foreign i'm sergeant smith at the seattle police department in the office of police accountability today's date is march 22nd 2018 and the time is 9 30. the opa case members 2017 opa-1202 i am interviewing officer mark could you please say your last name segment a witness employee also president is uh sergeant james representing spock this interview is taking place in the opa office in sweet 1800 of the pacific building would you please state your name as by your last name mark sagamon last name is s-a-g-m-o-e-n sergeant sergeant tj james j-a-n-e-s and i'm sergeant leslie smith smith this interview is being documented with an audio recorder officer do you understand the interviews being recorded and agreed to be recorded yes sergeant yes and have you received copies of the garrity advisement and the seattle police officers bill of rights outlining your collective bargaining agreement yes do you understand them yes and last how do you receive notifications of the allegations in this complaint yes under the authority the chief of the seattle police department you are hereby ordered to answer all questions asked to be truthfully and completely failure to do so may result in discipline up to and including termination do you understand that yes and as a sworn employee witness you're advised that you are being questioned as a witness and should your answers reveal violations of the seattle police department rules and the regulations this interview will be stopped you will be advised that your status is changed to that of a named employee and you will receive a new notification and interview date do you understand yes okay so you're being interviewed as a witness so just some general background questions first uh what's your current assignment uh first watch southwest patrol and which squad uh frank sector how long have you been there uh it's about seven years and how long have you been about with spd eight and a half years and so at first southwest are you in uniform yes and driveway marked car yes and you are just equipped with koban and icv and uh bodywork video it is now okay and again who's your supervisor uh sergeant ek okay so again you're being interviewed as a witness for an incident that is alleged to have occurred back on november 10th of 2017. so on that date you were registered to attend department training um the spd 2017 law enforcement and society lessons of the holocaust do you remember that yes did you attend the training that day yes here's a copy of the roster of attendees so according to the roster there were several officers that attended that training that were from the southwest precinct how did you and the other officers travel to and from that training we took a department van who drove i do i don't remember okay about how many of you from that list rode in that van um i think six of us so again the allegations for this complaint are standards and duties that employees shall strive to be professional at all times and also by us free policing that officers will not engage in bias-based policing so prior to leaving the southwest precinct how did you and the other officers like gather together to get ready to go to this training we all gathered um where we pick up keys in the in the hallway and where the duty bags are and that when you were getting together to go did lieutenant dietrich ride in the van with you do you remember i don't think so okay did you hear lieutenant dietrich the name employee in this case make any comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional or biased yes and what did you hear um i was in the hallway outside the captain's office in that area and i heard him say that he had family members that died at auschwitz and when asked how that happened he said that uh he fell out of the guard shack and so was it just you that was there were there other officers present i don't remember anybody else being present so did you when he said he had um relatives diet austria was it you that asked him out or did he just kind of was it kind of a delivery or what it was more of a delivery and so after he said that was there any other further comments made or is it just that and then off to training no i heard it and and kept walking down the hallway was he talking to you directly or is he talking somebody else and you just walked by and heard it i don't remember if anybody else was present so he made he may have been directing it towards me but i don't remember if i was the only one there okay did you hear make any other comments or jokes regarding jews germans and the holocaust no did you ever hear any third-hand reports from other employees making reference to hearing that comment or other comments from lieutenant future no so what was your impression about hearing the lieutenant make that comment initially i thought he was serious when he mentioned because he is german i'm assuming with the name dietrich and then as i got further down the hallway it dawned on me that he was probably joking so when you you would you attended the training you were at the training was lieutenant detrick there at the training do you remember yes did you hear him make any other comments there no have you ever heard lieutenant d creek make any other comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional or biased on other occasions no did you tell anybody else about hearing what he said there yeah i mentioned it uh when we were in the van also with like with with a group of officers that i was with and did any of them have any comments about that or say that they heard it too or anything like that i could tell that uh officer nova sadler was put off by it is there anything other further discussion that day or in the days since regarding comments or jokes made by lieutenant general um not really not that i can remember all right sergeant james is there anything you wanted to ask on behalf of spock uh spaghet is nothing okay is there anything else you'd like to add the only thing i'd add is that during the holocaust training um as as far as lieutenant dietrich's demeanor there he seemed very interested in in the history of the holocaust and seemed empathetic towards what those people went through um which i thought as far as the um the comments it didn't it didn't reflect um the two didn't really match up so he appeared empathetic at the training but the the comment or joke or if it was yeah prior to didn't didn't seem to did after i heard him talking about the the being empathetic towards the holocaust that the joke to me didn't carry kerry you know wasn't he wasn't serious okay is there anything else you looked at no okay to maintain confidentiality this investigation you were advised not to disclose the information that was discussed during this interview