Resolution 968 – calling for Meaningful Police Accountability Actions

WHEREAS too many friends and family in our state have been killed by taxpayer-funded law enforcement officers; and even more have been harmed physically and psychologically by the over-militarized, over-funded police and sheriff departments; and

WHEREAS #ManuelEllis, #CharleenaLyles, #ReneeDavis, #TommyLe, #CheTaylor, #SeanFuhr, #IsaiahObet & #JesseSarey (both killed by officer Jeff Nelson), #GiovannJosephMcDade, #JackSunKeewatinawin, #AlonzoPriceHolt (who survived to tell his story but has suffered immensely), #JohnTWilliams, #MiChanceDunlapGittens, #StonechildChiefstick and their families have not received justice for the lives cut short by state-sanctioned violence.[1]  We recognize the pain, suffering and distress that communities of color experience due to structural racism; and [2]

WHEREAS the 2011 investigation of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington found a pattern or practice of excessive force and discriminatory or biased policing that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law. [3] Since 2012, the SPD has been under a federal consent decree emphasizing de-escalation tactics, new use-of-force policies and better oversight and community involvement. In 2019, even though a federal judge ruled that the SPD has not made enough progress to have the consent decree lifted, under the political cover of a complicit Mayor Durkan, the SPD attempted to have the federally-mandated consent decree process abrogated, citing COVID-19 as an excuse. Furthermore, the King County Sheriff’s Office has failed to enact investigative shootings reforms recommended by internal investigators almost three years ago; and [4]

WHEREAS powerful police unions, such as the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild and other police unions in Washington, abuse the political cover of organized labor and progressive Democrats to continue resisting even moderate police accountability reforms; and

WHEREAS other jurisdictions, such as in Camden, New Jersey, the police departments have been disbanded, reimagined, and born again, with fewer officers, lower pay, and a strategic shift toward “community policing” — resulting in lower crime and lower taxpayer funding requirements, all steps police in Washington  have resisted in contract negotiations;[5]

THEREFORE BE IT BE RESOLVED, that the Washington State Democratic Central Committee calls on state and local elected officials to immediately shift their public safety investments away from over-militarized, aggressive policing tactics, and put that funding into community-led health and safety strategies and such as those adopted in Camden, New Jersey, including affordable housing, community-based anti-violence programs, trauma services and treatment, universal childcare, and free public transit (just a few of the non-police solutions proven to lower crime); and5

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Washington State Democratic Central Committee calls on Governor Inslee, the Washington State Patrol, the Washington State National Guard, and mayors and police chiefs across the state to:

1.     Stop the teargas in urban spaces immediately as it is a weapon of war banned by international treaties for undermining public health, and risks exacerbating the spread of Covid-19 during a pandemic, [6]

2.     Decline to prosecute protesters, including those arrested violating curfews and those living in encampments,

3.     Stop the same kneeling on neck tactics and choke/strangle holds that killed George Floyd and Manuel Ellis, 

4.     Halt participation in the 1033 program that allows for the further militarization of police

5.     Cease fighting reformed inquest processes:

a.     to require officers to testify when summoned as a part of inquests when the police kill an individual; and

b.     to stop all efforts to prevent inquest juries from making a finding of criminality as a part of the inquest process; 

THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that that copies of this resolution be publicized and sent to our State Senators, State Representatives, County Executives, and mayors of the largest cities in the state of Washington.


Submitted on behalf of the 36th District Democrats by Robert Cruickshank on August 13, 2020, WSDCC member #2 – cruickshank@gmail.com or (831) 402-2365


[1] https://www.facebook.com/nikkitaroliver/posts/10100889122463680

[2]  https://www.facebook.com/shaunsscott1984/posts/10110494684789458

[3] http://www.seattlemonitor.com/overview

[4] https://www.knkx.org/post/report-king-county-sheriffs-office-failed-enact-reforms-after-2017-shooting

[5] https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/01/what-happened-to-crime-in-camden/549542/

[6] https://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention

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