Content note: This post contains descriptions of domestic violence throughout.

Seattle Police Officer Marlon Williams-Booth was arrested in late May for allegedly trapping his wife in a room, grabbing her by the hair, throwing her to the ground, and pressing the frame of a gun to her neck, according to a police report DivestSPD recently obtained.

On the evening of May 28, Thurston County deputies were dispatched to Williams-Booth’s home in Yelm for a welfare check. He had called a sergeant at the Seattle Police Department and told him that his wife pulled a gun on him. Dispatchers described him as “frantic” and “crying.”

Deputies spoke to Williams-Booth, who was hostile and apparently drunk. One deputy noted that his thoughts seemed disorganized, and he bounced from one subject to another.

Williams-Booth “quickly divulged” that he was a Seattle police officer. He was suspicious and repeatedly accused the two deputies of reaching for their firearms. Aside from repeating over and over that his wife had pulled a gun on him, Williams-Booth would not describe what had happened earlier.

According to the report, he was aggressive and clenched his fist while he talked. The deputies left and took a statement from Williams-Booth’s wife at a hotel.

The incident

The alleged assault occurred on a Friday. She said that tensions had been mounting the entire week since an incident on Monday, when one of their three boys, whose ages range from 3 to 10, poked another one on his behind with a finger and made a farting noise. Williams-Booth called this “sexual assault,” but his wife described it as “innocent.”

His wife had been contemplating a separation and told him on the night of the altercation that she was leaving him. At Williams-Booth’s insistence, she always carried her firearm when she left the house. She was grabbing her laptop from the home office when he came in and blocked the only exit.

He asked her if she was carrying, and she patted the belly holster where her 9mm pistol was kept. Then, she said, Williams-Booth lunged at her and pinned her up against the wall. He pulled the gun from the holster, grabbed her by the hair, and took her to the ground.

While they were on the ground, Williams-Booth had the frame of the gun pressed against the side of her throat. It had a loaded magazine but not a round in the chamber. She tried to take her phone from her purse to call 911, and the two struggled over the purse until the strap ripped. Eventually, she double-kicked him in the chest and escaped out the window, leaving behind her weapon and purse.

A Thurston County detective investigated the incident and found the evidence was consistent with his wife’s account. The detective found clumps of hair where the struggle occurred. Her purse strap was ripped, as she described. His wife had injuries on her lip and nose.

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office developed probable cause to arrest Williams-Booth for misdemeanor domestic violence assault and unlawful imprisonment.

Arrest

SPD command accompanied Thurston County deputies to take Williams-Booth into custody. On the way to jail, he continued to repeat his claim that his wife was in “crisis” and pulled a gun on him.

Alluding to his recent counterterrorism training for the World Cup, he said that he was doing all these trainings where people were jumping out and shooting at him. “Now I[’m] react[ing] to a woman in crisis, who’s my wife, tr[ying] to pull a gun out on me and rack one.”

He continued ranting, claiming to be “one of the elite heroes of downtown Seattle.” Williams-Booth told the arresting deputy, “You have no idea how many people at gunpoint I’ve killed… people that have confronted…how many people have shot at me.”

According to SPD records, Williams-Booth has never fired his weapon on duty or been fired upon.

He also blamed Sgt. Hoang, the sergeant he originally reported the incident to, for misinforming dispatch. “He doesn’t speak English. Literally, my sergeant has a language barrier.”

Williams-Booth’s wife filed for divorce a week after this incident. The petition merely asks for custody and an equitable distribution of assets. She did not request a protective order.

This is only the latest in a series of recent domestic violence incidents involving Seattle police officers or recruits:

• Recruit Clayton Whitby was terminated after he reportedly threatened to punch his wife and lied to investigators.

• Probationary Officer John Nguyen was terminated after a violent incident with his brother-in-law.

• Officer Jonathan Goodwin was arrested and placed on paid leave after allegedly pushing his girlfriend down the stairs.

• Richard Norris fired his weapon inside the house next to his wife.

Marlon Williams-Booth makes $146,557 base pay annually, excluding overtime.

Hey, before you go…

Adam Smith Just Loves Funding Occupations

Local war hawk Adam Smith has long supported sending aid to the Israeli military (insincere posturing notwithstanding). Now, he wants to fund another occupation force: the Seattle Police Department. The ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee was in Little Saigon last week to announce that he has requested federal money for the Seattle police to provide “critical assistance in the neighborhood," meaning emphasis patrols — c’mon please, just one more emphasis patrol, bro. It wasn’t Smith's only foray into local politics in recent days. The Bellevue City Council passed a residential protest buffer zone on Smith's behalf in response to frequent anti-war protests outside his home. In the past, the ninth district congressman voiced his annoyance with what he dubbed “totalitarian protesters,” calling for them to be arrested. When asked what he considered proper protester behavior, he literally said they should stand quietly and leave when asked. He even had the gall to invoke the Civil Rights movement. Those folks were famous for moving when they were told to.

City Spent $567k Per Downed Drone at the World Cup

There are still three more games left in the World Cup, but we already know who the big winner will be: manufacturers of police tech. In the run-up to the event, police departments campaigned for all sorts of surveillance and weapons they could keep permanently after the games ended, including CCTV cameras, robot dogs, drones, and drone countermeasures. Dedrone, a drone mitigation platform, is the latest cash cow for Axon, which is quickly cornering the cop tech market. Axon produces SPD’s Real-Time Crime Center, CCTVs, tasers, and 85 percent of the nation’s body cameras. It’s also snatching up an increasing number of ALPR contracts from its competitor, Flock, which has become toxic in the past year due to growing outrage over its use by ICE.

Here’s a snapshot of just a few local expenditures on drone mitigation: The King County Sheriff’s Office got $11.5 million from the passage of the Safe Skies Act (a total of $500 million in federal funding), which mostly went to three Dedrone trailers. Renton spent around $3 million on one Dedrone trailer, which they purchased along with Axon AI translation-equipped bodycams. The Seattle police spent $2 million for “drone identification & mitigation,” but that didn’t include any gear purchase. The Guardian reported that a whopping 29 drones were seized in Seattle. Without knowing the total spent just on drone mitigation by regional agencies, that is already a baseline of about $568,965 spent per drone seized in Seattle.

He Shot the Wall (And The Wall Won)

As DivestSPD reported earlier this week, King County Sheriff’s Office pilot Alex Paul had a little oopsy-daisy at his desk in April. He claimed that he was trying to transfer his gun from his desk to his side holster, and it went off (he had a literal “desk pop.”) The bullet fired through the wall and into the bathroom across the hall. No one was hit, and no critical infrastructure was damaged. The sheriff’s office did conduct an internal affairs investigation. Paul was given “performance-related training,” consisting of a short chat with his sergeant. Coincidentally, this occurred on the anniversary of Seattle Police Officer Robert West shooting the wall of the North Precinct, which we also covered:

The Cop Cup Comes to a Close

The World Cup is finally over, for Seattle anyway, so downtown is no longer crawling with quite so many regional cops. There are far too many of the locals already! The morning after the final match, Mayor Katie Wilson claimed to have "turned off" the stadium district cameras. A “pause” was in effect before the World Cup, but Wilson enabled them, citing "general but credible threat.” But before you get too excited, per The Burner, the cameras are only turned "off" through an Ethernet switch. Wilson claims that fully unplugging them would cost too much for the box trucks needed to do so. Not sure what box trucks run these days, but it's definitely less than the $355,000 diverted from JumpStart housing to pay for the stadium cameras alone or the cost of whatever panopticon expansion that SPD and the City Council propose next. They can turn these cameras back on just as fast as they turned them off. This is once again setting a very low bar, like when Wilson shut down a single camera — one of 310 CCTVs — this spring. You do not under any circumstances "gotta hand it to her."

