‘Nothing to celebrate’: Former King County prosecutor delivers reality check as SPD consent decree ends

After 13 years, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) consent decree over the Seattle Police Department (SPD) came to an end Wednesday.

While SPD celebrated the closure of a more than decade-long investigation, former King County Prosecutor Bob Scales believed Seattle is worse off now than when the consent decree began.

“No, there’s nothing to celebrate. Before the consent decree, Seattle PD was one of the best police departments in the country,” Scales said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “Now, after 13 years of the consent decree, it’s one of the worst.”

Former King County prosecutor sees shift in SPD’s perception

Scales went on to explain a massive shift in the SPD’s perception as a highly touted police department following a few key events that contributed to being issued a consent decree by the DOJ.

“A series of things happened, one being the shooting of John T. Williams in 2010,” Scales said. “The department went through a lot of review processes, and ultimately the U.S. Attorney at the time, Jenny Durkan, decided that there would be a pattern or practice investigation in 2011.”

After an eight-month investigation, a press conference was held with the head of the Civil Rights Division, Tom Perez, who announced Seattle had a pattern or practice of unnecessary force. The investigation found that 20% of use-of-force cases by the SPD were unconstitutional.

“We said, ‘That’s not possible that we have 20%, we review all of our use of force cases, less than 1% are found to be out of policy, and much less than 1% are unconstitutional,'” Scales said. “So we said, ‘Show us the cases,’ and they refused to show us the cases.”

Scales worked for the City of Seattle for 12 years under three different mayors. Scales served more than nine years as a senior policy analyst for the City of Seattle and was a King County deputy prosecutor for five years.

“I went as a city employee to Washington, D.C., to hear accolades from the feds about what a great department we were,” Scales said. “So good that Chief Kerlikowske went on to become Obama’s drug czar and then head of Customs and Border Patrol, we must have been doing something right.”

DOJ’s consent decree history

Scales suggested that the DOJ had other motives behind selecting departments for consent decree investigations.

“Based on what I’ve seen nationally over the last few decades, it’s 100% political,” Scales said. “There’s never been a consent decree in Texas, probably because they know the local officials would never agree to it. Seattle was investigated at the same time as Austin. Austin got a technical assistance letter, and Seattle got a consent decree. Liberal cities are generally easier to get compliance with local officials than a conservative city.”

As the City of Seattle fights to stay above water amid a steep $150 million budget shortfall, KIRO host John Curley questioned whether cities sign the consent decree in fear of fighting the DOJ due to budget concerns.

“Most officials think, ‘We don’t have the resources to fight the DOJ, so let’s sign the consent decree.’ But you don’t have to fight the DOJ; the DOJ has the burden of proof. The DOJ has to prove in court that there’s a pattern or practice,” Scales said. “There’s one agency that has ever said no to the DOJ, which was a small county in North Carolina. The DOJ took it to federal court and lost miserably.”

Seattle recently ranked as the fourth-worst metro city for total crime in 2024 based on an FBI report. Seattle’s total crime numbers in comparison to the national average were 172.9% higher.

“In Seattle, we had some of the best policies around, especially use of force policies, and we had to rewrite everything,” Scales said. “One of the real costs for Seattle was having to pull so many officers off the street to deal with the consent decree. Public safety goes down when a consent decree goes into effect.”

Scales detailed how a vital part of being a police officer is being able to use force in life-threatening circumstances, and how the consent decree can contribute to boosted crime statistics.

“Use of force is a necessary part of policing. If someone flees or assaults an officer or resists arrest, officers can lawfully use force,” Scales said. “The issue isn’t the use of force being down 60%, it’s down 60% because there aren’t any officers to make arrests.”

Listen to the full conversation below.

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