The Office of Police Accountability (OPA) reported the Know Your Rights Campaign–a project developed to help community better understand what to expect during interactions with Seattle Police Department (SPD).
Here is a link to an interview with OPA Director Andrew Myerberg in the aftermath of Tuesday’s police shooting (February 16, 2021).
Presenters included:
Jennifer Tippins, Community Engagement Coordinator at OPA
Geneva Taylor, Community Engagement Specialist at OPA
John Barry, Legislative and Policy Counsel at OPA
Presentation regarding police/citizen interaction and the law as interpreted in Washington State.
Discussion, at times spirited, regarding warrant requirements
Definition of “probable cause”;
Witness Statements
Visual Evidence
Circumstantial Evidence
Legal reasons for stopping a pedestrian
Reasons for arrest
Fingerprint Scanner
Traffic Stop
Weapons search
Federal Law VS Washington State:
WA State Constitution offers more citizen protection than that afforded by other some states (if you must get arrested, do it here).
Follow current controversial crimes on SPD website and “Tweets by Beat”
Summary of current investigations
Online access for information
Investigations of officer action with off-duty – falling within SPD jurisdiction
SPD response with lethal force.
Discussion on crime scene etiquette.
Discussion of officer use of force at demonstrations.
Sam’s new book, Challenging China: Smart Strategies for Dealing with China in the Xi Jinping Era will be released in spring 2021. At Sam Kaplan (samkaplanauthor.com), there are links to a variety of places to buy the book. The Amazon link is here.
What to do about expansionistic China? This is one of 4 most important issues dealing with China
Sam Kaplan
Escalator Incident: In President Xi’s visit to Seattle in 2015, Chinese security unilaterally turned off escalator in Westin Hotel. This was against US law–and one example of a very different demeanor from past cooperative visits.
Power Consolidation:
More power in inner circle. More closed and more oppressive
Xi gave speech to make sure China doesn’t go the way of USSR
Human rights deteriorated. Uighurs in internment camps Forceable sterilization of Uighur women. Lots of crack downs. People arrested. Internet censorship
Threats:
Xi wants to replace liberal world order with authoritarianism. .
China more expansionist. China claims territorial waters more more than 1000 miles from its borders.
China wants to make it easier to spy on citizens via telecommunication. They export this technology. More vocal about Taiwan and possibly invading.
Hong Kong crack down. New Security law prevents free speech
China has companies with world wide impact like TikTok. TikTok even collects key strokes from phones when using the app
Economy:
China very successful economically which gives it great leverage in the world. However, GDP per capita is lower than other Asian countries like South Korea
Very sophisticated mobile payments big stride in biotechnology.
Brought many out of poverty. Increasingly large middle class
Many business people in Africa. Factories in Africa. Benefits these countries economically
China has demographic issues with aging population. China’s population will be older than US’s population in 20 years. This results in end of high GDP growth rate.
Policies to deal with China -Improve our country:
Improve infrastructure
Put human rights at forefront of our policy. Carter and Reagan did this
Multilateralism – build alliances. However multilateralism could be difficult as US stepped back from world stage. Plus economic ties other counties have with China deter this. Countries see America in decline for example the DC riots, poor response to COVID-19.
If we are able to liberalize China, we could see more improvements in the world such as medical and economic.
Jonathan Mayer, Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
On February 4, 2021, Jonathan Mayer spoke to our club. Again. It is hard to imagine anyone more qualified to speak about the pandemic. He is a Professor of Epidemiology and Geography at the University of Washington. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine, (Division of Infectious Diseases), Department of Family Medicine, and in Health Services, Global Health. He is Program Director, joint degree: MPH in Epidemiology/PhD Biocultural Anthropology.
Dr. Mayer talked to our club almost a year ago; here is a summary of the talk at that time. He was great and very well received by the Club.
Some of the items of interest that he noted included:
There are around thirty vaccines in advanced clinical trials around the world. Their mechanisms are similar.
There are three ways to mitigate the pandemic.
Prevention through masking.
Treatment of the disease.
Vaccinate.
Herd immunity is the goal—which may require 80 percent of the population to have been vaccinated or attained immunity because of having had Covid-19.
The vaccines probably both protect the individual from getting the disease—and limit transmission.
Lung cells are particularly susceptible to the virus. The spike protein attaches to lung cell receptors.
