Report: SPD Chief O’Toole says she was target of lies

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole says she, along with black officers at the core of a recent lawsuit, became targets of lies during the proceedings.

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City Living Seattle reports that O’Toole spoke at a recent meeting of the local African American Community Advisory Council and commented on a recent lawsuit. The jury in that lawsuit concluded that O’Toole retaliated against two out of three officers in the case. The issue involved overtime and the accusation that the Seattle Police Department favored giving the added pay to black officers in the South Precinct. After officers raised the accusation, they were transferred to another precinct.

O’Toole told the council that the environment at the South Precinct had become “a tinderbox,” which is why she transferred the three officers. She also told the council that she and the black officers were targets of lies and disparaging remarks —  she reportedly said others were commenting that she was a career-climbing officer and that the SPD only served to advance her career.

City Living Seattle quoted O’Toole as saying:

There were a lot of lies, outright lies, told … There were stories I heard that I only rented furniture here, that my husband was still on the East Coast.

O’Toole previously lived in Massachusetts.

The referenced case concluded Monday. A jury determined that transferring the officers amounted to retaliation for their accusations of overtime preferences. The city was ordered to pay $1.9 million to Sgt. Ella Elias and $932,000 to Capt. David Proudfoot.

In the wake of the case, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said that the South Precinct has suffered from “racial tension” over the past few years,and that he and O’Toole inherited the problems in the department. He said they are working toward fixing those problems.

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