SEATTLE – Following revelations that the Seattle Police Department (SPD) faked radio calls claiming a hate group was marching through Seattle on June 8, 2020, Councilmember Lisa Herbold (Chair of the Committee on Public Safety and Human Services) is calling for increased oversight of SPD’s use of deceptive tactics, or ruses. 

Following a similar improper use of a ruse in 2019 that the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) said contributed to a man’s suicide, the OPA made a recommendation to provide training on the appropriate use of ruses. However, SPD only “partially implemented” that recommendation. 

Now, as she continues to review the facts of this case, Councilmember Herbold is requesting that SPD and OPA immediately work together to both fully implement OPA’s 2019 recommendation and create a clear policy requiring that SPD’s use of ruses be fully documented, which has not occurred in the past.