Highlights from the 3rd Annual Celebration of Lives
On August 22, 2026 Nickeia Hunter (Director of SW Region of WCPA and Executive Director of the Racial Justice and Police Misconduct Center) and the ACLU of Washington hosted the third annual Celebration of Lives in Vancouver.
With food, fellowship, and fabulous guest speakers, Nickeia Hunter honored persons killed by police or sheriff deputies in the last several years. Many valuable resources were available to guests. Here are some notes from the program speakers.
Two women from Autopsy Initiative spoke remotely to explain the free service their agency provides: a second autopsy (including transport) by a board-certified forensic pathologist in a to families who lost a loved one from an in-custody or police-related death. For more info, go to knowyourrightscamp.org/autopsyinitiative. This organization was founded by Colin Kaepernick.
We then heard from a series of speakers from the statewide Office of Independent Investigation (OII) which was created in 2021 through legislation prepared with the support of the WCPA. We saw a map of the state which has been divided into 6 regions (West, Pierce, King, North, Central, and East.) Services have begun in West which includes Clark County. In cases where law enforcement killed a person, OII provides a professional, thorough investigation of the situation and writes a report that is delivered to the county prosecutor in the county where the incident happened. The prosecutor makes the charging decision. WCPA continues to lobby the state legislature to create the needed law for an Office of Independent Prosecutor who would then make charging decisions independently of the county. Speakers from OII included Chief of Staff, Director of Communications, Family and Tribal Liaisons, and others.
In the West Region, since OII began here (Dec. 1 2024) there have been 12 persons killed by law enforcement and 5 reports completed. Contact OII at Contactus@oii.wa.gov
Next we had a speaker from the Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC), their training director, who had many slides of value. There were many questions resulting in info about juveniles and their detention officers, mental health training. The curriculum at CJTC has been nationally certified. One question was how de-escalation training is evaluated. It is not. Records are kept of recruit’s course work, but not at that detailed a level. The audience member suggested that officers involved in OIS incidents be retrained in de-escalation.
There was a question whether recruits learn to say “I am about to shoot,” in languages other than English. We did not discuss the use of Google Translate which could be incorporated into training.
Debbie Novak spoke next about the many monthly demonstrations at the courthouse memorializing lost loved ones and educating the public held in the Eastern Region.
Luis Velasco from ACLU-WA was welcomed. The ACLU is a partner of WCPA in many of our legislative efforts.
Paul Benz, WCPA Lobbyist, spoke next and summarized bills tentatively slated for our work in the 2027 legislature. See our website for more (wcforpa.org).
We had a speaker from the Blake Fund founded in 2021 when existing WA marijuana laws were found to be unconstitutional. As a result, within certain guidelines, persons who had been fined could receive reimbursements or their next of kin. For more info go to courts.wa.gov/newsinfo/index.cfm?fa=newsinfo.blakerefundbureau
Odyssey World International will hold an event as part of the National Day of Remembrance of murder victims Sept. 25, 2026 5-7 pm at Esther Short Park.
Nickeia then honored those lost with individual gifts to family members and powerful, inspiring, and moving remarks.
Written by Rheta Rubenstein
