Crime & Safety

Kirkland Joins Regional Team to Investigate Police Shootings

Kirkland Police will participate in the team that was launched June 1 to help other agencies investigate officer-involved shootings and major incidents.

This article was reported and written by Venice Buhain.

The Kirkland Police Department is participating in a new county-wide law enforcement team that will be available to investigate officer-involved shootings and other major incidents.

The King County Investigative Response Team was announced Thursday, after two years of development among local police departments and agencies.

Bellevue Police Department Maj. Mike Johnson, who will be the commander of the team, told reporters that the team was created to maintain public trust during the investigation of a major incident involving a police officer.

"The law enforcement leaders standing before you today believe that the investigation of a very serious and often complex incident, like an officer involved shooting, should be carried out in such a way that involves our profession's best practices, utilizes the best detectives and supervisors in the Seattle area and ensures the utmost objectivity and transparency, so at the end of the day we maintain the trust that our communities have placed in us," Johnson told reporters.

Johnson said that many police departments already have a protocol to call upon another police department to investigate such incidents to remove the appearance of bias. The new team would be available in lieu of calling another police agency, he said.

"Nothing is broken," he told Patch. "But we want to remove any questions about whether the agency is covering anything up or protecting one of their own."

The local agencies that are part of the team and sit on its board of directors include the cities of Bellevue, Bothell, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Kirkland, Snoqualmie, Black Diamond and Redmond, and the King County Sheriff's Office and the Washington State Patrol. Bellevue Police Chief Linda Pillo has been the chairwoman of the board.

The police agencies on the team will provide their staff and resources to investigate major incidents involving police officers. 

The county's inquest process will remain the same, with a citizen panel and the public airing of the facts of the case, and the new team would bring another layer of transparency to inquests. said Mark Larson, chief deputy of the King County Prosecuting Attorney.

"It brings yet another layer of professionalism and thoroughness to an important part of law enforcement's activities," he said.

Larson told Patch after his remarks that some of the smaller police departments also would benefit by being able to help in such investigations.

The creation of the team is based on the best practices suggested by the Washington Association of Sheriff's and Police Chiefs, Mercer Island Police Chief Ed Holmes said. 

The participating agencies contribute their investigators when a major incident involves police officers, the most obvious of which would be an officer-involved shooting. However, agencies could call upon the team to investigate other major incidents, such as a police pursuit that results in a serious injury or fatality or after the death of someone in custody, Johnson said.

Johnson said they can't predict exactly how many times the team will be called upon to investigate, but, just limiting the investigations to officer-involved shootings, the team could be called to respond to between 10 to 20 incidents in King County per year.

While there are King County cities that are not part of the team, such as Seattle, the team will be available to any King County agency that requests it.

According to a chart compiled by Johnson, between 2008 and 2010, there were between 13 and 15 such incidents a year, only counting shootings, people who died or were injured in custody and pursuits that resulted in an injury. When injuries with other weapons were included, that total went up to between 23 and 29 incidents a year. The most common jurisdiction where such incidents took place was Seattle, according to the tally.



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