except with your spog rep or attorney do you understand yes that completes this interview again today's date is march 22 2018 the time is 9 37 i'm sergeant smith of the seattle police department in the office of police accountability the date is february 26 2018 the time is 10 32. the op case number is 2017 opa-1202 i am interviewing sergeant dean ek a witness employee also president is sergeant james representing spock the interview is taking place in the opa office in sweet 1800 of the pacific building sergeant would you please state your name and spell your last name dean ek i k e i and sergeant james sergeant tj james j-a-n-e-s and i'm sergeant leslie smith smith the interview is being documented with an audio recorder sergeant do you understand your interview is being recorded and agreed to be recorded yes and starting yes i do and have you received the copies of the guaranty advisement and the seattle police officer's bill of rights outlining your collective bargaining agreement yes do you understand them yes lastly have you received notification the allegations in this complaint yes under the authority of the chief of the seattle police department you're here by order to answer all questions asked to be truthfully and completely failure to do so may result in discipline up to an including termination do you understand that yes and as a sworn employee witness you're advised that you're being questioned as a witness and should your answers reveal violations by the seattle police department rules and regulations the interview will be stopped and you will be advised your status is changed to that of a named employee and you will receive a new notification and interview date do you understand yes okay so just some general background questions first about how long you've been with the seattle police 12 years how are you better sergeants i'll be two years in april so next month and what's your current assignment uh first watch southwest how many officers do you supervise six one is out of the injured i mean sick leaves exactly okay and when you're working as a first watch patrol sergeant do you wear a uniform yes and drive a mark patrol car yes and you have incar video yes and mark and also i guess body horn video yes and again you've taken those off so we're not recording right now right correct so you said you have six officers the questions are going to be asked regarding an incident that happened back in november about going to training were any of your officers on this list that are in your squad yes it'd be just one well that would be mark segment okay sorry i mentioned on the recorder that this you're being interviewed as a witness employee for an incident that was occurred back on november 10 2017. on that date you were registered to attend department training seattle police department 2017 law enforcement and society lessons of the holocaust i get there you have i gave you a copy of the roster did you attend that training yes so the allegations in this complaint are standards and duties employees will strive to be professional at all times and bias pre-policing officers will not engage in bias-based policing so the following questions are going to be asked to address those allegations according to the roster several officers attended the training from the southwest precinct how did you travel to and from the training uh by one of the station masters then who who from southwest was in that van just name it sure whatever whoever you recognize off that list so myself driving uh doug jorgensen me todd novi siddilek the john o'neill melody rios mark segmon and i believe todd woodkey was with us is it possible that officer whibkey drove himself and didn't ride in the van yes that could be okay did you pick up anybody else from other precincts or it was just you guys went to it and then came back no it was just okay to and from okay so the allegations have to do with some comments that were interpreted as being unprofessional and biased did you hear lieutenant dietrich make any comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional and biased prior to going to that training yes what comments did you hear something about i can't say it for datum something about the holocaust and cousin or uncle falling out of a guard tower along those lines okay to whom did he say that or where under what context did he make that comment i can't remember exactly where it was at the precinct uh so it was not in the van it was in the precinct correct okay and like who was who was president who did he say or how did he how did it come up in a conversation i guess it sounded like a joke um pretending it wasn't directed toward me that i could tell sounded like as i guess a hearsay from speaking with someone else that he was making a joke or that's what it came off as okay who was he who else was present to hear that comment do you remember no i can't remember so he said he made the com his alleged joke or the comment that he made had to do with a relative you said falling out of a guard tower correct okay what did you think when you heard the lieutenant make that comment i perceived it as a as a joke he was telling somebody something like a repeated something he heard and then was repeating it and what was your impression about hearing that comment or joke what did you think about it when you heard that no it didn't bother me at the time have you heard the lieutenant make any other comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional or biased on other occasions no did that comment did any of the people who heard the comment making any mention to you or did it have any further effect on the work environment at southwest precinct after the comment was made no nobody approached me to say they were offended by it or asked me to say that lieutenant made an inappropriate comment nobody approached me for anything did you interpret that comment to be inappropriate myself did i interpret it no okay so what did you do when you heard him make those comments or jokes i was busy getting everything ready for the to transport the guys overheard it sounded like a joke so would it have been possible for an employee to be offended by that joke in your estimation sure i mean anybody can perceive anything somebody says as a inappropriate or so you didn't report it to anybody else or have any more further discussion with the lieutenant about making that comment no are you aware that as a supervisor you're required by policy specifically 5.002 responsibilities of employees concerning alleged policy violation that supervisors will investigate or refer allegations of policy violations depending on severity specifically mentioning bias policing when an employee uses the use of language that is derogatory