Only 4% of detained youth are offered attorney access by Seattle police, audit finds

Two out of every 50. That's the rate of youth getting legal counsel after being detained by Seattle police officers, according to a new audit of the department.

The audit found that in the two years following the passage of a law requiring youth access to legal counsel, Seattle police officers only complied 4% of the time, despite being trained on the requirement.

“This is one of the most straight forward civil rights protections we’ve enacted — police should not be able to question children until they have talked to a lawyer," Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold said in a statement.

The audit was performed by Seattle's Office of Inspector General at Herbold's request.

"It’s such commonsense legislation that King County and then all of Washington state adopted it soon after we did. That Seattle police officers were only following this law 4% of the time is very disappointing. We know it’s possible to comply with this law — nearly every law enforcement agency in Washington state appears to have done so.”

Juvenile access to an attorney

Washington lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 that requires law enforcement to provide juveniles access to legal counsel before they waive their constitutional rights. The Office of Inspector General looked at data from 2021 and 2022 to determine how often police officers were complying with the new law. The office notes that it discovered the rate of non-compliance was high among officers, despite training on the issue. It promptly notified the Seattle Police Department's leadership.

"SPD leadership took an immediate, proactive approach by implementing early training to all officers, and have been engaged and collaborative in addressing concerns raised by the audit," the audit states.

Because of a lack of documentation or compliance with the requirement, the Office of Inspector General was unable to assess any disparities among this issue. It did, however, consider the statistics of arrests and Terry stops of juveniles during 2021 and 2022. The audit notes that "nearly half of all arrests or Terry stops of juveniles over the reviewed period involved a Black or African American youth..." and that "general non-compliance by SPD has likely meant that a greater number of Black youths had interactions with officers that should have been informed by an attorney consultation but were not."

Other key findings of the audit:

• Seattle police officers have been trained on laws related to providing legal counsel, but these trainings "appear to have been ineffective." The Office of Inspector General concludes that officers need more guidance on this issue.
• The office did not find any documentation for instances of non-compliance with attorney access laws. SPD policy required supervisors to review arrests and Terry stops to ensure compliance with policies and laws.
• SPD's policies had not yet been aligned with changes to state laws around this issue.