An Office of Police Accountability investigation into former Seattle officer Dan Auderer was determined before it was even completed.
Office of Police Accountability director Gino Betts determined that Officer Dan Auderer was guilty of violating Seattle Police Department policy well before an investigation into his actions was complete. Though the OPA investigatory process is intended to be impartial and fair, Betts admitted in a video recording that he had no evidence of bias policing, yet found Auderer violated the policy anyway.
Another email by Schreindl, dated November 30, indicated a decision had already been made to discipline. After Betts ramped up the bias-policing angle, behind closed doors, he admitted there was zero evidence Auderer was biased. During a media training session on December 8, Betts repeatedly discussed his intent to recommend termination. But he also confessed that they couldn’t prove Auderer committed bias policing.
“I appreciate that the CBA does not specifically mention media or press releases, but my opinion is that the balance of the CBA provisions, law, and the integrity of OPA’s investigative function are against releasing the names of specific named employees except through legal process,” Nelson Leese, the OPA’s General Counsel, wrote in an email to Schreindl.
But just two days later, after an email from and phone call with Assistant City Attorney Catherine Seelig, Betts flipped his decision. Seelig questioned why Auderer’s comment didn’t count as biased given that it referenced Kandula’s age . That was all it took for Betts to change his finding to “sustained” on bias policing, even though the evidence apparently didn’t support it.
In the new findings, Betts removed the line, “There is insufficient evidence that race, gender or age were factored into unprofessional commentary.” Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey, Assistant Chief of Investigations Bureau Tom Mahaffey and Assistant Chief of Metropolitan Bureau Dan Nelson penned a memo to then-Police Chief Adrian Diaz, who was tasked with making the final call on discipline based on the OPA findings. They called out Betts for reversing his decision without citing new facts.
“The actions this individual police officer have brought shame on the Seattle Police Department and our entire profession, making the job of every police officer more difficult,” Rahr wrote.
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