Seattle sergeant covertly recorded another officer using his bodycam

Sgt. Jamin Dobson set his body-worn video to "stealth mode" and used it to film a rival sergeant's workspace, violating the state's two-party consent laws, a gross misdemeanor.

Seattle police Sergeant Jamin Dobson violated state law by using his body-worn camera to spy on another sergeant, according to a disciplinary report released last Friday. The Office of Police Accountability found that Dobson violated Washington’s two-party consent law and several other policies. He was suspended for six days.

In September 2024, Dobson and the other sergeant had a dispute over Dobson’s use of a department vehicle for an overtime assignment. Patrol was short on cruisers, and the sergeant felt this was inconsiderate of him. Dobson was also resentful because the officer had been made a permanent acting sergeant without taking the exam or being on the promotions list.

The next day, Dobson set his camera to “stealth mode,” which allows the camera to operate without lights flashing or sounds signaling that it’s recording. He attached the camera to his vest and hung it from a coat rack facing the sergeant’s desk.

Dobson talked to the sergeant about their issues the previous day and left. The camera continued running for 11 hours until another officer found it, discovered that it was recording, and returned it to Dobson. A captain learned about the incident and forwarded it to the OPA.

Under Washington’s wiretapping law, recording conversations without the consent of all parties is a gross misdemeanor. A Seattle police detective conducted a criminal investigation, finding that there was “insufficient evidence to support filing a criminal case.” Neither the King County prosecutor nor the Seattle City Attorney’s office filed charges.

However, the OPA found more than enough evidence that Dobson deliberately used his body camera to record the sergeant’s room. A review of his camera’s video and its logs found that he pressed the “volume up” and “volume down” buttons 34 times in his vehicle before entering the precinct. “Stealth mode” is activated and deactivated by holding these buttons down for more than 3 seconds.

The detective also determined that Dobson had never activated “stealth mode” in his entire career. Taken together, these two pieces of evidence establish that he did not activate “stealth mode” by accident. Dobson claimed he did not know this mode existed and could not explain why he activated his bodycam at the end of his shift.

According to policy, officers are required to dock their bodycams and upload the video daily. Dobson did not do this. He claims that he forgot, but absentmindedness doesn’t explain why Dobson transferred his camera from his traffic jacket to his vest and then rearranged the jackets on the coatrack so that the camera would have an unobstructed view of the sergeant’s desk.

The OPA opened a separate investigation into Dobson for lying to investigators. It concluded in November and resulted in sustained findings. While the department hasn’t issued discipline, the penalty for dishonesty is presumed to be termination, according to the police guild contract.

It’s not the first time Dobson has been investigated for dishonesty. In 2017, he submitted a grossly inaccurate police report, but the OPA stopped short of finding that he was intentionally dishonest. He resigned before the chief could issue discipline and returned to the department a few years later.