Legislative Remedies for Police Accountability
Recently, Auburn PD officer Jeffrey Nelson was sentenced to 16.5 years in prison for killing Jesse Sarey, an unarmed man in a mental health crisis. During the sentencing, the judge was alarmed that fellow officers, even after the verdict, continued to claim that Nelson was a “good guy”, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary.
This was not the first time Nelson killed someone in the line of duty. It was not the second death at his hands. Jeff Nelson killed three civilians while working for Auburn PD. He also had nearly 100 internal and external complaints and investigations about his behavior ranging from sexual harassment to taking drugs, to using excessive force. Where was the Auburn PD brass during all this? Where was the oversight?
In a scathing op-ed, the prosecutors in Nelson’s case wrote, “Auburn needs to look not only at Nelson’s use of force against Sarey but also at a departmental culture that tolerated and, at times celebrated, the police practices of an officer who has now been convicted of murdering an Auburn citizen. The Auburn Police Department needs to take a hard look at its policies and practices in the wake of this murder.”
Historically, police departments have shown themselves incapable of effectively managing their staff behavior. Both formally, through police unions and disciplinary procedures, and informally, through fraternal organizations. Police officers have infamously lied, hidden evidence, and covered up each other’s misconduct (see: the thin blue line) regardless of the offense under scrutiny or the facts surrounding it.
There are nearly 300 policing agencies in Washington state. Addressing cultural issues within each department one by one has failed. The only remaining recourse is legislative reform.
With legislative reform comes consistency in expectations for every officer everywhere. Thus, WCPA devotes considerable effort to legislative strategies to address police misconduct. These strategies involve understanding systemic issues that plague law enforcement in general, conceptualizing legislation, drafting bills, finding legislative sponsors, presenting the bills, finding persons to testify on behalf of the bill, negotiating amendments, and, if the legislation is passed, following up to ensure it is implemented as intended.
A group called Transforming the System explains: “Police officers should be accountable public servants who work collaboratively, transparently, and fairly with all of the communities they serve. Too often, police departments and officers violate their role in the community and abuse their power by engaging in acts of excessive force; [and] acting in an increasingly militarized capacity;…among other practices that treat individuals as Justice Sotomayor decried, “not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged.”
They continue, “In order to restore police legitimacy, there should be structures in place to promote responsible, accountable policing and measures to ensure that police are held accountable for their actions when they deviate from that standard.” The latter is the work of WCPA. Legislation is our most effective tool for change across all law enforcement agencies.