Hey, before you go…

A King County Sheriff’s Office helicopter pilot fired his gun through the wall of the department’s hangar in Renton in April, according to disciplinary documents. After a cursory investigation, Deputy Alex Paul was given “performance-related training.”

On April 7, Paul was working out on the fitness equipment at the KCSO Air Support Unit’s hangar at Boeing Field. He had placed his personal Glock 19 in the drawer of his desk beforehand. After showering, he tried to retrieve it from his desk.

In a written statement, Paul claimed he “somehow” lost his grip. As he attempted to regain control, his finger hit the trigger, and he “experienced a negligent discharge,” according to the statement.

The bullet hit the wall above Paul’s desk, traveled across the entryway hall, passed through the bathroom door, and lodged below a paper towel holder. Paul was alone inside the hangar at the time.

An Air Support Unit sergeant wrote a perfunctory report about the incident, mirroring Paul’s written statement almost verbatim, including his grammatical errors like “reacted to maintaining control.”

Since no one was hurt and no “sensitive” areas of the hangar were hit, the case was approved for “expedited” review, with the consent of the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight, KCSO’s civilian accountability body. The case was closed one month later.

Apparently, the OLEO and Paul’s commanders believed there was nothing to investigate, but his account of what happened is at odds with the evidence.

Paul claimed he “somehow” fumbled the gun while pulling it out of the drawer. However, the bullet hole above his desk and the bullet’s trajectory are consistent with someone aiming, not accidentally firing while reacting “to maintaining control [sic].”

Previously, we reported on a Seattle police officer who shot a wall at the North Precinct (coincidentally, also on April 7 but in 2025). That officer was practicing his draw when his finger hit the trigger.

The Seattle officer was suspended for three days and given 10 hours of retraining. Paul was given “performance-related training.” It consisted of brief verbal counseling and an excerpt from the KCSO manual on gun safety.

Among other things, the manual says deputies shall “not use their firearms as a hitting tool.”

Maybe he was using the butt of his Glock to hammer nails or crack walnuts?

Hey, before you go…

In June, a city analyst presented a quarterly report showing that the Seattle Police Department is on track to hire more cops than it can afford under its current budget. After several years of lackluster hiring, it seems that SPD’s cup is finally running over.

Local media outlets are breathlessly reporting on this “hiring surge,” but few seem to question exactly how it came about or what the consequences might be. The closest that anyone has come was Fox 13’s Hana Kim.

Last August, Kim asked Chief Shon Barnes if the department’s hiring standards had been lowered to hire more officers. She claimed to have heard this from “several” police sources.

Barnes brushed the question off, saying, “With over 4,000 applications…and we take only a hundred people. What does that tell you about the…quality of people that we are taking?”

Without context, that sounds pretty convincing. Kim seemed satisfied enough to move on. However, when you compare those numbers to SPD’s hiring practices in the past decade or so, they represent an alarming drop in quality.

The sheer volume of officers hired is unprecedented, which makes it suspect. In a typical year, SPD hires between 80 and 105 officers. In 2025, the department hired 165 officers out of around 4,400 applications.

It hired only 84 the previous year, with around 400 fewer applicants. In other words, 10 percent more applications yielded nearly 100 percent more hires. On its face, that is evidence of drastically lower standards.

Moreover, when the department receives more applications, it tends to become more selective. Under Barnes, SPD is much less discriminating.

For example, Sue Rahr hired about 2 percent of applicants. In 2013 and 2014, the only other years with a comparable amount of applications, the department hired an almost identical number of officers.

In Barnes’s first year, SPD hired at a rate of almost 4 percent. That’s similar to 2019, when SPD was desperate to increase its ranks because the city was projecting a large cohort of 1990s hires would soon retire.

It’s also a year when we have concrete examples of SPD relaxing its hiring standards. In 2019, the department hired a French-Canadian high school dropout who was running a real estate scam with his wife. The same year, it hired a former Tucson police officer with a “checkered history” and a suspended license who would go on to run over a college student while driving nearly three times the speed limit.

Though Barnes claimed all of his recruits are of the “highest caliber,” a few have already been sacked for serious misconduct. One was fired for cheating using AI glasses. Another was terminated for threatening to punch his wife and lying about it.

In his rush to get SPD to “full strength” in two years, Barnes is hiring 50 to 70 officers who wouldn’t pass the department’s very low bar under normal circumstances.

To put that into sharp relief: He’s hiring 50 to 70 Kevin Daves a year.

Hey, before you go…

Unhinged Detransitioners Chased Out of Pride

On Saturday afternoon, during the Pride celebration, a group of about 50 people confronted a pair of right-wing detransitioners who were accompanied by a grab bag of chud streamers, according to the Capitol Hill Seattle blog. The two had been lurking around Cal Anderson Park all week, antagonizing trans people for content, and things finally came to a head over the weekend. A man approached and struck the streamers’ cameras with a baseball bat, then ran away. Seattle police fired a foam-tipped round at him, and he surrendered. One of the detransitioners, Hendrix Moise, is a Michigan-based lawyer who built her practice helping trans people change their legal names before she did a heel turn, became rabidly anti-trans, and started making posts about “trans genocide.”

Mayor Wilson Tries ‘New’ Crime Strategy on 12th and Jackson

Mayor Katie Wilson announced a “new approach to crime” at 12th and Jackson. It’s hard to tell what exactly is “new” about it. The plan calls for an increased police presence, which is nearly indiscernible from the emphasis patrols under Mayor Bruce Harrell’s Downtown Activation Plan. These expensive operations nabbed a few small-time drug dealers (mostly users selling to support their habits) and didn’t disrupt drug activity on the corner. Supposedly, the “new” part will be $1.1 million in one-time funding for a suite of support services, including overdose prevention and outreach. However, that much money doesn’t buy a lot in this city.

Wilson’s announcement included right-wing talking points too—phrases like “open-air drug sale,” which you hear constantly from KOMO news types While Wilson’s announcement about the expansion of police presence did concede that “we know we can’t arrest our way out of these problems”, back in April, the Public Safety Committee heard updates on the LEAD diversion program, where it was noted that pre-arrest diversions were down 41 percent in the last two years, while arrests were up 47 percent. SPD’s Chief Operating Officer Sarah Smith claimed that it was due to staffing and that more cops will mean more diversions (so... by magic?). Bookmark this for when their next diversion numbers don’t magically improve and actually get worse.

Overtime Spending Is Too Damn High

Cut to the most recent Public Safety Committee Meeting. SPD gave a presentation on sworn staffing and massive Q1 overtime spending (which pays for these “emphasis patrols” among other things), saying they will need $1.7M in additional funding, or they “may have to slow hiring to stay within their budget.” This presentation was also bookended by concerning discussions of potential satellite precinct(s) in the north end, because burning half a billion dollars on SPD isn’t enough already. But wow, a whole million dollars on supportive services!

J6 Cop Got 18 Months Paid Vacation, Insists He Was a “Victim”

Seattle Police Officer Jason Marchione, one of six SPD officers who attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in 2021, is suing the City of Seattle. Marchione alleges that the Office of Police Accountability targeted him for his political beliefs. He ran into a parked car in Bellevue and made false statements about the collision before he knew that Bellevue police had video of the incident. Marchione got nearly 18 months paid vacation while the case dragged on, and was only suspended for 30 days, so he came out way ahead. Not to mention, he got to keep his job. The OPA initially sustained dishonesty findings, which is an automatic termination. Evergreen reminder that SPD had more cops in attendance at J6 than any other, including at least three former officers. All six officers were (officially) named last year after a judge lifted the injunction. Of course, DivestSPD had them figured out in 2021. No big deal.