The vaccines ‘trick’ the virus. They emulate the spike protein and prevent the virus from attaching to human cells. The vaccines use different mechanisms to induce the same result.
The first Chinese report on the virus was published on December 31, 2019. Within a couple of weeks, the entire genome of the virus had been published.
Most vaccine candidates fail. There are lots of disincentives to develop vaccines: The science and the risks are hard. The federal government mitigated those risks for the Covid-19 vaccine with spectacular success: That was the essence of Operation Warp Speed.
Distribution of the vaccine, thus far, has not been as successful.
Vaccines and drugs require three stages of clinical trials for approval. Most fail during trials.
Phase 1 involves a small number of volunteers (30-100) and looks for notable side effects.
Phase 2 involves more than a thousand volunteers and looks for safety and efficacy. Volunteers are randomly put into drug and placebo arms of the trial to determine efficacy.
Phase 3 involves thousands of volunteers. Moderna had 30,000 volunteers. The volunteers are randomized into placebo and drug arms and the results are compared to determine efficacy.
For Covid-19, regulators were seeking a minimum effective rate of fifty percent.
The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines had 94-95 percent efficacy, but these were under ideal conditions—not real the world. The effectiveness in the real world is almost always less—85 percent may be more likely.
If herd immunity requires 80 percent efficacy, almost everyone will need to be vaccinated to achieve that goal.
Dr. Mayer indicated the risk in open spaces and with short duration contact was very low.
He also warned that it may be two years before we see a return to crowded sporting events.
February 14 Addendum: My slides from my presentation are already out of date since there is good news about the J and J, AstraZeneca, and Novavax products—I expect that the Johnson and Johnson will be approved by the scientific board of the FDA at the end of the week of the 22nd—and will probably be approved shortly thereafter. That is the single injection product. And while it is not as effective in totally preventing COVID than the others, it is nearly 100% effective in preventing severe disease and hospitalization. So I expect that that will make a big difference within a couple of months. I’d be glad to do an update for the group in the coming months,
Our program for January 28, 2021, featured Bill McSherry and Ryan Tomasich of Boeing. Bill and Ryan updated us on what has been happening at Boeing, during some truly turbulent times.
William McSherry is Vice President, State & Local and Global Corporate Citizenship, Boeing Commercial. He has worked at the regional, state and federal levels of government on economic and aerospace issues. He has a BA in political science and an MBA, both from the University of Washington.
Ryan Tomasich
Ryan Tomasich is a Government Operations manager for The Boeing Company. In this position, he is responsible for representing the company before elected and appointed public officials and their staffs, industry and business association executives and political community-based organizations in the Puget Sound region. He acts as a company focal for negotiating and influencing government relations’ policy on external issues and he provides political strategy and advice to company management. Tomasich graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.
The hardships that the company has faced in the past eighteen months were striking. This includes both the 737-MAX difficulties and COVID-19. In one of the more striking slides, Bill and Ryan talked about the decline in air travel in the past year. In April, passengers were down over ninety percent–four to five times less than the periods following 9/11 and the Great Recession.
Some more of their presentation is incorporated in the following:
On January 21, 2021, we were honored to host Denny Willford, a Polio survivor who has given much of his life in the eradication of polio and improving the lives of survivors. Two drops is all it takes to never have Polio and Denny has given hundreds two drop doses to children in multiple trips to Ethiopia and Uganda.
Unfortunately, it has not always been enough. Those who do come down with polio often become what is known as crawlers, unable to walk. This condition can partially be resolved through surgery, which requires extensive rehabilitation. On of the best restoration methods is hydrotherapy. Denny and his foundation built a hydrotherapy pool to assist in just that with great results. Once rehabilitated, these former unemployable crawlers can now support themselves and their families.
Denny hasn’t stopped there. He has formed the Willford Foundation which is supplying school desks for schools in Ethiopia. To quote him: $5,000 builds a lot of desks.
Through the efforts of many Denny’s volunteering their time to provide 2 drops, worldwide polio cases were down to a handful with the goal of a polio-free world well in sight. However, due to Covid and political discord, polio immunizations have stopped for the duration of the pandemic. This has set the goal of eradication of polio back many years.
