Seattle police will begin implementing the nation’s first policy that governs the use of police patrol “ruses,” a statement an officer knows is not true but may be helpful to an investigation, according to city press release Monday.

“Effective public safety requires community buy-in, and this new policy is an important step to build understanding with the public, demonstrating that for Seattle Police Department (SPD) operations to be successful, they must be paired with a commitment to unbiased, constitutional policing,” said Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.

The policy comes a few years after a Seattle officer’s ruse contributed to the suicide of a hit-and-run driver in 2018. Another controversial ruse was when officers created fake radio traffic to try and get protesters away from the CHAZ/CHOP zone in 2020. Harrell directed the SPD to develop the new policy because those cases undermined the public’s trust and confidence in police, according to the SPD.

  • Sunforged@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Another controversial ruse was when officers created fake radio traffic to try and get protesters away from the CHAZ/CHOP zone in 2020.

    Gosh that is a nice way of saying they faked an armed Proud Boys march towards Capitol Hill, which was THE reason protestors armed themselves, which then spun out of control in the national media contributing to “armed check points” lie.

    • crawley@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      “oh we’ll just make them think that a bunch of violent extremists are coming specifically to hurt them and they’ll scatter like the rats they are”

      arms themselves against bodily harm instead

      “wait not like that”

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I was going to post this but could not find a source that is not right wing garbage. KOMO is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting which forces their stations to play their right wing fear mongering. The other two sources I found were Fox News (self-explanatory) and MyNorthwest which is a regional far-right publication.

  • DreamButt@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The new “Ruse Policy” was established with the notion that while the ruse tactic may be necessary in specific situations to support public safety, the need and conditions for its use should be strongly and clearly defined, SPD said in a press release

    Yeah I mean this sounds pretty straightforward. At a minum we need clear definitions and expectations about what it is and what is allowed. Even if you think we shouldn’t let police do this at all

  • snooggums@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Seattle police will begin implementing the nation’s first policy that governs the use of police patrol “ruses,” a statement an officer knows is not true but may be helpful to an investigation, according to city press release Monday.

    Knowingly promoting falsehoods is lying in this context.

  • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It just became illegal a couple years back in Illinois for cops to lie to minors when questioning them. How about cops can’t lie?

    Fucking class traitors.