Report shows drop in misconduct allegations against King County Sheriff’s Office

An annual report by King County’s Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) shows an overall decrease in misconduct allegations, while highlighting organizational issues between OLEO and the King County Sheriff’s Office’s Internal Investigation Unit (IIU).

Misconduct allegations are unverified complaints from community members, including King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) employees. While complaints can be filed directly to OLEO, allegations are investigated by the KCSO IIU.

In 2022, KCSO IIU received 334 total complaints.

71% of the complaints (238 allegations) were from community members, while 29% (96 allegations) were from KCSO employees.

Several data points highlight significant decreases when compared to 2021′s annual report:

• Complaints overall decreased by 22% (compared to 393 complaints in 2021).
• Complaints from KCSO employees decreased by 44%.
• Complaints from community members decreased by 8%.
• Complaints about bias-based policing decreased (9 in 2022 compared to 21 in 2021).
• Complaints about violations of directives decreased (32 in 2022 compared to 72 in 2021).

The report also showed 60 allegations of excessive force were closed in 2022. None were sustained.

However, the report also highlights increases in some misconduct allegations:

• Complaints about excessive force increased (73 in 2022 compared to 58 in 2021).
• Complaints about subpar performance increased by more than 88% (51 in 2022 compared to 27 in 2021).

Tamer Abouzeid, the Director of OLEO, spoke to the King County Council’s Law, Justice, Heath and Human Services Committee about the report’s findings during a Thursday morning meeting.

Abouzeid mentioned a section of the report, which highlights a misconduct allegation that OLEO and KCSO completely disagreed with.

The case involved an allegation that three of four deputies responding to a noise complaint exceeded their authority by entering the complainant’s property without a warrant. A complaint was filed by the property owner.

While the KCSO noted the deputies’ actions, the report states that the sheriff’s office “disregarded the legal opinion. Instead, the Sheriff’s Office reasoned that the deputies did not go far onto the complainant’s property, that the incursion was slight, and that the deputies were not engaged in an exercise of law enforcement authority, but rather donating themselves as a common neighbor or attempting to do a favor.”

“However, it is irrelevant how slight the intrusion,” the report continued. “The constitutional protection of the home has never been tied to measurement of the quality or quantity of information obtained.”

During Thursday’s council committee meeting, Abouzeid criticized the KCSO’s decision to find the complaint “non-sustained.”

“(KCSO IIU) basically agreed that it was a violation, but they thought it was too harsh to sustain it,” Abouzeid said on Thursday. “Ignoring legal advice and decades of precedent, and making findings that are against the manifest weight of the evidence is not acceptable.”

Anyone who needs to file a complaint can do so online by filling out an OLEO complaint form.

Complaints can also be submitted in-person at each KCSO location, through email, or by phone.

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