Seattle Police watchdog heads ignored complaints against former Chief Adrian Diaz: letter to council

An unsigned letter to the Seattle City Council alleges that the city’s two police watchdog agencies intentionally ignored complaints of harassment and workplace discrimination against former Police Chief Adrian Diaz.

Ten potentially credible complaints were filed against the former chief of police, but all were delayed, some up to 16 months, the letter says, a claim supported by records obtained by KUOW.

KUOW confirmed the letter was written by a whistleblower within the Office of Police Accountability.

The letter comes after a tumultuous year for the Seattle Police Department, leading to the chief’s ouster in May. The letter argues that the system that holds the police chief accountable has failed – specifically because Gino Betts, head of the Office of Police Accountability, and Lisa Judge, head of the Office of the Inspector General for Public Safety, neglected the cases.

Related: Seattle Police Chief Adrian Diaz out; former Sheriff Sue Rahr interim

The Seattle City Council reappointed Judge for another six years in a unanimous vote last week on Tuesday.

KUOW shared the letter with four current and former Office of Police Accountability staffers, who said its claims match with what they witnessed: flawed leadership and ignored cases. KUOW also shared the letter with Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office, which replied that the way these investigations are handled will be assessed during an independent investigation.

Betts said by email to KUOW that he would not comment on the letter. Judge did not respond to a request for comment.

The letter writers argue that internal strife at the department needn’t have been so drawn out – an investigation could have determined whether the complaints had merit earlier on.

“Diaz deserves to be exonerated if he is innocent of what he has been accused of,” it says. “If he is guilty of what he is accused of then the taxpayer should not have to keep paying him.”

Diaz said as much when he interviewed with radio show host Jason Rantz. “I've sat 11 months on an investigation [and] they haven't interviewed anybody.”

Related: Seattle police chief’s alleged relationship with employee prompts inquiries, roils department

Kirsten Arrowood, a former investigations supervisor with the Office of Police Accountability, told KUOW that the letter accurately reflects what she views as “unnecessary delays.”

Before leaving the office last year, Arrowood filed a complaint against Betts alleging harassment and misconduct. Human resources declined to investigate, stating the alleged behavior wasn’t pervasive.

Mayor Bruce Harrell ultimately demoted Chief Diaz in late May, saying that mounting lawsuits naming the chief had become a distraction. The lawsuits accuse Diaz of harassment and racial and gender discrimination. Diaz denied these claims through his attorney.

Harrell’s office told KUOW last week that the mayor “is constantly looking for ways to improve our accountability system, which could include targeted changes to the Chief of Police investigation ordinance.”

The Seattle City Council declined to provide comment for this story.

Sue Rahr, who replaced Diaz as interim chief, told KUOW’s Libby Denkmann in June that she believes the oversight process merits a closer look. “Having a long lag time does not help. And we need to figure out a way to reduce that.”

The watchdog agency directors could ignore the cases, the letter explains, because complaints against the police chief do not have a mandatory timeline – unlike complaints against rank-and-file cops.

The letter alleges a cover-up, saying that serious complaints filed against Diaz were left without investigations, while obviously false complaints were closed out to make it look like the agencies’ procedures were working.

Both sworn and civilian staff at the Office of Police Accountability have “internally protested” Betts’ handling of these cases, the letter says.

In 2022, the Seattle City Council created a new process for investigating complaints against police chiefs after it was discovered that three complaints against former Chief Carmen Best had lagged for 18 months. The new process included a complaint notification procedure that loops in the city’s top brass, but left out an investigation timeline, effectively allowing investigators to keep grievances open indefinitely. The ordinance also prohibits anyone but the two civilian investigations supervisors from doing the intake.

The letter provides examples of alleged mishandled cases:

• A February 2023 complaint involving a high-ranking female Seattle Police employee alleging that Diaz discriminated and retaliated against them. It remains at the intake phase after more than 17 months.
• A complaint that accused Diaz of using his status as chief to “badge into” the July 2023 Taylor Swift Concert. Seattle Police policy characterizes using employment for personal gain as serious misconduct. The case remains at the intake phase after nearly a year.
• A complaint that accused Diaz of making his security driver run personal errands, including driving out of town for beef jerky and driving Diaz down to Portland to catch a flight to a Huskies game. According to the letter, “Betts intervened and personally held the case for two and a half weeks … and [the] Office of Inspector General mysteriously delayed classifying the case for two more months before sending to a third-party law firm.”
• A complaint that accused Diaz of retaliating against a former female Seattle officer who publicly spoke out about sexism at the police department. The complaint says that Diaz disclosed via press release that the woman had applied to an assistant chief job at Seattle Police after she left. It remains at the intake phase despite an investigator having submitted a detailed intake report three months ago in April.

“The City of Seattle needs to take action,” the letter says. “Seattle’s accountability systems are robust when it comes to rank and file employees. But they are being muzzled when it comes to looking at high ranking people.”

Editor's note: This story was amended on July 12 so it more accurately reflects that the Seattle City Council created a new process for investigating the police chief, instead of modifying an existing process in 2022.