The club’s program on January 14 was one close to our hearts, or wherever you carry your pocketbook. Ryan Hamilton, president of the University Sunrise Rotary Club Service Foundation brought us up to date on the organization.
Lee Raaen
In addition to our Rotary club, we have a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation. The foundation is separate from the club and qualifies for tax-exempt status. Every member of the Rotary club is a member of the foundation, but the two organizations are separate and have different officers and directors. It’s important to keep in mind that there are two Rotary foundations that deserve our support. Our club’s foundation and the worldwide Rotary International Foundation. We support both wholeheartedly and both have played central roles in funding our charitable and international service projects over the years.
The RI foundation has the advantage of having worldwide impact and extensive assets. The advantage of our club foundation is that we have total control, can act quickly, and can support projects with a LOT less paperwork.
The club foundation has adopted criteria to be used in evaluating projects. They are:
a) Is the proposal genuinely beneficial to someone in need or to an important cause?
b) Does it appear that the requestor will administer the funds responsibly and effectively?
c) Do we have sufficient funds for this request and for our own priorities for Foundation funds?
d) Does the proposal support our mission of helping children live, learn and laugh?
e) Is the proposal sponsored or recommended by a USRC member?
f) Is the request from a Rotary club we have partnered with in the past?
g) Is the request from a Rotary club that will be a good future partner?
Club foundation officers Hal Beals, Mike Madden and Nancy Bittner rounded out the program by giving members information on both organizations, the projects (both local and international) funded by our foundation, how to bring projects before the foundation’s board for support, and importantly, how to donate to them.
Our club’s foundation has assets of about $50,000. Much of this came from a bequest from Rev. Storm. Over the years major sources of funds is also been club auctions at the president’s dinner, proceeds from the Big Taste (a.k.a. Debuts and Discoveries) and individual contributions.
Past projects include the total range of charitable of our club. Currently the foundation has supported dictionary projects, projects at Mercy Housing, Outdoors For All, TINFA, the annual block party, etc. In addition, the foundation has supported other clubs’ service projects so those projects can qualify for higher district and international grants. Other clubs have done the same for us.
After this detailed report, President Hamilton called a foundation membership meeting to elect a new director. The foundation has three directors on staggered terms. Having selflessly served the foundation for his three-year term, Jim Horrigan is being put out to pasture. Past Pres. Steve Barton was nominated and unanimously elected by the membership to a three-year term on the foundation board. The meeting was adjourned.
In the past five months, there have major protests nationwide and globally due to the death of George Floyd while handcuffed and pinned to the ground by the Minneapolis police. Seattle became a hot spot for the violent confrontation between the protestors and the Seattle Police Department. The Office of Police Accountability of received about 19,000 complaints file against the SPD for misconduct against the protestors. At today, OPA representatives Jennifer Tippins and Enrique Gonzalez, explained the role of OPA to investigate these complaints.
Ron Espiritu, Club Member and Post Author
Prior to 2010, there was no formal procedure to investigate police bias and misconduct. A lawsuit was filed against the City of Seattle which compelled the SPD to review and make changes in its training and policies and procedures. In 2017, a City ordinance was passed to make these changes permanent and established the OPA which would have the authority to investigate police misconduct and recommend disciplinary action deemed necessary; it does not get involved in criminal complaints. The OPA is staffed by civilian employees and independent from the SPD.
Anyone, including Seattle police employees, can file a complaint with the OPA. In fact, in 2019, of the more than 900 complaints, 1/3 came from SPD employees. The complaints are investigated internally then classified in these general categories:
Contact Log: there was no policy violation by the SPD employee or no sufficient evidence to proceed any further.
Supervisor Action: a minor violation which is addressed with coaching and training.
Mediation: Complainant and officer agree to sit down with a mediator to resolve the issue.
Rapid Adjudication: the officer agrees to the misconduct and accepts the consequences of his action.
Expedited Investigation: the allegation, if true, constitutes a serious policy violation or other category of violation that OPA is required by law and policy to investigate. With the agreement of the Office of the Inspector General, the OPA recommendation is forward to the Chief of Police for disciplinary action
Investigation: the policy violation is serious but further investigation is needed to gather additional evidence from witnesses, third parties involved and video from body or mounted patrol car cameras. OPA then forwards its recommendation for disciplinary action to the Chief of Police.