BREAKING: Right-wing Media Shocked That Cops Lie

Earlier this month, SPD, along with the feds, engaged in security theater under the guise of “outreach” along Aurora. In their subsequent blotter post, SPD boasted about six arrests. However, five of those were “misattributed” and actually took place at an operation in West Seattle. KIRO radio host and police stenographer Charlie Harger was shocked to learn SPD’s narrative that they had published without question—as they always do—turned out to be false. With all the gravitas of a very serious radio hack, Harger said, “there’s no soft way to say this: Seattle Police gave the public information that wasn’t true, and every media outlet that trusted them repeated it on their behalf.” The SPD blotter has now been updated to include a correction. Unsurprisingly, Harger is already back to dutifully repeating “organized retail theft” crime panic narratives and other copaganda. That brief moment of clarity didn’t stick, it seems.

Hey, before you go…

Seattle police sergeant Jeffrey Page was found passed out at a red light in Monroe last fall, according to investigation documents DivestSPD obtained.

On Sept. 25, 2025, at around 5 pm, an Everett police officer on his way to work checked on Page after his truck did not move through “several light cycles.”

Page, a supervisor in the gang unit, was “slumped over” in the driver’s seat. The officer saw an open container of Happy Dad hard seltzer in the center console and a half-empty bottle of Kirkland Signature Vodka in the back seat.

The Everett officer called in the Monroe police because it was their jurisdiction. Page admitted to drinking one beer while golfing three hours before and another afterward. The Monroe officer observed the smell of alcohol and noted Page’s eyes were bloodshot.

Page declined field sobriety tests but submitted to the portable breathalyzer and blew a 0.116. Monroe police arrested Page for DUI physical control.

The DUI charge was dismissed for “evidentiary issues“ after the investigating officer left the department and moved out of state. Page pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent driving. The court suspended his sentence for 24 months on the condition that he submit to monitoring, take a DUI class, and undergo an alcohol evaluation.

The Office of Police Accountability completed its investigation in April and sustained all allegations. However, Chief Shon Barnes still has not issued final discipline.

Hey, before you go…

A bill to formalize street closures along the Aurora corridor was voted through Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting. Last month, some people living on the side streets of Aurora, Seattle’s hub for street-based sex work, blocked off their neighborhood with large planters after a flare-up of shots-fired incidents in May. The city removed the planters and replaced them with traffic-slowing measures instead.

Councilmember Debora Juarez, who represents the district where Aurora is located, noted that the mayor is already authorized to close streets this way, but committee members hoped to distinguish these road closures for gun violence from barricades for traffic or events specifically.

The bill implies a relationship between the Aurora residents’ four-day closure and a reduction in area gun violence. However, it’s just as likely that any perceived drop was coincidental. The May outbreak of gunfire notwithstanding, there was a 23 percent decrease in shots fired in the beats that house the Aurora corridor in the first half of 2026 compared to 2025, according to official crime data. Shots are down 33 percent relative to 2024.

At the meeting, committee members and public commenters thanked Public Safety Chair Bob Kettle for attending a march by Aurora residents earlier this month. Kettle stood behind one of the organizers, Jake Wallack, as he called for the National Guard to be deployed. Wallack, whose house was struck by a stray bullet in May, is also an executive at Axon, the company that makes the city’s Real-Time Crime Center software and cameras that line Aurora Ave (as well as SPD’s body-cameras and Tasers).

Kettle also thanked the FBI for taking part in a joint “outreach” operation with the Seattle police along Aurora recently, harassing sex workers, and no doubt stoking fear with increased federal agent presence, especially given it was bookended by ICE operations along Aurora as well.

Not all Aurora residents share the view that an expanded police presence or closed streets are the solution to gun violence. The group of residents blocking streets is conveniently aligned with the most pro-police members of the council (and right-wing pressure groups like Change Washington). At public comment, other residents argued that blocking streets funnels more traffic down adjacent streets³ which is dangerous for pedestrians. Some have made the case that supportive services and decriminalization are the path to public safety, not expanded police presence and roadblocks.

More concerning still is that this Aurora situation sparked discussion of multiple locations for a “satellite precinct” in the north end. One public commenter spoke in favor of a satellite precinct at 97th and Aurora, which is only about eight blocks from the existing North Precinct.

Juarez responded to the commenter, saying there was $200 to 300 million “set aside” for an Aurora precinct proposed back in 2016. She bemoaned the Block the Bunker movement that prevailed against her vote in favor. Kettle said that the previous council lineup “would have passed” that vote.

Later in the meeting, Juarez brought this up again, saying she’s been working with the police and Chief Barnes for a satellite precinct in Lake City. Referencing the 2016 Block the Bunker movement again, she said she “learned a lot” from that and the consent decree, adding “that’s why I voted how I did on the cameras.” She said the “community asked for cameras,” conveniently forgetting the many meetings where community members were removed from chambers for their strong opposition to the cameras.

With SPD already hoovering up just under half a billion dollars and posturing for more, and the city deep in the red, there are few funding sources the City Council can divert for potential satellite precincts. Maybe they’ll tap the remainder of JumpStart housing funds not already being spent on the stadium CCTV cameras. Or perhaps they’ll gut one of the few remaining supportive services to pay for whatever type of police expansion they go with on Aurora, so it might be a good time to dust off those Block the Bunker signs once again.

Hey, before you go…

In a recent interview, Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes said he wants to stay with the department until he retires, and he plans to be here for at least four more years. However, he might not make it that long.

Chief Barnes has received a startling 47 complaints in his first year and a half on the job. Most of these appear to be frivolous. All of the ones that the Office of Police Accountability has reviewed so far have been classified as “contact logs,” meaning there is no apparent policy violation, there isn’t enough information, or it’s outside of the OPA’s jurisdiction. Thirteen are still at the intake stage.

Though the complaints might lack merit, the volume should worry Chief Barnes because they’re likely a sign of discontent among rank-and-file officers — or their guild. Barnes is already on track to receive more complaints than his predecessor, Adrian Diaz, who racked up 70 complaints in three years.

Most of those were also contact logs. Just six complaints went to a full investigation, but it only took one to end Diaz’s career. Many of those complaints, including the one that brought about Diaz’s downfall, came from officers.

Diaz’s own drivers and bodyguards ratted him out for allegedly having an affair with his chief of staff as well as lesser misconduct, like forcing them to drive halfway across Washington on beef jerky runs. He also raised the ire of various officers and sergeants, including one who accused him of using his clout to get backstage access to the Taylor Swift concert.

Considering that Seattle cops love to use the OPA as an arena for their petty beefs, these could’ve been vendettas by individual officers. On the other hand, the sheer number of complaints hints at a coordinated effort, possibly by the Seattle Police Officers Guild.

The quantity of complaints filed against Barnes and Diaz is unprecedented. Carmen Best had 11 complaints during her tenure, and she was the chief during the 2020 protests, one of the most contentious periods of recent history (also, she did a lot of genuinely shady stuff during that time). Kathleen O’Toole had only six complaints.

While there isn’t a smoking gun linking SPOG to a campaign against Chief Barnes, the guild’s fingerprints are all over this. It will be a few months before we can get our hands on some of these complaints — public records requests are pending — but we can tell a lot just from the timing.

Clusters of complaints rolled in after Barnes said things that were at odds with SPOG’s interests or ideology. In June of last year, when there was a flare-up of anti-ICE protests, Barnes said he was willing to go to jail if the Trump Administration sent troops to Seattle. Five complaints were filed in four days.

Then, in January, Barnes made some vague statements supporting Mayor Katie Wilson’s ICE executive order, and three complaints came in the day after. Four more complaints were filed a few months later, after Barnes said that officers would face discipline if they did not follow the new city laws requiring them to document ICE activity.

