concluded its investigation and submitted a report to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on June 29, 2022. After reviewing the case, the prosecutor decided on February 2, 2022 to not file charges against the officer who shot the suspect.

Office of the Washington State Audit (OWSA) Report on IIT’s Investigation

However, OWSA has seen compliance gaps in the CMIIT’s implementation of the state rules outlined in WAC 139-12-030.

The audit did not focus on the details of the case but instead examined CMIIT’s process during the investigation.

The audit findings included failure to complete conflict of interest assessments within 72 hours of the investigation, lack of assessment, and inadequate review of the conflict of interest by community representatives and the CMIIT commander within the specified timeframe.

OWSA also found insufficient advance notice provided to community representatives regarding press releases and absence of documentation related to providing advance notice to the injured person's family about press releases.

These and other state rules were not met by the CMIIT and were given recommendations by OWSA.

The audit required all CMIIT investigators and community representatives to complete a conflict of interest assessment within 72 hours of an investigation’s launch. It mandated review of conflict of interest assessments by community representatives and the CMIIT commander within the specified timeframe and documentation of such reviews.

The audit also directed investigators to provide advance notice to community representatives for all press releases and to maintain documentation, and advised CMIIT's member agencies to issue administrative orders to witness officers not to speak about a case until providing statements to CMIIT and maintaining documentation of such directives.

Independent Investigation Team (IIT) Background

In 2018, Washington state voters approved Initiative 940, ushering in a series of reforms aimed at enhancing transparency and accountability in cases of police use of deadly force.

This requires that investigations into such incidents be conducted by an agency entirely independent of the one with the involved officer.

To oversee and implement these changes, the Washington State Criminal Justice Commission (CJTC) was tasked with creating the rules and regulations, which were subsequently outlined in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 139-12-030 and took effect in January 2020.

The rules established in WAC 139-12-030 ensure that investigations are independent, transparent, credible, and communicated promptly to the public and affected parties.

The 2020 administrative code outlines the responsibilities of the involved agency and of the independent investigation team (IIT) when a police officer uses deadly force resulting in death, substantial bodily harm, or great bodily harm.