No charges filed after criminal investigation of assistant Seattle Police chief
May 8, 2012, 1:04 PM | Updated: 3:31 pm
The Washington State Patrol has finished a criminal investigation of a Seattle Police assistant chief.
The unspecified allegations against assistant chief Mike Sanford had been forwarded by the U.S. Attorney’s office and the King County Prosecuting Attorney for investigation by the State Patrol.
State Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins would not provide details of the nature of the allegations against Sanford.
“In very general terms, most people would think of what we looked into as being an allegation of official misconduct,” said Calkins.
The Seattle Times cites a source who claims that several police captains were concerned about the way Sanford solicited charitable donations from subordinates. The Times says the investigation might also include allegations that Sanford interfered in a traffic accident investigation involving his daughter.
Sanford, 51, commands the Seattle Police patrol operations bureau.
Calkins says the State Patrol took on the investigation about one month ago.
“We don’t have the authority to do that on our own, we always do that at the request of some other competent authority,” said Calkins.
Calkins says the State Patrol forwarded its report to the county prosecutor. The Times reports prosecutors decided not to file charges against Sanford.
