King County Sheriff's data shows misconduct down, excessive force up
Misconduct allegations are down, and use-of-force allegations are up for the King County Sheriff's Office, according to its latest data.
A new report compiling 2022 data from the King County Office of Law Enforcement Oversight shows the number of misconduct allegations made against deputies dropped by 22% in 2022, compared to the previous year.
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The Internal Investigation Unit said that among the 334 complaints filed in 2022, the majority (71%) came from community members, and less than a third (29%) came from within the department.
The number of excessive force complaints did increase, however, from 58% to 73%.
Most of the complaints originated in South King County, more specifically in places like White Center and Burien.
Other takeaways from the 2022 report:
- Complaints coming from inside the Sheriff's Office went down by 44%. Complaints from the community dropped by 8%.
- A total of 60 allegations of excessive force were investigated in 2022; none were sustained — half were found to be justified and 40% were unfounded, according to the report.
- 5% of deputies were the subjects of 40% of allegations.
- More than 70% of deputies received no allegations.
- The most allegations against sworn officers came from zip code 98168, which covers an area south of Seattle, bordering Burien, SeaTac, Tukwila, and White Center. Sheriff's Office Precinct 4 covers this region.
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