SPOG has been vocal about the city’s ICE policies, but guild leaders haven’t said much about Barnes directly. Instead, they’ve been attacking him via their mouthpiece, right-wing radio host Jason Rantz. The KIRO Radio presenter is consistently a conduit for SPOG’s narratives. SPOG calls on Rantz when they need someone to do their media dirty work.

For example, Rantz helped former SPOG Vice-President Daniel Auderer get out in front of the explosive release of body camera footage showing him joking with former SPOG boss Mike Solan about the death of Jaahnavi Kandula. Rantz was given advanced notice and published a statement from Auderer. He also helped Solan spin SPOG’s illegal sick-out.

In Barnes’ first month on the job, Rantz ran a story alleging that he had supposedly failed the pre-employment polygraph. This was attributed to an anonymous “police source,” likely Mike Solan or some other member of the police guild. The first complaint against Barnes appeared just a few weeks afterward.

Rantz has put out a steady stream of attacks on Barnes, including a story about SPD sponsoring a basketball event at Barnes’ alma mater and taking $2,000 in referral bonuses for assistant chiefs he appointed. More complaints followed each of those stories.

Police guilds coordinating with Rantz to go after commanders is nothing new. As we’ve reported recently, the King County officers’ guild planted a story on Rantz’s show last year in an attempt to get a trans captain demoted or sacked for writing things about Trump on his Facebook page. The guild leaked the story to Rantz to gin up outrage before filing their complaint.

It’s hard to say how this will all shake out. Maybe none of these complaints will stick. Barnes should learn from what happened to Adrian Diaz and play it safe, keep it in his pants, and buy his own beef jerky.

Hey, before you go…

Aurora ‘Outreach’ by Cops Flops

FBI and SPD were out harassing sex workers on Aurora this weekend, and they had the nerve to call it “outreach.” In reality, the move was security theater meant to reassure residents and placate right-wing pressure groups like Change Washington. Seizing on the outrage over an outbreak of gunfire around Aurora in May, conservative think tanks and media outlets have fomented a moral panic about a "pimp turf war." However, violent crime continues to trend downward citywide. And in the sector containing Aurora, official crime data shows a 17 percent year-on-year drop in shots fired in the first half of 2026. On Monday, the Mayor's office put out a press release touting the outreach operation's supposed success. Over the entire weekend, there were 13 referrals to services and six felony arrests. That's not a huge public safety return, given the massive amount of resources deployed, including over 20 social workers, joined by nearly twice as many cops and federal agents.

The Cop Cup

The World Cup is here, and with it comes a staggering amount of regional and federal cops, equipped with various new gadgets purchased through FIFA-related grants. Most of these tools will stick around after the games have ended—not just in host cities like Seattle, but cities with “fan zones” like Bremerton and Spokane, too. SPD is getting $2 million from the Department of Homeland Security and Washington Military funds “to increase capacity to identify and mitigate drones.” It’s unclear what that entails, given that the City Council claims “no equipment is involved in the grant.“ That’s on top of $8.5 million in other FIFA grants. The King County Sheriff’s Office got three counter-drone trailers, and the Renton Police got one as well (approved in a package deal with AI translation-equipped bodycams from Axon. The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is loaning its helicopter to Seattle. You’ll likely see some unfamiliar agencies patrolling Seattle, including motorcycle cops from Kennewick as well as personnel from the Washington State Patrol, FBI, US Marshals, Secret Service, the Coast Guard, and National Guard. More than 50 agencies and city departments will be under the command of the city’s Office of Emergency Management. The presence of ICE as well as this massive deployment of their local and federal collaborators, is understandably stoking fear in marginalized communities. Spread info and, not panic, and stay safe out there!

Smile! You’re on Kiosk Cameras

The first of the Downtown Seattle Association’s digital billboard kiosks was installed last week. You know the Seattle City Council couldn’t pass up the opportunity to expand surveillance, so each is equipped with a camera— ostensibly for selfies. When it approved these kiosks in 2025, the Council rejected an amendment that would have foregone this feature on these light-polluting IRL popup ads. As reported by The Burner, the IKE Smart City camera data is kept by the company “for up to 15 days and sometimes even longer when ‘necessary to investigate an incident.’” And these didn’t go through a surveillance impact report (SIR) process either because it’s for selfies, silly! Meanwhile, all that ad revenue is likely to fund SPD’s ever-growing overtime budget for downtown “emphasis patrols” against visible poverty.

Shady Katie’s About Face

Just days after Councilmember Rob Saka gave a 12-minute speech dressed in his Boston Marathon tracksuit and Councilmember Bob Kettle sent an angry letter, Mayor Katie Wilson announced she would reactivate stadium cameras, citing “general but credible threats” from the FBI. Wilson claims the cameras will “go offline” again after the games, which is about as believable as the statements she made during the campaign opposing surveillance expansion.

Hey, before you go…

Content note: The following post contains discussion of suicide and graphic descriptions of a traumatic fatal injury that readers may find upsetting or disturbing.

A Seattle police officer joked about another officer owing him lunch, made disturbing sound effects, and said other things that trivialized a call about a suicide, according to a disciplinary report released on Friday.

Though the incident occurred three years ago, a deputy chief learned of it while reviewing bodycam footage and referred it to the Office of Police Accountability late last year.

In February 2023, a 911 call came in from the family member of a suicidal woman. They could no longer reach her, so they requested a welfare check. Officer Caleb Pomazon and three other officers were dispatched to an apartment, where they found the woman deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

When officers entered and discovered the body, Pomazon told the other officer, “You owe me lunch.”

The two officers had an agreement. While the other officer did not like taking dead-on-arrival calls, Pomazon was less bothered by them, so Pomazon offered to take his DOA calls in exchange for a free lunch per call.

The officers began to document the scene. As Pomazon took pictures of the closet, he pointed out what he believed to be bone fragments and brain matter to another officer. She shone her flashlight into the closet and said, “Oh, yeah, I see. That explains the splat.”

Pomazon made six squishing noises, imitating the sound of blood splattering against the walls, then said: “That sound effect.”

While photographing the woman’s head, Pomazon became animated. He said: “Jeez! Aw, dude, I’ve never seen that!”

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He told another officer, “Dude, you should see her head. It’s lit – it’s literally split, like in two.” Pomazon continued, “Like, dude, it’s like split in half. Like if you actually – you can see straight into her brain.”

The officer pointed his flashlight briefly at the woman’s head and replied, “Yeah, I mean the whole thing is just opened up.”

In their OPA interviews, the three other officers rationalized Pomazon’s behavior, arguing that some officers “cope with trauma” through “dark humor.” Pomazon admitted that his squishing sounds were “inappropriate” and that his commentary was “maybe insensitive.”

The OPA found that Pomazon “trivialized” the investigation by bantering with the other officer about their lunch arrangement. His sound effects, intended to “add theatrics or levity,” served no purpose, and “diminished the seriousness” of the situation. The OPA noted that Pomazon’s comments on the injury “treated the scene as if it were a spectacle rather than an investigation.”

Though the disciplinary report had some strong words about Pomazon’s misconduct, he was given relatively light discipline. Pomazon received a written reprimand, the second-lowest form of discipline.

Pomazon, hired in 2020, was previously reprimanded for failing to investigate a stolen car in person, which is required by Seattle police policy. Pomazon interviewed the man by phone 10 hours after the initial call came in, but wrote in his report that he took the statement in person.

The OPA claimed it could not meet the elevated standard of proof to sustain dishonesty allegations, a fireable offense, so Pomazon was given a reprimand.

In his first year on the job, Pomazon fired through his own windshield at a fleeing, unarmed man who threw a flaming stick into his cruiser. He did not hit the man. The OPA ruled that this use of deadly force was justified.

Pomazon makes $159,036 base pay, excluding overtime.

