Post by a425coupleRetired Lt. Celms says they they laid off all
dispatchers and property officers,
https://southseattleemerald.com/2020/09/11/coalition-working-to-defund-university-of-washington-police-says-regents-and-president-have-fallen-short/
COALITION WORKING TO DEFUND UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON POLICE SAYS REGENTS
AND PRESIDENT HAVE FALLEN SHORT
SEPTEMBER 11, 2020
by Elizabeth Turnbull
https://www.dailyuw.com/news/article_df4b76ce-db9a-11ea-a408-f72449cdadfd.html
To student and faculty panelists, abolishing UWPD isn’t that hard to imagine
By Claudia Yaw The Daily Aug 11, 2020
(total fail to keep contact with BSU)
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/uw-community-calls-on-university-to-sever-ties-with-seattle-police/
UW community calls on university to sever ties with Seattle police
June 10, 2020 at 5:16 pm Updated Aug. 12, 2020 at 11:41 am
(failure to help UAW4121, & Graduate and Professional Student Senate)
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/as-uw-looks-for-new-police-chief-officers-are-frustrated-and-distrustful-according-to-review/
As UW looks for new police chief, officers are frustrated and
distrustful, according to review
May 7, 2019 at 6:00 am Updated May 7, 2019 at 7:04 am
By Asia Fields
Seattle Times staff reporter
http://www.change-integration.com/bio-kathryn-olson
also
https://www.dailyuw.com/news/article_3c55130c-e109-11ea-9a97-6323278e05bd.html
UW finalizes contract with police union, limiting transparency,
accountability
By Claudia Yaw The Daily Aug 18, 2020 Updated Sep 29, 2020 0
3 min to read
‘Keep the pressure on’: UW BLM continues to protest for unmet demands
Protesters gather and listen to speakers outside the UW Police
Department on June 28, 2020. UW Black Lives Matter, which organized the
march, listed several demands to UW, including divesting from the
Seattle Police Department completely and disarming the UWPD.
Nicole Pasia
Despite calls for university administration to pause negotiations, the
UW Police Department’s (UWPD) employee union contract has been finalized
and will go into effect July 1, 2021, according to UW spokesperson
Victor Balta.
Although the UW’s website originally listed an Aug. 6 update in which a
“tentative” agreement was reached, Balta told The Daily Monday that the
union had actually voted on the final contract a week before the update,
thus completing the process.
UW Black Student Union’s (BSU) vice president of campus affairs Navon
Morgan said the organization was unaware that the agreement was
finalized and expressed frustration that, despite the BSU’s meeting with
administration about issues of campus police, police union negotiations
happened largely behind closed doors.
In the face of demands by BSU, UW BLM, and the broad Decriminalize UW
coalition to disarm and divest from UWPD, President Ana Mari Cauce and
other administrators have expressed support for re-imagining public
safety. In a July board of regents meeting, regents pushed Cauce to meet
student demands and take bolder steps.
“If you want to go that far, you’ve got me,” Cauce said. “Let’s actually
bring in some experts and let’s have that discussion. I’m there.”
But the approval of the contract is a change in direction, locking in
provisions that limit police transparency and accountability.
Download PDFNew UWPD Employee Contract
UW Seattle’s police force unionized in 2011. In addition to standard
provisions regarding holidays and sick leave, their first contract also
restricted the public’s access to disciplinary records and allowed for
the destruction of records altogether. While most of these provisions
carried over throughout the years, many of them intensified, creating a
trend of less and less accountability.
Notable provisions in the new contract
Redaction of written reprimands — The new contract says the employer
(i.e. the police department) “shall remove evidence of written
reprimands” after 3 years. This is a shift from the softer language in
the 2011 contract, which allowed for such files to be “reviewed for
possible removal.”
Redaction of suspension records — Under the new contract, if an officer
is suspended for misconduct, that record, under certain circumstances,
can be scrubbed after five years. This is a shift from the original
contract, which required the record to stand for seven years.
Police killings — Under the new contract, if an officer kills or injures
someone, whether on or off duty, they are given 72 hours before having
to make a formal statement. All prior contracts allowed for 48 hours.
Altered public records — If an individual requests public records
“related to employee misconduct or alleged misconduct,” the name of the
employee will be redacted, unless the name has already been made public.
The 2011 contract had the same provision.
Officer protest period — The new contract gives unionized officers a
10-day “protest period” if a public record is requested regarding them.
This is six days longer than the original contract provided for.
Oversight committee — If the UW decides to convene an oversight
committee, the union will be notified and allowed to negotiate its
terms. This provision did not exist in prior contracts.
Community concerns
Student, faculty, and community organizers have asserted that pausing
negotiations or rejecting the contract altogether is a prerequisite for
making structural change regarding campus safety. Organizers have also
complained about the lack of transparency and community engagement in
the negotiation process itself.
Download PDFUWPD 2011 Contract
Given the provisions in the new contract, Morgan is convinced that UWPD
is headed toward a police shooting. In a panel earlier this month, he
expressed his fear that, if a shooting happens, UWPD has set up systems
to ensure that officers aren’t held accountable. (Watch the full panel
here.)
Law professor Brenda Williams helped organize the panel of students and
faculty and is the outgoing chair of the Faculty Council on
Multicultural Affairs. To her, the provision to scrub officers’ records
of misconduct is especially concerning. According to Balta, a similar
provision exists for “regular” UW employees. But many see police
officers as inherently different from other employees.
“We need to have law enforcement who don’t have a history of misconduct
if we’re going to hand them a gun with bullets that are paid for by
state dollars,” Williams said. “You’ve got to be perfect. You just have
to be.”
Williams noted that, as an attorney, any malpractice or bar complaints
would not only stay on her record, but would be published in the state
bar publication.
Another concerning aspect of the contract, Williams said, is the
provision that anticipates the creation of an oversight board and allows
the police union to negotiate its terms.
“I don’t like that the union is coming to the table and asking how to
structure something that doesn’t even exist yet,” Williams said. “They
know that people will demand to have an oversight board, and now they
want to control what that oversight board looks like.”
According to Balta, the UW would be legally obligated to bargain over an
oversight committee regardless of the provision. Instead of creating a
new oversight board, Balta said the UW is trying to “reinvigorate” the
student safety advisory board — a group that “partners” with UWPD during
meetings hosted by the police.
While BSU is disappointed in the contract, they aren’t waiting until the
contract expires in 2023 to advocate for change, Morgan said. Instead,
they’re looking for other avenues to limit UWPD’s campus presence and
ways to rethink campus safety. Last week’s meeting with administration
was productive, Morgan said, and organizers plan on attending the Sept.
9 board of regents meeting, where Cauce is expected to formally respond
to student demands.
Reach reporter Claudia Yaw at ***@dailyuw.com. Twitter: @YawClaudia
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