Rantz: Director admitted no evidence of bias policing, found Seattle cop Dan Auderer guilty anyway

Office of Police Accountability (OPA) director Gino Betts determined that Officer Dan Auderer was guilty of violating Seattle Police Department (SPD) policy well before an investigation into his actions was complete. Though the OPA investigatory process is intended to be impartial and fair, Betts admitted in a video recording that he had no evidence of bias policing, yet found Auderer violated the policy anyway.

On August 2, 2023, Betts received body cam footage capturing then-SPD Officer Auderer mocking city lawyers. Auderer, also vice president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), was commenting on a tragic accident involving Jaahnavi Kandula, a 23-year-old grad student who was hit and killed by an officer’s vehicle while rushing to an overdose emergency. He met with the officer driving the vehicle at SPD’s West Precinct to check that officer for impairment, a standard practice after an officer-involved accident. That officer was eventually cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

Afterward, in a private conversation accidentally recorded over body-cam, Auderer predicted the lawyers would lowball Kandula’s family, quipping that the lawyers would say, “Yeah, just write a check. $11,000. She was 26 anyway. She had limited value.”

After learning that SPD had flagged the footage to OPA, the civilian-led police oversight office for the city of Seattle, Auderer asked for rapid adjudication — a quick process that allows officers to accept punishment for minor infractions. Betts rejected it within seven minutes, signaling this case was already being treated as far more serious than a typical complaint over unprofessional conduct. Weeks before the OPA investigation into Auderer was complete, Betts was planning a media strategy explaining why he thought Auderer should be terminated.

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Was Dan Auderer found guilty before the investigation was complete?

The Dan Auderer complaint was initially classified under “professionalism.” But on November 9, OPA escalated the complaint, tacking on a bias-policing accusation because Auderer mentioned Kandula’s gender and age (even though he got the age wrong and barely knew any details about her). This change turned a minor complaint into something that could lead to Auderer’s termination. And that seemed to be the intent.

Documents obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH reveal that on November 17, Betts had secured a $5,300 contract with a PR firm for media training specifically about messaging the Auderer case. On that same day, emails show Betts and his team, OPA Deputy Director Bonnie Glenn and then-spokesperson Jessica Schreindl, were drafting talking points and preparing for press questions about his findings against Auderer — over a week before Auderer’s final interview with OPA investigators on November 30.

“We talked briefly about what a media rollout plan would look like (media day with interview timelsots, press release, social, etc.). Sounds like the idea is to go public before the discipline,” Schreindl wrote in notes distributed after the meeting, which the OPA called “Media Plan for Auderer Case.”

Another email by Schreindl, dated November 30, indicated a decision had already been made to discipline.

“Meeting to draft talking points and examples of questions we may get concerning Auderer case in preparation for media training with Keri (sic). She needs draft by Friday, 12/1,” she wrote.

Gino Betts admitted there’s no evidence of bias policing against Dan Auderer

Gino Betts intended to find evidence of bias policing.

A day before Auderer’s third interview, Betts edited questions the investigator would ask. An original question went from being more general (“What did you know about the victim of the incident at the time of the conversation”) to more direct (“How did you learn the victim’s approximate age? How did you learn the victim’s gender? Did you have further information about the victim’s discernable characteristics? If so, what other discernable characteristics? How did you learn that information?”). Betts also asked the investigator to ask Auderer if his laughter was “influenced by her age? Gender?”

After Betts ramped up the bias-policing angle, behind closed doors, he admitted there was zero evidence Auderer was biased. During a media training session on December 8, Betts repeatedly discussed his intent to recommend termination. But he also confessed that they couldn’t prove Auderer committed bias policing.

“So we brought a bias allegation against him that we’re not going to sustain because we can’t prove that he was biased when he made the comments. That he knew her race or he knew any personal identifying information about her. But, I do highly doubt that if this were an officer that was in her (Kandula’s) position, he wouldn’t be making these types of comments. So, I can’t say he was bias because of her race, or anything like that,” Betts admitted during the training, according to a recording obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show.”

Reel Media PR CEO Kerri Schneider, who ran the training, told Betts not to bring up the bias issue because there’s no evidence of it. She also said Betts should focus on a talking point that the OPA is committed to “fair” investigations.

OPA really wanted to name Dan Auderer

Despite the collective bargaining agreement forbidding them from publicly naming officers under investigation, Betts and his team toyed with the idea of publicly naming Dan Auderer. OPA’s general counsel advised against it, but Betts pushed for any loophole that would allow them to go public with his identity.

Nelson Leese, the OPA’s General Counsel, warned that OPA cannot name Auderer. This deliberation began in December.

“I appreciate that the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) does not specifically mention media or press releases, but my opinion is that the balance of the CBA provisions, law, and the integrity of OPA’s investigative function are against releasing the names of specific named employees except through legal process,” Nelson Leese, the OPA’s General Counsel, wrote in an email to Schreindl. “Like we discussed, there may be situations where a case has received so much publicity that adhering to this may feel like standing on ceremony. But OPA also has an obligation for its processes to treat employees equally, regardless of the publicity around their cases.”

Schreindl sent two follow-up emails, again wondering why OPA would not be able to name Auderer publicly. Again, Leese explained that doing so, even if the public already knew Auderer faced the investigation, would be a violation of the CBA. He then spoke with colleagues about it and sent a summary email to Betts, Schreindl, and Deputy Director Glenn.