Hey, before you go…

For more than a year, a feud has been raging at the King County Sheriff’s Office over a captain’s anti-Trump Facebook post, with dueling complaints and internal investigations. On one side is Jamie Deer, one of the few openly trans officers in the country, and on the other is the King County Police Officers’ Guild, which represents deputies and sergeants.

In February 2025, Deer wrote a post on his personal Facebook, telling all Trump supporters to leave his friends list: “If you support this transphobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic POS, then our differences are too much for me to tolerate.”

It was the kind of unremarkable post liberals make thousands of times daily on social media. Still, the guild sent out an email, calling it a “double standard,” claiming that if Deer were a conservative, he would be placed on administrative leave.

The email found its way into the hands of local right-wing radio goblin Jason Rantz, who transformed it into the culture war grievance du jour.

Rantz railed against the “hypocrisy,” pointing out that a detective had been fired for “posting memes critical of BLM riots.” (The meme in question was an image of a truck running over protesters, captioned “All Lives Splatter,” and it was posted in response to Seattle protester Summer Taylor being struck and killed on I-5).

Deputy Clark Matthews filed a complaint against Deer over the Facebook post. During an interview for that investigation, he claimed Deer “stormed out” of the roll call room after Matthews misgendered him in 2018 and then angrily berated Matthews in the parking lot. He said that Deer “cursed [him] out” and told him he could be fired for misgendering someone.

When Deer learned about this, he filed his own complaint alleging that Matthews had fabricated nearly everything about that incident. While they both agreed that Matthews had misgendered Deer at the roll call, Deer disputes that he ran out of the meeting or yelled at Matthews about his pronouns. The other officers in attendance didn’t specifically recall that meeting or remember Deer ever storming out of any meeting

Deer said he sent a text politely informing Matthews of his pronouns, and that it was never an issue after that. He also noted that Matthews didn’t file a complaint about that alleged incident for nearly seven years.

In the end, the allegations of dishonesty against Matthews were ruled inconclusive. Investigators could not definitively prove that he had lied because the text messages were long past the retention date, and witnesses could not recall what happened years ago.

Hey, before you go…

A major shakeup in the police department of a tiny, affluent Seattle suburb was resolved quietly at the end of May, when Clyde Hill Police Chief Kyle Kolling agreed to retire rather than face a humiliating public termination for official corruption.

The city released almost no details about Kolling’s departure, but today, DivestSPD acquired the full report compiled by an outside investigator. It found that Kolling killed an internal investigation into an officer and committed a range of other misconduct, including accepting expensive wine and cigars, deleting “flirtatious” texts with a domestic violence victim, and claiming pay for hours he did not work.

Last October, the Clyde Hill Police Department opened an investigation into Officer Cameron Hanson. The day after the first interview was scheduled, Kolling had a call with a police union representative. The next day, Kolling instructed Commander Dawn Hanson to “stand down” and informed her that the allegations would be handled informally.

Kolling then ordered evidence seized from Officer Hanson to be returned without properly documenting it or following established procedures. The allegations against Officer Hanson were later formally investigated and sustained, but the report does not specify what they were.

Cigars, Wine, and Gift Cards

Kolling visited the home of a community member on multiple occasions and was seen transporting large crates of wine in a department vehicle more than a “dozen times,” according to the report. Another witness reported that Kolling never paid or discussed payment with that person.

The investigator wrote: “The consistency of these accounts, along with the routine manner in which the conduct was described, indicates that these interactions were not viewed as isolated events but had become normalized over time within the work environment.”

Moreover, Kolling “actively solicited” gifts. A witness told investigators that he contacted them about when he could get more wine. He even asked for specific varieties and brands. Kolling claimed that he paid for some of the wine, but there was no evidence.

He was also given pricey cigars. These contacts occurred while Kolling was on duty, and he was seen on several occasions leaving the person’s house smelling of cigar smoke.

A private citizen also donated gift cards to Kolling to distribute to his officers. He didn’t. Kolling admitted that his handling of the gift cards was “improper.” When he left the position, gift cards were found in his desk.

Deleted Texts With DV Victim

Kolling also destroyed records of “flirty” communications he had with the subject of a domestic violence protective order. He met the woman at the hotel bar during a law enforcement conference and later learned that she was a Clyde Hill resident with an order against a former partner.

Though Kolling destroyed the texts from his work phone, forensic investigators recovered messages described as “increasingly personal and inappropriate remarks.” Some samples include texts like, “I’m trying to flirt with you” and “Not to be creepy, but, how amazing of a mom you are is attractive.”

Kolling also offered to personally intervene in her case, texting “I’m hoping you will be if you ever need support at court, I have your back.” And Kolling violated state law by using police databases for personal purposes.

Time Theft

Aside from his social calls on the clock for wine pickups and cigar breaks, Kolling was “routinely absent from the office during normal working hours, frequently leaving early, and being unavailable when he would be expected to be on duty and accessible.”

The report notes that issues with the department’s timekeeping practices prevented the investigation from fully accounting for Kolling’s work hours, but investigator found at least one instance where he claimed an entire workday and did not work at all.

Hey, before you go…

Former Police Guild President Runs for Office

Late last month, a judge gave former Seattle police guild president Mike Solan the go-ahead to run for Pierce County Council even though he did not meet the basic requirements. Solan registered to vote in Pierce County only two months before he filed. The county charter says candidates must be registered for at least a year. If he wins, he won’t be the only Seattle cop in Pierce County politics. Previously, Captain Keith Swank quit the department before he could be fired for racist and transphobic Twitter posts. He almost moved to Florida but decided to go for county sheriff after he claimed God spoke to him in a hot tub. Swank has continuously lobbied to overturn state sanctuary laws so that he can partner with ICE. Pierce County is also home to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, the region’s only ICE detention center. Similarly, Solan has been seen meeting with the “architect of family separation,” Tom Homan.

Unlawful Flock Stop Ends in Brain Damage

A King County Sheriff’s Deputy in Covington detained the wrong man based on a Flock camera hit and hospitalized him with a traumatic brain injury after performing a suplex on him. The King County Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) found that Deputy John Welch didn’t have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain the man. The Flock notification for a stolen vehicle contained no description of the driver or passengers. Welch’s other justification for the stop — that the man gave him a suspicious look — wasn’t supported by the video evidence. And if it were, it still would not justify a detention. OLEO cited Washington Supreme Court case law, which found that startled reactions or nervousness aren’t sufficient to justify a detention. According to the deflock map, Covington has 10 mapped ALPR cameras, at least four of which are operated by the Covington Police Department (the King County Sheriff’s Office contracts with Covington), two by Home Depot, and the rest are either traffic cameras and/or unknown operators.

Council Public Safety Hawks Want New SCORE Contract, Stadium Cameras On

At this week’s Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee, Chair Bob Kettle called for the city to resume its contract with the deadly SCORE jail, and councilmember Rob Saka pushed for the city to activate its CCTV cameras ahead of the FIFA World Cup. The contract with SCORE was scrapped in the last budget cycle. It’s no longer being used now that the King County Jail accepts misdemeanor bookings. The previous SCORE contract was approved shortly after the facility marked its seventh in-custody death in 18 months. Kettle is soft-launching new excuses to bring it back. Saka engaged in goofy theatrics for 12 minutes, urging Mayor Wilson to turn on the stadium CCTVs, citing his presence at the Boston Marathon bombing as well as his military background. The stadium cameras have been installed despite the so-called “pause,” with the stipulation that they will remain deactivated unless there’s an undefined “credible threat.”

Since that committee meeting, Seattle Times’ reported that Kettle sent a letter to Mayor Wilson suggesting the so-called pause of the surveillance expansion isn’t legal, alleging that “proper steps” weren’t taken. All but one of the existing 310 CCTV cameras are running, the entire SDOT camera network is operational, and an undisclosed number of private cameras are still streaming into the Real-Time Crime Center. Meanwhile, Kettle, Saka, and Rivera are huffing and puffing about a brief “pause” in the use of a few cameras, representing only a tiny fraction of that sprawling panopticon, which is already plenty damaging.

