Washington office begins tracking statewide deadly use of force incidents

This month, the Washington State Office of Independent Investigation began tracking deadly use of force incidents involving law enforcement officers.

Created by the state Legislature during the 2011 session, OII is tasked with investigating incidents where police exercised use of force that resulted in a death. The state law directed OII to begin investigations in July 2023 and permits it to reopen investigations into deadly use of force incidents that occurred prior to that date “if new evidence is brought forth that was not included in the initial investigation.”

OII has an 11-member advisory board appointed by the governor. While the board may include current law enforcement officers, the 26 investigators hired by OII are not. The advisory board can guide OII on policy and procedure but has no legal authority.

The agency has offices in Olympia and intends to set up offices in six regions throughout the state. Investigation reports will be posted to its website once they are completed.

While OII can investigate deadly use of force incidents by law enforcement, any charges currently must be filed by the county prosecutor. House Bill 1579 introduced during this year’s legislative session would have changed that creating an “independent prosecutor’s office” within the State Attorney General’s Office specifically for prosecuting such cases.

Under the bill, if an investigation by OII found an officer violated the law the county prosecutor would have to determine whether they must recuse themselves and transfer the case over to the AGO’s independent prosecutor. A separate bill introduced last year would have given the AGO the power to prosecute law enforcement officers for civil rights violations.

OII’s work is part of a renewed focus on police use of force incidents starting in 2020, when Gov. Jay Inslee set up a task force whose recommendations included the creation of the state office.

In 2021, Senate Bill 5259 tasked the State Attorney General’s Office with creating a separate advisory group to make recommendations on a police use of force database that would be accessible to the public. Although OII was not mentioned in the group’s recommendations, it was included in the AGO’s request for proposal put out in 2023; emails from 2022 sent by OII employees revealed that the state office “has been working closely with the AGs office in the creation of the RFP.”

According to the RFP, “collaboration with the Office of Independent Investigations ('OII') is specifically listed throughout the scope of work as the OII, through RCW 43.102.100, is required to conduct analysis of use of force data. This collaboration is encouraged in order for the Contractor to be able to assist OII to reduce and coordinate use of force reporting within law enforcement agencies and these external agencies that require use of force data.”

The RFP also states that “the database should be able to receive and share data from the OII.”

The AGO contract was ultimately awarded to Washington State University, the only qualified entity to bid on the project. WSU’s proposal tasks university employees with “managing relationships with law enforcement agencies including OII. These relationships must not compromise the non‐law enforcement status and neutrality of the program while providing a trustworthy and supportive approach.”

However, OII Community Relations Director Hector Castro wrote in an email to The Center Square that his office hasn't had discussions yet with the database project team.