Rantz Exclusive: Seattle Police oversight agency mishandled ‘significant number’ of bias complaints, says city

The Office of Police Accountability (OPA), the civilian office overseeing complaints against Seattle police officers, apparently forgot to provide the oversight it’s tasked with. According to Seattle Police Department (SPD) Chief Shon Barnes, the OPA did not address a “significant number of bias-review documents.” The chief emailed SPD staff on Friday.

“Earlier today, I was made aware by the Office of Police Accountability and the Office of the Inspector General that a ‘significant number of bias-review documents sent by the Seattle Police Department to OPA as required had not been addressed. When OPA staff first recognized these reports apparently had not been handled, they took steps internally to ascertain the extent of the issue and identify potential sources of relevant information. OPA then notified OIG, SPD, and the Mayor’s Office, and have begun a cooperative effort with OIG for a full audit of the situation,'” Barnes wrote in the email obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

It’s unclear how the OPA reportedly ignored or missed the bias-review documents. But Officer Mike Solan, President of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), blamed then-OPA Director Gino Betts for “utter incompetence.”

Don’t call for more oversight

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes made sure to distance the SPD from the mismanagement, presumably with hopes this screw-up won’t lead to activist calls for even more oversight. After all, it was the civilian oversight office that failed.

“I want to make clear that this is not a problem that lands on SPD,” Barnes wrote. “Quite to the contrary, and on the face of the OIG statement, the fact is clear that SPD members did their jobs properly to ensure that police services were delivered in a professional, nondiscriminatory, fair, and equitable manner. I appreciate your on-going commitment to bias-free policing.”

SPOG President Mike Solan concurs.

“This is truly a civilian accountability-led problem that they created and that they need to solve. This has nothing to do with SPD processes and bias complaints, which clearly, we met all requirements and provided that information to OPA. We stand behind Chief Barnes’ assessment on this civilian-led accountability problem and they’re the ones that need to correct their mistakes.

“I think it was utter incompetence on former OPA Director Gino Betts’ part,” Solan added.

Controversy followed Gino Betts

Gino Betts had a tumultuous tenure at the OPA before his resignation last year. According to sources to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, he was actually pushed out of the job by the Mayor’s Office.

Before his exit, Betts faced a slew of whistleblower complaints, according to multiple sources to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

“At least seven different civilian OPA employees in the small department have filed HR complaints against Director Betts for workplace misconduct,” an email complaint stated. “Betts manages with fear and intimidation and has created a toxic work environment. OPA employees respect the chain of command and have been trying to fix this internally for over a year and a half.  Betts knows what he is doing is wrong because he only lashes out at non-union employees who he knows cannot fight back for fear of being fired.”

“The matter is currently with OIG,” Katie Maier, Assistant Director of Operations at OPA, told “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH via email Monday. “OPA has no comment at this time.”

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