Washington is the only state in the nation that requires a prosecutor to prove that there was “malice” in the heart of a police officer they prosecute for the wrongful use of deadly force. Prosecutors say the requirement to prove an officer’s state of mind makes such cases nearly impossible to bring to court.
Supporters say Initiative 940 was created in response to situations like the police shooting of John T. Williams in August of 2010 the police department ruled it unjustified - still the prosecutor refused to pursue criminal charges.
“Clearly that was an incident where the shooting was not justified when it did go before the prosecutor’s office they couldn't charge him,” said Carlos Bratcher who retired after 26 years as a King County deputy.
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He's happy that Initiative 940 would remove the need for prosecutors to prove malice to successfully prosecute an officer accused of wrongful use of deadly force.
“What it does is removes the barriers of mistrust. It brings a level of accountability because the citizens have already asked that we’re held accountable to a higher standard.” Bratcher said.
Initiative 940 was also created to prevent situations like the police shooting of Seattle mother Charleena Lyles - by giving officers the training they need to de-escalate situations before officers feel they need to use deadly force.
But opponents say officers already get crisis response training.
“It's not about training, this is about politically prosecuting police officers.”
Mike Solan is a Seattle SWAT officer speaking off-duty as president of the Council of Metropolitan Police and Sheriffs.
He says the initiative’s "good faith" standard for prosecutions doesn't go far enough to protect officers.
“Officers who typically run towards gunshots, run towards danger. If good faith is not defined where they have that reasonable protection the legal protections necessary to make those split-second decisions officers will now run away from the danger. How does that protect society?”
I-940 is on the ballot because the state Supreme Court threw out a legislative compromise.
However voters decide, the issue is likely to return to the legislature when it convenes in January.