Inquest Into the Fatal 2021 Shooting of Derek Hayden Begins

On Monday, King County began its inquest into the fatal shooting of Seattle University student Derek Hayden in 2021. Hayden was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was shot by Seattle police officers Cassidy Butler and Willard Jared at the waterfront. While the Office of Police Accountability found the shooting itself justified, both were later suspended for violating the department’s de-escalation policy. Port of Seattle police and SPD officers had been tailing Hayden, who had a knife, from a distance, but Jared and Butler drove to within 20 feet of him, got out of their vehicle, and opened fire in less than 10 seconds. Hayden’s family was awarded $1.5 million. Testimony on the first day of the inquest included port police and Seattle officers, such as West Precinct Officer Tanner Jay, who was twice the subject of investigations into dishonesty allegations that just stopped just shy of sustained findings. The inquest is a non-criminal, fact-finding process, and it will last until Friday. You can follow the proceedings remotely here.

Beyond the Puget Sound…

Spokane 3 Found Guilty

A jury found the Spokane 3 guilty of federal conspiracy charges stemming from an anti-ICE protest there last June that was followed by police raids. Like the prosecution of the Prairieland and Stop Cop City defendants, this is yet another canary in the coalmine for the criminalization of dissent and the escalation of repression under President Trump’s NSPM-7.

Detention Center Hunger Strikes

This past week, a hunger strike at NWDC faced retaliation again, and at least 500 are involved in hunger strikes at five other detention facilities across the country, including Delaney Hall in NJ, where protests happening in tandem outside have faced massive force from state troopers and federal agents.

OII Investigating Its First Nonfatal Police Shooting

The Washington State Office of Independent Investigations (OII) is—for the first time—investigating a non-fatal police shooting by Vancouver Police Officer Alexander Zaferis that occurred on May 28. "The person shot in this case was reported to have life-threatening injuries. This prompted the OII response and current investigation. It is the first non-fatal use of force OII has investigated since it began responding to such incidents in December 2024.

Hey, before you go…

How many punches to the head are too many? That’s the question that the Office of Police Accountability tried to answer in its investigation of a violent incident at Cal Anderson Park last May, when Seattle Police Sergeant David Adams rushed a protest medic, threw him to the ground, and punched him in the head over and over.

The OPA found initially that the first four punches were acceptable, while the last four were not. However, the so-called accountability agency had a come-to-Jesus moment after talking to Adams’ chain of command.

The incident occurred during SPD’s mass arrest of trans and queer people protesting a fundamentalist concert in the park themed “Don’t Mess With Our Kids” on May 24. Adams was part of SPD’s anti-protest unit, which deployed into the park to arrest two people for misdemeanor property destruction — namely, releasing some balloons and tampering with a bubble machine.

This escalated the crowd, and when officers lost sight of the two, they began arresting everyone wearing black bloc in a chaotic melee. Bodycam footage shows Adams run up behind officers making arrests, then trip over a bike. Adams spotted the protest medic standing about 10 to 15 feet away and charged at him (See our previous reporting for a more complete description of the incident).

No obstruction, no assault, no weapon

The OPA found that Adams had probable cause to arrest the man for obstruction at this point, but we dispute this finding. Disobeying an order is a key component of an obstruction charge. Adams told the OPA that the man “continued approaching despite being ordered to stay back.” The video contradicts this.

While the audio on Adams’ camera was off shortly before the arrest, an officer was standing near him. Nothing resembling an order can be heard on his bodycam. The man did not physically interfere with the arrest. He was merely standing there giving the double middle finger. There were many others in the vicinity who were as close or closer to the arrest than he was.

When Adams ran up on the man, he put his hands up defensively. Adams claimed that the man was swinging at him or trying to grab his helmet. That raised the offense from a questionable obstruction charge to an equally dubious felony assault, and the justifications for all of Adams’ subsequent actions flow from that. In other words, it wouldn’t be proportionate to punch someone in the face over a misdemeanor or physical resistance, but it would be acceptable for a felony assault.

Adams said that he punched the man to “loosen” him up so he could get his hands behind his back, but that’s not “necessary” force — that’s expedient. Justifying the punches, Adams explained that the man “could have accessed a weapon during the altercation,” but his hands were visible the entire time.

After the first four punches, the man covered his head with both hands, and Adams punched him four more times. In its first draft, OPA found that the last four were unjustified. By this point, the level of resistance had dropped, another officer was there to help, and the situation had stabilized so that there was less urgency to get him in handcuffs, the OPA argued.

However, the OPA walked its findings back after Adams’ chain of command maintained that he was still an active threat at that point. In particular, they noted that Adams dropped his pepper-spray can, and it was underneath the medic. They painted an implausible scenario that the man, who was prone with two officers grabbing each arm, would somehow be able to grab it, turn over, and spray them in the face.

The OPA found this “compelling,” and amended its findings.

Sloppy or Malicious

Lastly, the OPA determined that another allegation, which was captured on camera, did not happen at all and was not captured on camera. This occurred shortly after the arrest, when the man was cuffed on the ground. Adams ordered the man to turn over on his belly, and he cursed at Adams.

Adams is shown on his bodycam going up to the man and pushing the handcuffs up his back until the man screams in pain. Any actions that cause pain are considered reportable force, and force on handcuffed prisoners is prohibited except in extreme circumstances.

The report reads:

This allegation is unfounded. NE#1 did not twist CP#1’s handcuffs or press them into CP#1’s back as alleged. Rather, BWV showed CP#1 unwilling to stand or walk, requiring NE#1 and WO#1 to use de minimis force3 to raise CP#1. NE#1 pulled the back of CP#1’s shirt upward, causing CP#1 to rise, and then escorted him away by holding onto his arm. Overall, NE#1 did not use any reportable force while CP#1 was handcuffed

This sentence — “NE#1 pulled the back of CP#1’s shirt upward, causing CP#1 to rise, and then escorted him away by holding onto his arm” — is apparently a reference to a segment of the video that takes place three minutes after the prohibited use of force:

The OPA investigator, Det. Travis Jordon, either did not watch the entire video or he maliciously cherry-picked the segment to exonerate his coworker and fellow police guild member. The Office of the Inspector General approved this allegation for expedited review, meaning the OPA could issue findings based on bodycam footage alone.

It reflects a disturbing trend in the so-called police accountability system. Fewer cases are being fully investigated. In 2022, 37 percent of misconduct underwent a full investigation. By 2025, that proportion had fallen to 23 percent, with growing numbers of cases being classified as “expedited,” “supervisor action,” and “contact log.”

Hey, before you go…

A King County deputy gave a man a traumatic brain injury during an unlawful stop initiated based on a hit from Flock Safety cameras, according to a disciplinary report.

Responding to a notification from a Flock camera, Deputy John Welch located a van matching the description parked at the Rocket gas station in Covington. Welch went inside the convenience store after confirming that the van was reported stolen.

He found two men using the ATM inside. Welch wrote in his report that the men eyed him “wearily [sic] ” and ducked down, but the store’s surveillance video showed them standing upright the entire time. The clerk also said that the men weren’t behaving strangely.

Welch called out to one of the men and told him to walk toward the deputy with his hands in the air. The man turned and began to run. Deputy Welch chased the man, yelling, “Stop! You’re under arrest!” The man tripped and fell to his knees near the checkout counter.

Deputy Welch jumped onto the man’s back. The two struggled until the man eventually broke free and stood up. Welch grabbed him around his waist and threw him back, causing him to strike his head on the floor.