Normally, the process is supposed to be completed in 180 days, but the current 19,000 complaints are being expedited to be completed in 60 days. The public can go to the OPA web site to track a complaint. The OPA plans on posting some of its cases on YouTube.
The Office of Police Accountability has authority over allegations of misconduct involving Seattle Police Department employees relating to SPD policy and federal, state, and local law. The Office of Police Accountability investigates complaints and recommends findings to the Chief of Police. The Office is led by a civilian director and supervisors, while its investigations are carried out by a mix of Seattle Police Department sergeants and civilian investigators.
Enrique Gonzalez is a community engagement specialist for the Office of Police Accountability. Prior to working for the Office, Enrique was one of the co-chairs of the Community Police Commission. He has worked on police accountability reform for over ten years and maintains long-standing connections in communities of color in South Seattle and King County. His work at this time focuses on building relationships with community and the Office of Police Accountability and providing information to people dealing with the impacts of policing in Seattle.
Jennifer Tippins is a Community Engagement Coordinator for the Office of Police Accountability. Before joining the Office in 2018, she worked at BERK Consulting in Seattle for nearly five years, where she led and supported outreach and engagement strategies for a variety of public policy projects with communities across WA State. She received a Masters Degree in Urban Planning from the University of Washington and is a former Fulbright Scholar in Hong Kong.
Join the University Sunrise Rotary Club for our weekly program. We meet via Zoom every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Pacific. The line opens at 7:15 a.m. Registration is not required. Login by clicking here.
Our program on September 17, 2020, featured Walker Lafleur of the Northwest Kidney Centers. Walker is an experienced Nurse Managerwith fourteen years working in the hospital and health care industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse from Fortis College, Tampa, FL and is working on an MBA from Western Governors University. He came to Seattle in 2018 to be a manager at the Northwest Kidney Centers.
Founded in Seattle in 1962, Northwest Kidney Centers is the world’s first dialysis organization. They are the provider of choice because of “high quality services, community connections and generous donor support.” They provided 276,500 dialysis treatments last year, about a quarter of all dialysis treatments in the state, for nearly 1,800 patients who dialyze in one of their centers or at home with support.
Walker presented a really terrific program about kidney health–a topic important to all of us. Kidneys remove waste and excess water from the body and helps regulate blood pressure.
Walker told us that one in three Americans are at risk for kidney disease. It is estimated that 37 million Americans have kidney disease, but most don’t know that they do. Diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes. Other causes include cardiovascular disease, aging, urinary infections, HIV/AIDS, and IV drug use.
Particularly at risk are Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians. African-Americans are three times more likely to have kidney disease. People over 65 are 38 percent more likely.
On September 24, 2020, the program for the University Sunrise Rotary Club featured Trish Millines Dziko.
Trish is the co-founder and Executive Director of TAF. She founded the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) in 1996 after spending fifteen years as a developer, designer and manager in the high tech industry. A native of New Jersey who attended Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) on a basketball scholarship, she graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science in 1979 at a time when few people of color and few women were entering the field. Her successful career brought her to Microsoft in the late-1980s, just as the pioneering software company was set to become a worldwide brand.
Over the next decade of tremendous growth, she saw very little change in the high tech industry: women and people of color remained grossly underrepresented. After careful research, she traced the root of the problem to the lack of access to rigorous, relevant technology training in our public schools, particularly those in traditionally underserved communities of color. Trish left Microsoft in 1996, the same year she founded TAF. More information about TAF is available at www.techaccess.org.
Trish has led the growth of TAF into a statewide leader in STEM education, operating TAF Academy (a 6th to 12th grade, award-winning public school that is co-managed by TAF and the Federal Way Public School District), increasing the number of teachers of color through the Martinez Fellowship, and partnering with public schools to transform them into academic environments that will promote the highest level of student learning.
In addition to her work at TAF, Trish remains a committed, proactive leader and serves on the boards of several organizations that focus on children and education.
Trish and her spouse live on Vashon Island and are the proud parents of four children.
Trish said that we need a new revolution in education. Our expectations of students is too low, she said. She was critical of over-reliance on standardized tests and said that we need more resources in education.
She stressed that the mission of TAF included the building of relationships with public education. Teacher training, increasing diversity in staff, expanding the role of the community in education, and educational context are important objectives. Community support included both resources and the provision of role models for students.
