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Seattle City Council hears plan from mayor for hiring new Office of Police Accountability director

The Seattle City Council is set to review the mayor’s plan for finding a new leader for the Office of Police Accountability after previous director Andrew Myerberg left the post to join the Harrell administration earlier this year.

Tuesday morning, the council’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee helmed by West Seattle rep Lisa Herbold will hear from Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office as it details the process to hire the new OPA director over the course of 2022. Under the plan, nominations will be due by June.

CHS reported previously on Myerberg’s decision to leave OPA to become Harrell’s new Director of Public Safety, news that broke as details of the 2020 Seattle Police “Proud Boy ruse” and OPA’s delayed investigation into the matter were spreading. Myerberg, whose appointment was set to expire at the end of the year, said earlier this year the city should pursue tightening its controls on ruses — but also consider a ban on SPD disinformation.

Myerberg and the OPA have been the subject of ongoing criticism and calls for outside investigations over the office’s decisions regarding complaints brought against Seattle Police officers especially in the wake of the department’s response to the 2020 protests.

Under the Harrell administration plan for hiring a new OPA director, the process would start slowly this month with the hiring of an outside search firm to begin identifying candidates for the job, leading up to decisions in June to narrow the field to three candidates, hold a public forum, and select a final nominee.

 

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Jones
Jones
2 years ago

This should be someone the council picks and not the mayor. Have not been impressed with Harrell on any level but especially his nepotism.

HTS3
HTS3
2 years ago
Reply to  Jones

Mmmm. I’d trust the current mayor more than the current City Council with this pick. The mayor will be held more accountable to the performance of the police department, so they should get to pick who is overseeing it. My opinion of course. The City Council is pretty unable to do anything other than make a nonsense vote on removing damn on the Snake River.

Jeffrey Kennedy Trump
Jeffrey Kennedy Trump
1 year ago

There should be a vote taken of the public in Seattle to inform the decision of who to hire but not dictate it.

Allow the candidates to be subjected t vigorous questioning and responding by the public and city officials. Similar to what Kentanji Brown Jacksom had to go through as part of the Supreme Court Confirmation Process.

Allow for full, actual transparency of this process of finding and hiring a new OPA director and allow for the community to be involved throughout to inform and influence the process.

Bruce Harrell is so far just another mayor of mystery; leaving the inner workings of his administration and the municipality of Seattle in the dark.