SPD staffer let records be destroyed, delayed bodycams' release for nearly a year
The Seattle Police Department fired a public records employee for arbitrarily pushing back deadlines, lying to requestors, and allowing 911 audio records to be destroyed, according to a recently released disciplinary report. Hired in 1999, the employee was terminated after a manager in the department’s public records unit audited her work and found multiple examples of gross mismanagement and negligence.
Last September, after the employee complained about her high workload, the unit reassigned several of her requests to other records staff. One of them raised multiple issues with her supervisor.
The manager reviewed two requests for bodycam footage and found that she had repeatedly extended the deadlines. She told the requestors that she was waiting for the video specialist to review them for redactions. This was a lie. She had never submitted the video to the specialist.
This had happened in at least two dozen similar requests for video. In 22 requests, she also failed to preserve 911 audio recordings, which are deleted after 90 days, according to SPD’s retention schedule. Only two recordings were salvaged after the manager stepped in.
In total, the manager found 60 requests with serious issues. In her interview with the Office of Police Accountability, the employee blamed most of her issues on her high workload. Though she had been with the department for 26 years, four of which were in the public records unit, she claimed to be unaware of the 90-day retention schedule for 911 audio.
Though the employee was fired, this could still be a costly issue for the city, which has had to pay out several lawsuits over police records. In March, the city paid the Seattle Times $160,000 to settle its lawsuit over the practice of grouping multiple requests by a single requestor. The city settled two lawsuits by independent reporter Glen Stellmacher for a combined $200,000 in legal fees and penalties. Those lawsuits involved the destruction of text messages and other records.
The Public Records Act allows for penalties of up to $100 for each day a record was withheld “unreasonably.” Considering the number of requests and the length of the delays, the City of Seattle could be liable for a seven-figure settlement.
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