Seattle police forced to call for outside help during armed standoff due to city surveillance limits

The scene of Friday’s officer-involved shooting and standoff with 53-year-old suspect and ex-convict, Daniel Jolliffe, at the Broadmoor Manor apartment complex near Seattle’s Madison Park neighborhood, was chaotic. Body-worn cameras revealed three Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers, who responded to the 911 domestic violence call, found a woman screaming after being shot in her back. As they tried to help her, Jolliffe ran upstairs to the second-floor unit and started firing a handgun at the officers through a window. Officers returned fire before retreating for cover with the victim.

However, during the critical moments during the hours-long standoff with Jolliffe—who was armed and actively shooting from inside the apartment, police said—SPD was forced to scramble and call other law enforcement agencies to ask for reinforcements, including technology like drones to surveil the scene and open a line of communication with Jolliffe.

“Some of our partnering agencies had a drone trying to determine whether we could see or communicate with him,” SPD Chief Shon Barnes said, who was at the scene.

Because a strict city ordinance limits how SPD can deploy surveillance technology, it often forces them to rely on others during life-threatening emergencies.

KIRO Newsradio asked Barnes and SPD about the issue; however, they said they couldn’t comment.

“With an ongoing investigation with an incident like this, we don’t release information,” SPD Detective Brian Pritchard explained.

Former King County Sheriff weighs in on Seattle police technology challenges

Instead, KIRO Newsradio asked former King County Sheriff John Urquhart, who has overseen multiple standoffs during his career, about the challenges facing agencies and their use of surveillance technology.

“I think being able to use technology to keep people safe, even to keep the suspects safe, for that matter, it’s extremely important that we use it, that we have the ability to use it, and it’s only used in situations where the public approves of,” Urquhart said. “There are people that don’t want us to have any technology at all because they think we’re going to misuse it, and that’s always a possibility, and there should be regulations, legislation really, around how the police use technology.”

Urquhart also said Seattle’s City Council should remain in charge of any decisions concerning SPD’s use of surveillance technology, like drones.

“Technology, in most of its forms, is really a force multiplier for the police,” Urquhart said. “It’s really not up to us or even the press to second-guess what people want. It’s up to the city council to reflect those wishes, and if people are against or don’t trust their police department with some of this technology, then so be it.”

Seattle’s Surveillance Ordinance requires SPD to get city council approval to buy or use any surveillance technologies, including drones and robots. There is an exemption in the ordinance for acquiring and using surveillance equipment in the event of an emergency situation that poses an imminent and serious risk of death or substantial bodily harm.

During the standoff, SPD deployed what technology they had, like their arson bomb squad robot, even though it’s designed to handle explosives. Toward the end of the standoff, according to a police source, officers from a neighboring agency flew a drone inside the apartment to locate Jolliffe and prevent a SWAT team from walking blindly into potential danger. According to that source, images from the drone allowed SWAT to safely approach a door inside the apartment where, Barnes said, they blew open a door. The move was tactical for two reasons—to gain entry and to see if Jolliffe would respond to the blast.

When officers entered the room, they said they found Jolliffe dead. In 1993, Joilliffe was sentenced to serve 27 years in the Clallam Bay Correction Center for shooting and killing two men during an alley fight in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, but only served 14 of those years before being released. According to a King County Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy report, the 53-year-old died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

6 different police departments respond to Seattle standoff 

Seattle Police did tell KIRO Newsradio six different police departments and sheriff’s offices responded to their requests for assistance. However, none of Seattle’s City Council members responded to our request for comment, and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office did not answer our questions. Ironically, all of the partner agencies involved in that standoff did reply. Their responses helped shed light on how SPD may have used those surveillance devices to try and end the standoff quickly and safely.

The Clyde Hill Police Department said it deployed a drone at the scene to watch the apartment.

“We had an officer who deployed a drone at the scene to assist with monitoring a potential exit,” Spokesperson Brittney Rhodes said.

Mountlake Terrace Police Chief Pete Caw told KIRO Newsradio, “We did indeed contribute a drone and a drone pilot to the SPD.”

“I can confirm that SeaTac Police, one of our contract cities, sent two drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and pilots as support for this at the request of Seattle Police,” Communications Manager for the King County Sheriff’s Office, Brandyn Hull, said in an email.

A Bellevue Police spokesperson confirmed they sent a SWAT team and other technology assets.

And in an email, Edmonds Police said they also deployed a drone. Commander Shane Hawley added that drones are becoming more commonplace in law enforcement and they’re a good tool to look for barricaded suspects, “because the only thing in danger is a small piece of equipment.”

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