As the Washington Data Exchange for Public Safety publishes for the first time data on police use of force incidents, concerns remain regarding the sharing of certain information with Washington State University. Read More

The sheriff’s office is opting out of the local law enforcement grant program, a program approved by the Legislature this year to distribute $100 million in grants to police agencies across Washington over a period of four years.

To receive the grant money, the sheriff’s office must provide by Sept. 1 detailed monthly use-of-force data to the Washington State Data Exchange for Public Safety at Washington State University, the state-appointed data custodian for analyzing police use of force methods. That data also would be available to the public.Read More

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has announced the launch of the Washington State Data Exchange for Public Safety, or WADEPS, after years of delays and setbacks due to contract disputes, data security concerns, and allegations of unethical conduct. Read More

The Washington State Attorney General’s Office announced Monday the launch of the Washington State Data Exchange for Public Safety (WADEPS) database to collect use-of-force data from the state’s law enforcement agencies in an effort to improve transparency, trust and evidence-based policymaking. Read More

The Attorney General’s Office announced today the launch of the Washington State Data Exchange for Public Safety (WADEPS), which is ready to collect use-of-force data from the state’s law enforcement agencies in an effort to improve transparency, trust and evidence-based policymaking. Read More

A statewide police use of force database project funded by the state Legislature was originally intended to go live by April 2023. The database would allow the public to view and download data regarding incidents involving police use of force, which would be reported to the database managers by law enforcement agencies on a regular basis. Read More

Ongoing concerns remain among 911 dispatch centers in the state over the use of certain data by a police use of force database project headed by Washington State University under the guidance of the State Attorney General’s Office. Read More

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson hasn’t even been sworn into office as Washington’s next governor, and yet, one official said his tenure will already start in scandal. Read More

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office has signed a $250,000 contract with Pacifica Law Group, which is headed by Zack Pekelis, a former AGO employee, and includes incoming Attorney General Nick Brown, to defend it in a potential lawsuit stemming from a $42 million tort claim. Read More

The Jason Rantz Show interview of Bob Scales. Listen here...

A state law passed in 2021 envisioned a state police use of force database under the State Attorney General's Office that would collect information about incidents from law enforcement agencies and make the information available for the public to view and download. Read more...

The Washington state agency tasked with overseeing tort claim investigations and determining whether individuals should be compensated as a result is defending its decision to assign an investigation to the state Attorney General’s Office in which the AGO and its client, Washington State University, are named defendants. Read more...

A recent $42 million tort claim filed against the State Attorney General’s Office and its client Washington State University stemming from a police use of force database project has been handed over to the AGO’s Tort Claim Division to investigate. Read more...

In what appears to be a brazen move to steer a contract for a police use of force database to Washington State University, the only college or university to submit a bid, a competing bidder is accusing an official with the State Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and a Washington State University professor of stealing the company’s proprietary information and copyrighted materials. Read more...

A potential subcontractor for a state police use of force database project who has had a long-running feud with the state Attorney General’s Office and Washington State University has now filed a $42 million tort claim that includes accusations of racketeering. Read more...

A potential bidder for a police use of force database project developed through the State Attorney General’s Office is accusing an AGO employee and a Washington State University professor managing the project of illegally using his company’s proprietary information and copyrighted materials. Read more...

In 2021, the Washington State Legislature enacted Senate Bill 5259 directing the state Attorney General's Office to build a police use of force database that would continually receive information from state law enforcement agencies. According to the bill's fiscal note, the "approximate timeline" for the project would be to have it up and running by April 2023. Read more...

Also at our conference, we had Washington State University Professor David Makin present information and hold focus groups on the ongoing Use of Force Data Collection project. Just to be clear, WASPC is not sponsoring or endorsing this project. Read more...

The Washington Attorney General’s Office has signed a $15 million contract with Washington State University to develop a public police use of force database. Read more...

The Washington Attorney General’s Office is being accused of an “unethical and probably illegal” act of ordering a private university that is not a client of the AGO to seize and preserve records in anticipation of a potential lawsuit, a process known as a “litigation hold notice.” Read more...

Last year, the Washington Attorney General's Office, or AGO, requested quotes for a university to develop a public police use of force database per SB 5259. The eventual winner was Washington State University, or WSU, the only higher education institution to do so and the only instance in a decade where an AGO RFP has received just one bidder. Read more...

The Washington Attorney General's Office has been accused of trying to squash an ethical complaint investigation made against two Washington State University, or WSU, employees as part of a request for proposal put out by the AGO. Read more...

Washington State University President Kirk Schulz has been accused of interfering with an ethics violation investigation after a complaint was made against two employees in relation to a request for proposal to develop a police use of force database for the Attorney General's Office. Read more...

A series of complaints filed late last year and early this year allege that employees with the Washington Attorney General's Office engaged in "unethical and unlawful conduct" during the selection of a university to create a police use of force database. Read more...

Legislation enacted in 2021 by the Washington Legislature calls for the creation of a police use of force database managed by a university whose data would be accessible to the public. Read more...

Last year, a Law Enforcement Data Collection Advisory Group for Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Office unanimously adopted a list of recommendations for a police database program, all of which were approved by Ferguson. Read more...