“In short, releasing a specific officer’s name or other identifier in connection with an OPA investigation or discipline would open OPA/the City up to a grievance or Unfair Labor Practice (ULP),” he warned, according to the email.

“What if SPOG publishes a press release naming the employee?” Betts asked.

“The city is constrained by what it can release by contract and labor law; the guild is not,” Leese responded.

In the end, Betts did not publicly name Auderer directly. But he did name Auderer, and disclose details about the investigation, to Schneider, the consultant. This act is a possible CBA violation, according to sources speaking to “The Jason Rantz Show.”

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Betts altered his findings after they were submitted

The investigation was submitted to the Office of Inspector General for certification on or around December 14. The lead investigator, in an email to his superior, noted that after reviewing additional body-worn camera footage there was no mention of the victim. He also said there was no indication on internal documents at the time that would have provided Auderer with information about Kandula’s age or gender. Additionally, Kandula’s name on the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems was incorrectly listed as “Kundulk.”

By January 18, Betts sent his findings to Seattle Police Command Staff clearing Auderer of bias policing, writing, “There is insufficient evidence that (Kandula’s) race, gender or age were factored into (Auderer’s) unprofessional commentary.” Betts noted that while the name Kandula “suggested her Indian heritage, there is no evidence that (Auderer) heard” it over the radio.

But just two days later, after an email from and phone call with Assistant City Attorney Catherine Seelig, Betts flipped his decision. Seelig questioned why Auderer’s comment didn’t count as biased given that it referenced Kandula’s age (though incorrectly). That was all it took for Betts to change his finding to “sustained” on bias policing, even though the evidence apparently didn’t support it.

A change of heart

In pushing for a sustained bias policing violation, Seelig told Betts that she was trying “to make sure no stone is unturned so the resulting disciplinary decision is as airtight as possible.”

Betts responded by saying he “struggled with whether she was ‘treated differently,’ and asked Seelig to call him to discuss. In an email to command staff, he said: “Catherine Seelig reached out Sunday with thoughts about the bias allegation. After further review, I switched that recommendation to sustained.”

In the new findings, Betts removed the line, “There is insufficient evidence that (Kandula’s) race, gender or age were factored into (Auderer’s) unprofessional commentary.” He added that Auderer “admittedly knew (Kandula’s) approximate age from West Precinct chatter. That discernible personal characteristic was the basis of (Auderer’s) dismissive” comment. Betts did not offer any new evidence to support his claim.

Seelig did not respond to “The Jason Rantz Show” when asked if it was standard practice for the City Attorney’s Office to try to influence OPA findings. The City Attorney’s Office also did not provide comment on Seelig’s role.

Command staff call out Gino Betts

The change in findings perturbed Seattle Police Command Staff.

Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey, Assistant Chief of Investigations Bureau Tom Mahaffey and Assistant Chief of Metropolitan Bureau Dan Nelson penned a memo to then-Police Chief Adrian Diaz, who was tasked with making the final call on discipline based on the OPA findings. They called out Betts for reversing his decision without citing new facts. They warned this last-minute change would be seen as a blatant attempt to justify firing Auderer rather than a legitimate conclusion. Their memo made it clear: the unprofessionalism charge should stand, but the bias-policing claim was a stretch at best.

“This late reversal, without citing any additional facts, raises concerns,” the memo said. “Bias (along with dishonesty) is the single most stigmatizing allegation that can be brought against a person in law enforcement. It is serious and needs to be managed with care and focus. Here, the allegation was added as a late reversal of a process that initially did not identify bias as an issue in this case, only considered bias on the recommendation of the Office of the Inspector General (noting community concerns), and after affirmatively determining the facts did not support a bias finding only days before.”

The command staff members wrote the “reversal of a major allegation will likely be perceived — and will certainly be litigated — as a mechanism to support termination of the subject employee, rather than a legitimate finding that the employee actually violated the Bias-Free Policing Policy.”

Dan Auderer was terminated despite a plan to suspend

Then-chief Adrian Diaz planned to give Auderer a 30-day suspension for unprofessionalism. SPD was working on paperwork with SPOG to outline the terms of the punishment.

Before the agreement was completed, Diaz was removed as chief by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell after a series of high-profile complaints against him by female officers claiming “predatory behavior” and “grooming.” After his termination, Diaz exclusively revealed to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that he is a gay man and did not have sexual interest in any female officer.

Diaz’s departure left Auderer’s fate to interim police chief Sue Rahr, who was appointed to the position by Harrell. The mayor previously ordered Diaz to fire Auderer while at a public Seattle Police Foundation function last year. The decision was supposed to be made independently of the mayor. But, in the end, Harrell would get his way.

Rahr announced in an internal email to the staff that she was terminating Auderer over the professionalism policy violation.

“The actions (of) this individual police officer have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult,” Rahr wrote.

In a statement to “The Jason Rantz Show,” Rahr said the Betts recommendations did not play a role in her decision. She said she has “reached a different conclusion about the level of discipline recommended by the OPA Director in several cases and I overturned the Director’s finding in at least three cases.” She noted that she rejected the bias finding by Betts.

A spokesperson for the SPD claims Rahr was not aware of the pending agreement with Auderer for a 30-day suspension. He has since filed a $20 million tort claim against the city.

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