Mayor issues order to assess SPD’s investigations bureau, deal with backlog of sexual assault cases

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell — who is working with Seattle interim police chief Adrian Diaz — announced on Thursday an executive order directing a systemic assessment of the police department’s investigations bureau, which is expected to bring solutions to a backlog of sexual assault and other felony investigations.

The order is expected to ensure that all felony investigations with ample evidence for follow-up are assigned to detectives by the end of August.

A letter that Harrell’s office sent out Thursday said in part: “This order requires an unprecedented evaluation of issues created by SPD’s staffing shortage and systemic problems created over decades, to understand and alleviate the impact on SPD investigations. We are acting to learn from and rectify those challenges to create change, now and long-term.”

The momentum for these changes came from a leaked internal SPD memo early last month.

It said nearly five cases a week were going un-assigned because the sexual assault unit had only half of its usual staffing level of 10-12 detectives.

While the order has instructions for SPD, other city departments are being directed to offer victim support services through human resources for sexual assault and domestic violence cases that are not assigned for additional investigation.

In addition, more funding will be sought and offered to connect sexual assault and domestic violence survivors to support services.

These are several actions the order calls for but there are others, which you can read about by clicking here.

“When sexual assault survivors report their attack, they put their trust in the criminal legal system. Yet, for years, even predating the pandemic and officer attrition, two-thirds of cases were not referred for investigation,” said Councilmember Lisa Herbold.

In early June, Diaz said that with gun violence and homicide also up, the department was doing its best to balance resources.

While SPD is at its lowest staffing levels in more than three decades, the mayor’s recruitment and retention plan that was unveiled recently hopes to change how cases are handled going forward.

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