The buzz of dysfunction at the Seattle Police Department (SPD) hit a crescendo in 2024 with leadership upheaval, crisscrossing lawsuits, and one *yawn* sex scandal. Through it all, Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Seattle City Council maintained their faith in SPD as an institution, kept shoveling money at the department, provided cops more ways to jail people for low-level offenses, and increased ways for SPD to surveil the City, all while making almost zero improvements to cop discipline and accountability systems. by Ashley Nerbovig The buzz of dysfunction at the Seattle Police Department (SPD) hit a crescendo in 2024 with leadership upheaval, crisscrossing lawsuits, and one *yawn* sex scandal. Through it all, Mayor Bruce Harrell and the Seattle City Council maintained their faith in SPD as an institution, kept shoveling money at the department, provided cops more ways to jail people for low-level offenses, and increased ways for SPD to surveil the City, all while making almost zero improvements to cop discipline and accountability systems. Seattle cops spent 2024 ricocheting between headlines about their scandals, to the City’s latest plans to throw more resources their way. In the first three months of 2024 alone, the City paid out a $10 million settlement to the Seattle residents who SPD officers had left with permanent injuries during the 2020 protests. Just weeks later, SPD’s zealous response to pro-Palestine demonstrators led to multiple Office of Police Accountability (OPA) investigations, a reminder of the police force’s heavy-handed crowd control methods. Later that month, The Stranger published a video of SPD Officer Mark Rawlins throwing a handcuffed, 58-year-old man to the ground. In March, news broke that SPD had failed to alert the city about their ongoing investigation into an axe murderer who appeared to be targeting the homeless. Despite all this, in mid-March Council President Sara Nelson threw out a suggestion about paying for cops' housing to recruit and retain officers.  While the Council continued to cheer on SPD as a whole, awarding them a $457 million budget, a few individual cops faced the boot from the department in 2024, including former Chief of Police Adrian Diaz, whose dalliance with a senior aide led to his termination at the end of the year. He joined the ranks of fellow 2024 fired officers, including former Seattle police union Vice President Daniel Auderer and slur hurling Burton Hill. All in all, City leaders seem eager to push a “forward-looking vision” of SPD as it limps into 2025 with still decreasing staffing numbers and soon-to-be Chief of Police Shon Barnes. Barnes managed to sidestep having to make a controversial decision in one of the most infamous cases involving SPD in recent years, which involved SPD Officer Kevin Dave’s hitting and killing of 23-year-old college student Jaahnavi Kandula. While acting as Seattle’s interim police chief, Sue Rahr fired both Dave, who hit Kandula, as well as Auderer, whose comments regarding Kandula’s death caused an international outcry. Unfortunately, the department still has a couple of other notable cases to resolve. Let’s take a look at Dave’s firing this week as well as some of SPD’s lingering police misconduct cases. Firing of Jaahnavi Kandula’s Killer Case #2023OPA-0043 On Monday, The Stranger broke the news about Rahr’s decision to fire Dave for his hitting and killing of Kandula on January 23, 2023. Rahr said in her email that an OPA investigation into Dave found he had violated SPD’s policies around following the law, emergency response, safe operation of officer patrol cars, and use of emergency sirens and lights. While Rahr acknowledged that Dave likely had not set out to hurt anyone, she could not accept the “tragic consequences of his dangerous driving,” she said in her email. Rahr said she understood some people might disagree with her decision, but that she hoped the “heartbreaking” situation would stand as a reminder to all officers about the dangers of driving at excessive speeds while responding to emergency calls.  In 2024 the King County Prosecuting Attorney (PAO) declined to file charges against Dave for the collision, and their report showed that investigators clocked Dave’s speed at 74 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone seconds before he hit Kandula. Washington’s murky legal standards when it comes to what counts as reckless for officers responding to an emergency makes it difficult for prosecutors to file felony charges, even in some highly preventable cases, as described in a CascadePBS article from June. Investigators who examined Kandula’s death said that had Dave instead driven at speeds of 50 miles per hour, he’d have had enough time to avoid striking her.  After the PAO declined the case, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office tossed a ticket at Dave for negligent driving, a civil infraction for which he incurred a $5,000 fine, must complete a short stint in driving school, and serve some community service. Since Kandula’s death, Publicola has reported on a litany of examples of Dave’s spotty driving history as well as his firing from the Tucson Police Department, all of which SPD officials knew about before they hired him. Pulling Over Metro Bus Driver Case #2024OPA-0152 In March last year, Seattle Police Department Detective Anthony Belgarde pulled over a King County Metro bus driver for honking at Belgrade when the detective reportedly pulled out in front of the bus. A passenger on the bus filmed part of the interaction between Belgarde and the bus driver, where Belgarde says he pulled the driver over for “road rage” and threatens to take him to jail for obstruction when the driver refuses to provide his license. The OPA partially sustained allegations against Belgarde for violating SPD’s policies around tickets and traffic reports, but did not sustain a complaint against Belgarde for violation of SPD’s policies around either professionalism or integrity and ethics. The OPA has still not released a closed case summary on their findings in the case, but I’ll update you when it does. Good to note however that Belgarde’s another SPD officer with a history of dangerous driving. In 2020, a Federal Way police officer attempted to pull Belgarde over after he ran a red light while speeding, according to reporting from DivestSPD. When the officer activated his lights and sirens, he said Belgarde increased his speed, and the officer noted he believed Belgarde tried to flee. The officer ultimately arrested Belgarde for a DUI, though Belgarde refused to blow into the breathalyzer, saying he’d take the suspended license instead.  OPA could not discipline Belgarde for his 2020 arrest due to a former OPA Director’s failure to initiate an investigation after a supervisor reported the incident. By the time the investigation was completed, it was outside the four-year time limit set by the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild contract. Belgarde also escaped discipline for a 2015 incident when he faced charges for fourth degree assault after OPA took too long to complete an investigation. Prior to joining SPD, Belgarde already had a troubling driving incident. In 2005, he hit and killed a 65-year-old man in a Bremerton parking lot, a year before SPD hired him, according to further reporting from DivestSPD. The department knew about the incident when they hired Belgarde to patrol our streets. Breaking batons Case #2024OPA-0238 Finally, in June of last year, the OPA launched an investigation into SPD Sergeant Nathan Patterson and Officer Cody Alidon after a witness recorded the two officers repeatedly hitting a man who they suspected of arson. The video led Interim Chief Rahr to make a public statement about SPD’s plans to investigate the officers' actions. The investigation into the incident is still active and the 180 day timeline for OPA investigations was extended de to personnel issues, according to an OPA spokesperson. The investigation should be finished in the next few weeks. Further reporting by The Stranger confirmed that Patterson was the same officer who once bragged about breaking his nightstick on someone’s body.