Activist group wants to out SPD officers at pro-Trump rally in D.C.

A local activist group stated it wants to out the five Seattle police officers who attended last month’s insurrection rally at the U.S. Capitol.

The group, DivestSPD, tweeted the names of two officers it believes are under investigation.

Five officers are on paid administrative leave as the Office of Police Accountability determines whether they broke the law while attending the pro-Donald Trump rally.

>> RELATED: Seattle residents weigh in on two officers at pro-Trump insurrection

The OPA investigation could take six months. And the agency is less than a month into that investigation, which was actually announced by the Seattle police chief.

But an activist group said the officers should be identified and thrown off the force.

In the three weeks since Seattle police revealed that five officers attended the pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., no evidence has emerged publicly that the officers joined the crowd that breached the Capitol.

Neither of their names has been made public until the group who thinks it knows the names posted them on Monday on social media.

“Why did I post it?” said Justin Ward with DivestSPD. “Well, I feel like this information needs to get out there, you know, so much in terms of police accountability.”

>>RELATED: 3 more SPD officers investigated for being in D.C. during riot at the U.S. Capitol

DivestSPD is an activist arm of the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.

Ward said the group believes the officers’ names should be published because they attended a rally whose chief aim was to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

“Just by virtue of them like participating in that,” Ward said. “I think that makes them unfit to be enforcing the law because it speaks to, like, a fundamental lack of respect for the law.”

Seattle’s Interim police Chief Adrian Diaz made it clear the officers will be fired if the Office of Police Accountability finds they breached the Capitol.

It is less clear how he will act if the officers were merely there, which is protected free speech.

There was a mix of opinions on Seattle’s own Capitol Hill.

“They definitely have their right to express their opinions,” said Kenneth Arthur, “to express their freedoms and what not.”

“They’re public servants, and the activities they were doing were public activities,” Lindsey Beach said. “So it makes sense that their identities are known.”

KIRO 7 won’t be identifying the officers because their identities haven’t been confirmed and neither will the OPA.

It warns its investigation could still take several more months.

Cox Media Group