Judge appoints two new monitors in Seattle police consent decree
Sep 8, 2020, 1:06 PM
Police wait as demonstrators occupy an intersection nearby during protests in Seattle. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
A federal judge overseeing the consent decree for the Seattle Police Department has appointed two new court monitors.
One of those new monitors is Monisha Harrell of Equal Rights Washington, who has been one of the driving forces behind I-940. The other is Dr. Antonio Oftelie.
Oftelie is the Executive Director of Leadership for a Networked World, an Innovation Fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University, and a former Commissioner on the Ireland Commission for the Future of Policing.
KIRO Radio reporter Hanna Scott says Judge James Robart’s appointments mean the longtime consent decree monitor Merrick Bobb is out, as of Tuesday. Harrell will serve as deputy monitor.
Of Bobb, Robarts wrote in his order: “It is with great respect that the court acknowledges and thanks Mr. Merrick Bobb and the members of the Seattle Monitoring Team for their many years of service to both the parties and the court and for their significant contributions to police reform in the City of Seattle. Their efforts have improved the Seattle Police Department and made the City of Seattle a better place.”
Robarts also said the court will announce further appointments in the near future.
KIRO Radio’s Hanna Scott contributed to this report.
