The civilian auditor of Seattle police internal investigations, Kate Pflaumer, has released a report on police obstruction arrests. The report examined "obstruction only" arrests for a two-and-a-half year period from January 2006 through July 2008 involving officers who made multiple obstruction arrests. The auditor concluded that there "was no apparent pattern of abuse of discretion."
Other key findings include the fact that only 16 officers—out of approximately 1,200—had "three, four or five" obstruction only arrests in the review period, an average of less than one every six months. No Seattle officer had more than five obstruction only arrests. A total of 76 cases were reviewed; 14 were chosen because they resulted in misconduct complaints being filed with police and the remaining 62 were selected because the primary arresting officers had made multiple obstruction arrests.
Fifty-one percent of those arrested were African American, 37.5% were White, 10% were Asian, and two of those arrested were classified as "other." The auditor wrote in her report, "In fact these percentages are not different from those reflected in arrests for violent felonies."
The auditor's review of obstruction arrests was requested by Mayor Nickels after the Seattle PI published a series of articles about obstruction arrests. Read the auditor's full report: Download opa_auditor_obstruction_report_10808.pdf. The auditor's report includes other conclusions about arrest screenings, officer training, citizen access to the Office of Professional Accountability, and steps the police department has taken to improve transparency and accountability.