@laurengill.bsky.social also wrote this tragic article last week exposing the various things that look wrong with the case, and how Boyd was convicted. The execution is later today. boltsmag.org/anthony-boyd...

SCOTUS just allowed Alabama's execution of Anthony Boyd: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... Justice Sotomayor wrote this vivid dissent blasting AL for using the method of nitrogen gas. @laurengill.bsky.social's reporting from an AL execution shows you why: boltsmag.org/alabama-nitr...

NEW: Mayor Bruce Harrell is taking a BIIIIIG victory lap over SPOG contract, but @DivestSPD writes that the City got fucking fleeced. www.theburnerseattle.com/post/city-ce...

"It’s pretty bold of Harrell to call this a completed contract when in reality, huge chunks of this agreement remain up in the air." @hannahkrieg.bsky.social @divestspd.bsky.social www.theburnerseattle.com/post/city-ce...

SPOG's main concession: Allowing CARE to expand and (supposedly) handle more calls on its own. However, SPOG has done nothing but undermine CARE so far. Despite past concessions on civilianization (flaggers, traffic cam review), cops mostly remain in those roles

BREAKING: Mayor Bruce Harrell will announce a tentative agreement with the Seattle policing cartel tomorrow. Officers will start at $118k, and pay will rise to $126k after just six months.

There are countless cases where officers have been accused credibly of committing actual crimes (theft, DV, etc.) but findings have not been sustained because the OPA can’t meet the elevated standard.

It would be surprising (almost outside of the realm of plausibility) for SPOG to give this up. It’s the main tool by which SPOG protects officers who have been accused of criminal behavior or dishonesty.

Erica Barnett reports that the agreement will lower the standard of review for arbitration from “beyond a reasonable doubt” (not the standard) to a simple preponderance of evidence. Not sure if this is accurate, but it would actually be significant, not “minimal”

Also, not too sure about these “sources,” but they can’t be too “familiar with the contract” The existing contract only imposes an “elevated standard of review” on termination cases that are “stigmatizing.” In practice, the standard is “clear and convincing” not “beyond a reasonable doubt”

NEW: One of the left's big opportunities next month is Seattle's mayoral race, & the city's approach to homeless has become a huge fault line there. The incumbent mayor has dramatically scaled up sweeps, and his challenger is testing whether voters thinks he's gone too far:

It's a basic requirement that the captain of the East Precinct must be...a captain. Raguso was an acting captain (with the permanent rank of lieutenant) until the results of the captain's exam were released in August. He failed. Badly. www.seattle.gov/documents/De...

They don’t even consider disciplinary history. It’s purely based on officers’ rankings on the exam. If there are more vacancies than officers on the register, they just promote everyone automatically.

More receipts showing a pattern going back to 2021. bsky.app/profile/dive...

This is also inaccurate. Erica should've read through our posts more thoroughly when she was raiding them. Tietjen was supposedly transferred for this incident, but he had been at the North Precinct since Nov 2020 and remained after the case closed. He was promoted a few months later.

She also used this incident ripped straight off our Twitter feed and then linked to the OPA report that she also lazily obtained from our Twitter feed.

Erica Barnett is always complaining that other outlets use her reporting without credit. Here she is again using our reporting without credit. She links to KUOW and every other outlet in this story, but here she links to OPA We were the only ones to cover this

Hey Divesters, we need your support. We're fundraising to build a statewide police misconduct database and hope to add 300 members to our Ko-Fi at the $5 level by the year's end. Join today and help us expose cops across Washington State. ko-fi.com/divestspd

The Republicans have won votes using a kind of radical authenticity, where they are perceived as saying what they mean (even if it isn’t true). And yet some Dems are still trying to figure out how to say what some imagined swing voters want… rather than finding their own authentic message.

Fare enforcement isn’t about revenue. It’s about keeping the homeless off transit

Harrell proposes regressive tax for non-police repsonse neutered by police protection racket FTFY

He was shot in the back while throwing road flares (called “incendiary devices” by authorities and the press) at a concrete building.

We will lose critical safety advantages like drunk driving and making sure our neighbors are strangers.

Seattle police policy bars cops from using Tasers on fleeing suspects because there's a high risk of injury. A cop did and injured someone. The OPA said this was okay. www.divestspd.com/p/no-discipl...

ICYMI: a federal court ruled against private corporation Geo Group, who barred WA L&I and Dept of Health from inspecting their NW ICE detention prison in Tacoma. While Geo will likely appeal, this is a positive step towards oversight of the long allegation record of human rights abuses here.

This is a very neat way to put a name and names and face to the Seattle cops with the most allegations of corruption and abuse. Consider supporting @divestspd.bsky.social’s reporting

Do you have any idea the absurd lengths SPD goes to to hide the identities of their miscreant officers from us? These are brilliant. 😍😍😍

@divestspd.bsky.social hoping for a special J6 booster pack edition 🙏🙏

NEW: The City Council will gaslight you, scold you, call you privileged if you disagree, but yesterday they didn't just expand an unproven surveillance program, voted to grease the wheels of fascism. www.theburnerseattle.com/post/the-sea...

Incredible analysis

Thread. If there's one plus side to getting priced out of this city, it's that I won't have to be within a thousand miles of this fascist fucking city council.

Bad move for Seattle citizens, no matter how they parse it.

Literally the only way we will ever know how these technologies are being used is through the work of Divest.

That's it for our coverage today. Both surveillance bills passed 7-2 (Rinck and Strauss against) Support our work. Send us a tip or sign up for a recurring donation at: ko-fi.com/divestspd

Public comment is over after nearly three hours. Thanks to everyone who spoke out. We're taking a break but will continue coverage when the surveillance item comes up.

Kettle’s entire argument is “Seattle is not Texas so trust us and our police.” 1. We don’t (for good reasons), and 2. even if we did, what good does that do once we come under federal and SPD collaborator occupation?

The real question is how much lower Sara Nelson's vote share can possibly go? Can she get it under 30%? That's nearing GoodSpaceGuy territory.

i’m here now

WAISN policy director. Increased surveillance creates greater risk to immigrant rights communities. "Seattle can't call itself a welcoming city to immigrants" while continuing to expand surveillance.

In-person comments are starting now Watch www.seattlechannel.org/watch-live

NO ONE LIKES THIS BILL

👨🏻‍🍳💋: "SPD states that efforts to prevent serious felony crimes have been unsuccessful, ...(but) violent crime has dropped by 17% ... shootings are down 36%, & homicides are down 48%." Homicides down almost 50% All with fewer cops. So. Why. Are. We. Spending. More. Money. On. Them???

👇 #seattle

This is brilliant. Since SPD has historically refused to be accountable for the harm they cause to our communities, let's make sure it's documented where ALL can see.

Naming names.

Whos gonna be the first degen to send these off to PSA? 😂

👨🏻‍🍳💋: "SPD states that efforts to prevent serious felony crimes have been unsuccessful, ...(but) violent crime has dropped by 17% ... shootings are down 36%, & homicides are down 48%." Homicides down almost 50% All with fewer cops. So. Why. Are. We. Spending. More. Money. On. Them???

In this thread, we are uploading all six pages of the Office of Civil Rights Policy Briefing Memo, and are providing the Legistar Link below: seattle.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=...

My office requested that the Office of Civil Rights assess CB 121052 and 121053, and we wanted to share this report with the public. "CCTV and RTCC technologies are not neutral instruments, as they carry direct consequences for equal protection, privacy, and the freedoms of speech and association."