The man began convulsing, vomiting, and making wheezing noises. The paramedics advised Welch to take him to the hospital for evaluation before sending him to jail. He was taken to urgent care and then to Tacoma General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

No basis for the stop

The King County Office of Law Enforcement Oversight found that Welch did not have reasonable suspicion, much less probable cause, to detain the man. The Flock notification contained no description of the driver or passengers. Five minutes had passed between the Flock camera photographing the van and Welch’s arrival.

A silver car was parked in the lot, and the OLEO determined that it was “just as likely that [the two men] could have arrived in the silver car or on foot as in the stolen van.”

Welch’s other justification for the stop — the suspicious look — wasn’t supported by the video evidence. And if it were, it still would not justify a detention. OLEO cited Washington Supreme Court case law, which found that startled reactions or nervousness aren’t sufficient to justify a detention.

The OLEO also determined that Welch’s force was excessive. Given that the stop itself was unlawful, Welch was not entitled to use force at all. Welch also rushed into the encounter instead of waiting for another deputy, who was en route. The “amount of force he did use was likely unnecessary because it was the result of poor critical decision-making,” according to the report.

Hey, before you go…

Summer is almost here. Though the weather has cooled recently, protests are heating up, with actions at City Hall as well as some more demonstrations across Lake Washington in Seattle’s wicked stepsister, Bellevue. This week’s theme is protests (and the criminalization thereof).

Supercommuters getting super OT

King County Sheriff “super commuters” are traveling all the way from Idaho, and they’re logging tons of overtime. A clique of “super commuters” from Idaho in King County's metro bike patrol was bullying Sergeant David Hoag, so he got payback by filing a complaint, alleging, among other things, that the ringleader, rival Sergeant Dusty Davis, had racked up massive amounts of overtime. CAD logs showed that Davis didn't take a single call on some shifts that were as long as 22 hours. Hoag also told internal investigators Davis once bragged about torturing women prisoners when he was in the army—Davis denied this but admitted to being “exterior security” at a detention camp.

Review of May 24 Protest Response Gets Rowdy

May 12, 2026

The Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee held a review of the brutal Seattle police response to Cal Anderson in May 2025, when SPD violently arrested 24 community members on behalf of an anti-trans hate rally. The Office of the Inspector General gave a presentation about the Sentinel Event Review (SER), but only after public commenters pointed out that victims were excluded from this “accountability” process. The committee responded by calling multiple recesses over "disruptions" before finally shutting the hearing down and going remote. Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck said she was present at that protest and had chest pain for a week due to exposure to SPD pepper spray.

When Councilmember Dionne Foster asked about Lt. Matthew Didier’s “fuck people up” remarks, the OIG said the process was about systemic issues, not individuals, adding that it was said already “late in the day after several arrests.” Deputy Chief Yvonne Underwood noted that SPD needs to find “different verbiage” for “agitators” and “bad actors” instead of using “antifa” and “black bloc”. Most of the other recommendations were variations on “more training”. The phrase “police legitimacy” came up several times. We wouldn't want an obscene overreaction over a few balloons to “delegitimize” the police in the eyes of the public. Balloons (or candles, rocks, and sticks on the ground) are super serious police business!

You Must Be Thetan Level III to Ride

The viral Scientology ‘speed runs’ have reached Seattle. A social media trend emerged out of LA this spring where groups of people try to run as far through the organization's mysterious buildings (compounds?) without getting caught. The videos have goofy sound effects, and sometimes people wear costumes. It’s all pretty silly, but the trend has even reached as far as Prague and Amsterdam. Now, Scientology is trying to pursue hate crime charges over this trend. Over the weekend, there were arrests at the Scientology building near Seattle Center allegedly related to one of these speed runs, and they are apparently pressuring local prosecutors to press hate crime charges — probably because this trend is affecting recruiting for this predatory organization.

It’s Now Illegal to Make Bellevue War Criminals Uncomfortable

May 19, 2026

The Bellevue City Council approved a protest buffer zone for “targeted residential protest" for Rep. Adam Smith and his support of the US-backed Israeli genocide of Palestine. Following protests against Rep. Smith at his Bellevue Home by Seattle Against War (SAW), the Bellevue City Council voted through protest buffer zones basically on his behalf. This would cover four or more people, with or without signs/amplifiers, and makes it a gross misdemeanor - up to 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine. The vote was 6-1 in favor, with only CM Naren Briar voting against it. On Tuesday, a small group of SAW protesters gathered in the street outside Smith's house to protest the ordinance, which goes into effect 30 days after passage. A handful of Bellevue police blocked the driveway, but there were no arrests at the time of writing.

The King County Sheriff’s Office terminated Deputy James Taylor last month for lying about sexual relationships with women he met on duty. Internal investigators were looking into allegations that Taylor forced himself on a vulnerable woman in Ballard when they discovered “inappropriate” text exchanges with six other women, according to records obtained by DivestSPD.

In the previous case, Taylor began a close relationship with a woman who was in crisis and attempting to kill herself with pills when they first met. She said Taylor later took advantage of her while she was so intoxicated that she could not consent. The county prosecutor and the sheriff’s office both stopped short of finding that Taylor had sexually assaulted the woman, but he was suspended for four days on lesser allegations.

Though Taylor maintained that the relationship was strictly platonic, the woman said his body language, texts, and speech sent different signals. She showed investigators texts where he called her by pet names like “sweetie” and “baby.” Taylor had deleted the corresponding text thread on his department-issued phone.

The investigator asked Taylor if he normally used those words in friendly conversations. Taylor said he did, so the detective searched his phone and found text exchanges with six different women. This included Taylor’s long-term girlfriend and other women he was either flirting with or having sex with while on duty.

One of the most noteworthy was Ms. L. Investigators found nudes and texts arranging for her to meet up with Taylor to have sex while he was on the clock. She said it was all consensual up until the point Taylor refused to wear a condom, but she felt pressured to go through with it.

The investigator summarized the sense of coercion Ms. L felt:

“[Ms. L] reported she followed through with that encounter because she felt obligated to do so. She reported this was because Deputy Taylor was a police officer, neighbors were unlikely to hear her protests in the event an altercation occurred, and because he had placed his duty belt (including his gun) on her bed as the sexual encounter took place, which made her uncomfortable.”

The earlier case ran into a wall on the issue of dishonesty. Though there were inconsistencies in Taylor’s story, commanders claimed that there was no “smoking gun.” This time, there was.

Taylor was evasive and played coy about the meaning of words like “pornographic” or “inappropriate. He claimed he didn’t recall Ms. L or recognize her in a photograph. It wasn’t until he was shown texts of him arranging to visit her apartment for sex that it finally dawned on him who she was. To quote the report: “In the span of 18 minutes, Deputy Taylor went from not knowing Ms. L to an admission that he had sex with her.”

This sustained finding of dishonesty was ultimately what got Taylor fired. As incredible as it might seem, Taylor might not have been dismissed for using his beat as a dating service or even for having sex on the job if he had told the truth. The other allegations mostly fall under “conduct unbecoming” and are considered less serious misconduct.

Summarizing, the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight wrote that “community members should have the right to move about their daily lives without a deputy using what is reflective of a predatory practice via the use of a smile, a polite disposition, and a badge to gain trust and accost them for his own personal enjoyment.”

Before you go…

They called him “Sergeant Hog.”

Sometimes, it was “Sergeant Biden.” Members of the King County Bicycle Emphasis Enforcement Squad, abbreviated as “BEES,” teased Sgt. David Hoag about his age, joking that he wore a diaper. They broke the lock off his locker and filled it with trash, put up mocking signs around the office, and wrapped his car in plastic wrap.

