Here’s how you can make a complaint about Whatcom Sheriff’s Office, Bellingham Police
As protests across the country have brought the debate about how we should police our communities to the forefront, Whatcom County’s two largest law enforcement agencies say they have already been listening and reacting to what area residents have to say.
The Bellingham Herald spoke with representatives from the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office and Bellingham Police Department about how they accept feedback and evaluate complaints, a process they say is accessible to all residents.
“The bottom line is we are going to listen to whatever someone has to say,” Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Steven Gatterman told the Herald.
On average, Bellingham police and the sheriff’s office say they each received about 20 complaints per year over the past five years, and both agencies said they have used each complaint as a way to review and evaluated themselves.
Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office
The Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office accepts complaints and commendations from the public through their website, phone calls, social media, written notices and in-person.
Gatterman explained the complaint process to The Herald. He said people often ask questions and share their opinions with the office, however, a formal complaint process against a deputy will only start if the complainant asks for an investigation or if the complaint is deemed serious enough by the deputy’s immediate supervisor.
“We might start a formal complaint even if they don’t want to start one because we want to make sure our deputies are acting appropriately,” Gatterman said.
The sheriff’s office has received about 104 complaints since July 1, 2015, according to data supplied by the sheriff’s office. Of those complaints, about 76% resulted in no further action.
Gatterman said most of these complaints result in no further action because they are often people just sharing their opinions or disagreements. If there is serious potential misconduct, then those matters are counted separately as administrative investigations.
The sheriff’s office has only initiated 20 administrative investigations since July 1, 2015, according to the data.
Of those investigations, the office resolved 10 with disciplinary action and four with corrective action. An employee resigned once, and the office also delivered a case to a prosecutor once. Eleven of those investigations were in the law enforcement bureau.
Gatterman said informal complaints are resolved at the supervisor level. If the supervisor cannot resolve the matter or the behavior is repeated, then it will be sent up the chain of command where it can become a formal complaint, Gatterman said.
Serious matters would be reviewed by Gatterman in the office of professional standards. From there, he would make a recommendation to Sheriff Bill Elfo about whether to start an internal investigation.
Range of consequences
Although the process is internal, Gatterman said there are safeguards against bias. He said his office is separate from the other divisions and likened it to an independent branch within the sheriff’s office.
“While, yes, I do report to the sheriff, I do not report to anybody else here,” Gatterman. “If it would be likely there would be a conflict of interest, we would ask another agency to investigate and we have done that.”
Gatterman said these investigations can lead to a range of consequences from corrective action to disciplinary action. Corrective action could involve counseling sessions, periodic performance evaluations and additional training. Disciplinary actions result in an economic loss to the employee and can include demotion, reassignment and termination.
If the investigation reveals potentially criminal behavior, the sheriff’s office would refer the case to the Washington State Patrol or the Bellingham Police Department to conduct an investigation.
If the complainant does not agree with the outcome of an investigation, they can speak to the Sheriff, the County Executive and the County Council. There is also the option to sue the sheriff’s office but that does not regularly occur, Gatterman added.
“If we have people involved in misconduct, nobody wants them held more accountable than we do,” Gatterman said.
Bellingham Police Department
The Bellingham Police Department accepts complaints and commendations from the public informally through social media, phone calls, and letters. The department responds to such feedback relatively quickly while formal complaints can take weeks to address, said public information officer Claudia Murphy.
Murphy detailed the department’s internal complaint process to The Herald in an emailed statement. Though the process is internal, Murphy said she thinks the process is fair because it is multi-layered and those involved are trained to be unbiased.
“We have policies as well as checks and balances throughout the process which guide the investigators,” Murphy said in the statement. “There are multiple people who are involved in the complaint investigation process to ensure the fairness and lack of bias.”
The department has recorded 101 complaints from 2015 to 2019, according to city documents requested by The Herald. Of those complaints, 67 were formal complaints and 34 were informal.
Internal affairs investigations resulted from 16 complaints during that five-year period and seven were either fully or partially sustained, according to the documents.
On average, the department recorded about 20 complaints a year with around 13 being categorized as formal and seven as informal since 2015. The department also averaged about three internal investigations a year, however, it conducted four in 2018 and five in 2019.
Harassment, excessive force
Allegations in the complaints included harassment or discrimination, excessive or improper force, disrespect, unsatisfactory job performance and more. In most cases, allegations were deemed unfounded, not sustained or the officer was exonerated.
In each yearly review, the officer overseeing the office of professional accountability wrote that there did not appear to be patterns of behavior or job performance that necessitated further training or attention.
Someone looking to submit a complaint against an officer at the Bellingham Police Department can contact the department informally through social media or a phone call, Murphy said. Those who submit complaints this way are likely to receive a response from the officer’s supervisor relatively quickly.
Informal complaints are written down by the supervisor of the officer who documents the nature of the complaint and how it was dealt with, Murphy said. If the complainant is satisfied with the response, the complaint is categorized as informal and the memorandum is submitted to the office of professional responsibility, led by Lieutenant Jason Monson, for review.
Formal complaints are any complaints submitted in writing or those that include a request for further investigation, Murphy said. They can also include complaints that are deemed to require further action by the officer’s supervisor, she added.
Such complaints are forwarded through the chain of command to the officer’s deputy chief who will then review the case with the Police Chief. Together, the deputy chief and the Police Chief will decide on how to investigate the matter, Murphy said.
Formal investigations
From there, a formal investigation including interviews and evidence takes place to evaluate each allegation in the complaint, Murphy said. A summary of this investigation is then forwarded to the deputy chief who recommends discipline as necessary. Finally, the Police Chief David Doll makes a final decision on the matter and imposes disciplinary action if warranted, she added.
If the formal complaint reveals potential criminal behavior, then a separate criminal investigation may begin in parallel with the internal investigation, Murphy said.
For a formal complaint, the complainant will receive a letter describing the findings of the investigation within 20 days of the final review and acceptance of the findings by Police Chief, Murphy said. However, she added the letter will not include the amount of any imposed discipline.
If a person is not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint, they can contact the Police Chief, Murphy said.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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