When a Pierce County cop kills someone it shouldn’t take weeks to name the officer
A week ago, a Puyallup police officer fatally shot a man. It was the third death at the hands of Pierce County police so far this year. In the days since, two non-fatal incidents have brought the total of officer involved shootings to five, less than two months into 2022.
For Pierce County, the wave of police shootings have served as a reminder of the often dangerous job of law enforcement. It has also brought to mind the many reasons why Washington voters passed Initiative 940. The initiative and related legislative action made it easier to charge police officers in instances of misused deadly force and enacted a host of other intended safeguards — including requiring independent investigations when someone dies by police violence.
Two of the guiding principles of these independent investigations, according to state law, are transparency and communication. The whole idea is to build public trust.
Unfortunately, nearly four years after I-940 was approved by voters, transparency and communication often remain in short supply when it comes to inquiries conducted by the Pierce County Force Investigation Team.
That’s a problem, and it flies directly in the face of the spirit of an initiative overwhelmingly approved by Washington voters. PCFIT is the multi-jurisdictional team of detectives, forensic investigators and public information officers that responds when an officer kills someone in Pierce County, and trust between local law enforcement and a community still reeling from the death of Manuel Ellis can’t be built without them.
The News Tribune Editorial board understands PCFIT has a difficult and important job. Like all of Pierce County, we also recognize the danger of police rushing to release information after the use of deadly force and the harmful and inaccurate narratives it can create.
Still, there’s significant room for improvement.
In too many instances, efforts to keep the public informed — while adhering to the letter of the law — haven’t lived up to the spirit of it. Weeks often tick by before officers who fatally shoot someone are publicly identified, and the regular updates required by law often fail to shed any new light on the case, which can create the perception that investigators aren’t as engaged as they should be.
Waiting game
Take the Feb. 11 shooting in Puyallup, for instance.
We know from the initial press release that a man was shot following a confrontation in the area of North Meridian Avenue and Valley Avenue. We know the man had reportedly been walking in traffic and had attempted to jump on or enter two vehicles. We know a Puyallup police officer fired shots, and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
To date, here’s what we don’t know: a) the identity of the victim; b) the identity of the officer who fired; c) how many shots were fired.
By the time you read this, it will have been at least a week.
Or, there’s the Jan. 27 death of 39-year-old Jerome Holman. Holman was shot five times by a Pierce County deputy while trying to flee from a Parkland parking lot, according to PCFIT. It took more than a week for Holman to be identified, and the deputy who shot and killed him — 34-year-old Jordan Williams — wasn’t publicly named until Feb. 18, more than three weeks later.
According to Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, the chair of PCFIT’s executive board, there are legitimate reasons why it can often take time to release the identities of officers responsible for deadly use of force. Zaro noted that the identification of victims is handled by the Pierce County Medical Examiner, and that — under the interlocal agreement that governs PCFIT — it’s technically the responsibility of the involved law enforcement agency to release the name of an officer involved in the deadly use of force, even if that information is ultimately distributed through a PCFIT news release.
Zaro also said that protections against self-incrimination limit investigators’ ability to pressure officers involved in deadly use of force cases to agree to interviews or provide statements quickly. For the sake of the criminal investigation, investigators generally avoid releasing the identity of an officer involved in a deadly use of force until every effort has been made to conduct an interview or obtain a written statement, Zaro said.
The goal of PCFIT criminal investigations is to be as thorough and fair as possible, Zaro said, and sometimes that means going slow.
At the same time, Zaro agreed that — in the case of the Jan. 27 police shooting in Parkland —three weeks is too long to wait before an officer is publicly identified.
Zaro said it’s something PCFIT is working to improve.
“We do recognize that there have been some inconsistencies in (the time it takes to publicly identify an officer involved in the deadly use of force), and we do want to work on making all of our processes more consistent,” Zaro said, noting that PCFIT has been operational since 2020.
“We’re still working out some of our processes, and one of them is being consistent in what is released and when it’s released,” Zaro said. “You have every law enforcement agency in the county working together to try and implement all these new laws related to investigation of officer-involved deadly uses of force. That is a big lift, and we are doing our best to meet both the intent and the letter of the law.”
That’s encouraging to hear, because regardless of the legal, administrative and investigative challenges PCFIT faces, Zaro is right: It shouldn’t take weeks to publicly identify a police officer who has used deadly force.
If Pierce County law enforcement is going to meet the moment, more transparency and communication will be required.
News Tribune editorials reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Driscoll. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor and Jim Walton, community representative.