The squad had always had a juvenile prank culture—and Hoag apparently gave as well as he got—but something had changed. This was more mean-spirited. Hoag blamed the unit’s other sergeant, Dusty Davis. He believed Davis was trying to harass him into retirement.

Hoag told internal investigators that Davis once bragged about torturing women prisoners when he was in the army. Drawing an analogy, Davis allegedly said that “if you apply constant pressure, people will either break or leave.” Davis admitted to being “exterior security” at a detention camp but denied the rest.

Eventually, Hoag did leave, but he got his revenge on the way out. Before he retired, Hoag filed a complaint against Davis, containing 25 separate allegations of misconduct.

In addition to the bullying and mistreatment, Hoag accused Davis of sleeping on the job, abusing overtime, and showing favoritism to a clique of “supercommuters” within the squad, who, like Davis, lived in Idaho and traveled all the way across the state to work in King County.

Commanders and internal investigators at the sheriff’s office seemed to focus more on questions of professionalism, like whether Davis called a deputy named Ramos “Gaymos” or if he ever used the phrase “soggy biscuit.” The allegation that Davis and the other supercommuters were logging massive amounts of overtime and not working was apparently treated less seriously.

The internal affairs detective reviewed a sample of days Davis worked and found multiple days when he worked over 16 consecutive hours without taking a single call. On some days, he was seen in civilian clothes at the BEES office, when he was assigned to supervise a beat an hour’s drive away.

Davis would sign up to augment shifts that had adequate staffing, and did so as a deputy, not a sergeant. He had an underling, usually Deputy John Cotchaleovitch, approve his overtime requests.

Hoag claimed that Davis bypassed normal channels to assign more overtime to his friends, who lived out of state, including Deputy Cotchaleovitch, Deputy Cesar Molina-Sisimit, Deputy Christopher Travers, and Deputy Josiah Satterfield. All of them denied receiving special treatment.

Cotchaleovitch called the investigation a “witch hunt.”

However, Major Todd Morrell, chief of the Metro Transit Police, reviewed the squad’s overtime and found the supercommuters’ overtime use was a “country mile” beyond their peers. After the investigation began, Morrell suspended emphasis overtime in Metro, but he claimed the move was unrelated.

In the end, KCSO commanders sustained only seven out of the 25 allegations, all of which were classified as “general” or non-serious misconduct. Most of these involved Davis’ inappropriate behavior toward Hoag. Only one of the overtime allegations was sustained, and it was treated as a performance issue.

Major Marcus Williams wrote that there was “credible evidence” to support the rest of the allegations, but the “ambiguity of the General Orders Manual or the specific direction given by [Metro Transit Police] command would make it difficult to sustain the violation.”

Davis was suspended for only four days and transferred out of the Metro Transit Police. Undersheriff Jesse Anderson called Davis’ conduct “appalling” but added that he “has an opportunity to learn from this experience by changing his ways and show[ing] that he can put this behind him.”

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Hey folks, we’re trying something new. The Divest Digest is a twice-monthly roundup of local police and public safety news in the Puget Sound and beyond, packaged in a nice, easy-to-read format for your convenience. Enjoy!

News in Brief

Community Calls for Probe Into Knees on Necks

April 28

Last week, Seattle police officers were accused of using banned knee-on-neck restraints on people detained at a recent protest against a Town Hall Seattle event, featuring Noa Cochva, former Miss Israel, Israeli army veteran, and Gaza genocide apologist. Community members and elected officials are calling for all officers seen using that tactic to be identified, investigated, and suspended. The Office of Police Accountability has only issued sustained findings for this behavior against one officer. Joshua McMullen was caught on camera kneeling on the neck of an arrestee during the George Floyd Protests in 2020. He was issued a written reprimand.

Diversions Down, Arrests Up

April 28

City Council heard updates on the LEAD Diversion program. At public comment, they heard from election losers Sara Nelson and Tanya Woo, as well as regular loser Andrea Suarez of We Heart Seattle. A big takeaway from that presentation was that pre-arrest diversions were down 41 percent in the last two years, while arrests were up 47 percent. SPD COO Sarah Smith, who recently replaced Brian Maxey, said at the presentation that these numbers reflected low staffing. With more officers, they’ll be “able to do more” diversions instead of prioritizing arrests, Smith claimed.

Federal Charges for Protest Affray

April 29

Protestors in St. Paul, MN, were indicted by a grand jury after a TPUSA streamer snitch-tagged Harmeet Dhillon, Andy Ngo’s former lawyer and the current chief of the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. Now, all the other aspiring grifters out there harassing entire communities will likely be emboldened to do the same. The Civil Rights Division is also currently investigating the University of Washington for its handling of pro-Palestine protests on campus, claiming the university coddled "antisemitism." Never mind the fact that the school harshly cracked down on protestors. And speaking of aspiring grifters, retired SPD detective Glenn Kerns actually helped stir up the racist moral panic about fraud at home-based daycare centers that has impacted Somali communities across the country.

Renton Restarts (Then Re-Stops) Flock Cameras

May 4

A week after Renton announced that it would turn its Flock cameras back on, Renton’s City Council voted to pause the program again on Monday. The department’s camera program was temporarily suspended in March until the State legislature could pass a law regulating license plate readers. But the program wasn’t completely put on hold, apparently. UWCHR found that their data and that of several other Washington agencies had been shared with the feds. Renton said they didn’t know. They claim to have changed the sharing settings while keeping the cameras on.

ICYMI

Cop Shoots Wall, Does Drunken Hit-and-Run

Former Seattle Police Officer Robert West had an exemplary run last April. First, he shot the wall of the North Precinct while he was gassing up his cruiser. Later that month, he crashed his truck while drunk on White Claws, then left the scene and illegally parked across two driveways. Incredibly, he wasn’t fired, but West probably assumed he would be. He apparently lateraled to another department in Pierce County before the investigation ended. We’re still trying to confirm where. If he’s still in his probationary period, we can probably get him fired. Stay tuned!

Officer Reprimanded for Smashing Megaphone Into Protester’s Face

Last year, Christian fundamentalists rallied at City Hall, and trans rights protesters showed up to oppose them. Though the rally was unpermitted and mostly made up of folks from out of town, the Seattle Police Department was out in full force to protect them. A protester was leading the chant, “Trans rights are human rights,” through a megaphone. After she pointed it at him and said, “You’re pathetic,” Officer Jordan Wallace lost his cool and pushed the bullhorn into her face, riling up the crowd. He was reprimanded for violating the department’s de-escalation policy.

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Last April, there was a wall-involved shooting at the North Precinct. Seattle Police Officer Robert West was practicing his draw at a department gas station. On the third draw, his finger brushed the trigger, and he fired one round into the concrete.

West received a three-day suspension for negligently handling his firearm, according to a disciplinary report released Friday. The Office of Police Accountability sustained only professionalism allegations, finding that West did not violate the department’s lethal force policy.

There is no general requirement in Seattle police policy to “safely handle firearms,” the OPA found. In response to this case, the agency recommended adding the “Four Cardinal Rules” of firearm safety to the department manual, but Chief Shon Barnes declined.

West told the OPA that he occasionally practices his draw before a shift to keep his firearm skills current. When he was in the Marines, West was a range officer responsible for enforcing firearm safety, according to a source who has requested anonymity. He said that he thought practicing while waiting for his tank to fill was a “productive use of his time.”

He said that he typically places his trigger finger on the slide while drawing and believed that he had done so. West said he was surprised when the gun went off. However, the OPA investigator noted that West’s index finger “appeared to be positioned within the trigger guard area.”

It was a bad month for West. As we previously reported, West did a hit-and-run while apparently intoxicated last April, and the woman he was with accused him of domestic violence. He received a 15-day suspension.

West has left the Seattle Police Department and is rumored to have lateraled to another department in the Puget Sound area. We’ll follow up and update when we find out where he went.

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