based on one of the the aspects of bias-based policing did you did that even did you even consider that being something that you should do in this case well nobody approached me to say that hey i was offended by it or i should say nobody was looking for somebody had any facial expressions where they're you know offended by making like a i guess would it be like a sour face or like kind of taken back by what lieutenant dietrich had said um should they have reported it to me i would have notified the captain which is you know above the lieutenant and then filed the opa complaint under biased policing and again no one came to you or no one made any mention of it as being something that they were concerned about yeah no one came to me or mentioned it in your opinion was that joke that the lieutenant made appropriate for the work environment would i say it is uh no probably not so if you heard it why didn't you report it if you if you thought it wasn't appropriate for the work environment uh because when somebody tells a joke that's uh hearsay and it's direct i mean they're just two people talking amongst themselves and you know i was doing other things nobody approached me for it um i found out about it was inappropriate by this opa complaint so i mean yeah had it not been right for the workplace sure but there's nobody seemed too concerned at the time to make any okay um to be offended by the comment i'm going to not ask you any further questions regarding the current allegations i'm going to put like a pause on that investing on on those line of questions i think i've asked enough of those questions i am though going to like i said put a pause on this and bring it to your attention that from opa's point of view at this moment um that you're hearing of that comment and your response or lack of response to hearing that comment made by the lieutenant will have to be addressed from opa standpoint okay so um as far as like adding you as from not just being a witness employee on this current one but as a named employee for failing to take action regarding the policy violation it's like i said it's 5.002.5 um regarding that i can either go ahead and continue to ask you further now or purse bog i can stop it and then do paperwork and have you come back to address more answers to that question it's up to you and you can can we pause for a second just talk about it and then i'll let you guys talk about it then i'm going to go ahead and stop this part of the interview um and i'll say the time is 10 43 i'm going to stop this and there we go so that'll be the end of this i'm going to say you're advised not to disclose the information discussed during this interview except with your spar grip or attorney and you understand that yes okay and again it's 10 43 on february 26th okay so today's date is february 26 2018 and i'm starting smith of seattle police department and the office of police accountability the op case number is 2017 opa-1202 i'm interviewing sergeant dean ek formerly interviewed on this same case as a witness now being interviewed as a named employee also present is sergeant tj james representing spog and just for the recording sergeant do you wave the five-day notification regarding participating in this interview yes okay so this interview is again taking place in the op office in sweet 1800 of civic building and for the record would you please state your name and spell your last name sure dean ek i-k-e-i sergeant tj james j-a-n-e-s okay and again it's being documented with an audio recorder do you understand we're being recorded and agreed to be recorded yes and sergeant james yes okay and have you received copies of the garrity and seattle police officers bill of rights outline your collective bargaining agreement yes and you understand that yes and then again you were originally interviewed today as a witness and now being interviewed as a named employee and you received the five the notification a receipt of complaint and again a classification notification is being emailed to you and will be also given to you here so you'll have a copy of it for yourself okay under the authority the chief of the seattle police department you're here by order to answer all questions ask you truthfully and completely failure to do so may result discipline up to including termination do you understand that yes okay so again just to follow up to the interview we just were participating in regarding 2017 opa1202 just to be clear you heard lieutenant dietrich make the comment and or could be interpreted as a joke regarding jews germans on the holocaust correct and what was the joke that you heard or the comment that you heard uh something about a relative in a guard tower during the holocaust okay and when you heard that did you did you report that to anybody or did you follow up on that at all no okay did you at any time think that that joke or comment could be interpreted as unprofessional or biased uh not to me but of course anything can be interpreted by anybody else and but nobody approached me to say that they're offended or they wanted to speak to me about inappropriate remarks or jokes made by lieutenant dietrich so at that time no there's nobody seem offended by it okay and so then you said you earlier you said you didn't think to make a report of it until you found out about the opa complaint that you were listed as a witness well from the when you when you received the classification report that listed you as a witness and the allegations is that the first time you became aware that that could be interpreted as unbiased and unprofessional yes okay and what was your response after seeing it listed out that way that somebody obviously took it as uh as a bias complaint okay are you aware of the of the policy which is 5.002 responsibilities of employees concerning alleged policy violations section 5 that supervisor supervisors will investigate or refer allegations of policy violations depending on the severity specifically biased policing are you aware of that policy yes okay is there anything else you'd like to add uh sergeant james no swagger is is there anything else sergeant that you'd like to add sergeant ek no okay all right then i will go ahead and to end this interview um to maintain confidentiality investigation you're advised not to disclose the information that was discussed during this interview except with your spark representative or attorney you understand that yes okay that completes this interview and again today's date is february 26 2018 and the time is 11 14. i'm sergeant smith the seattle police department and the office of police accountability today's date is march 28 2018 and the time is 7 51. the opa case number is 2017 opa-1202 i am interviewing officer jorgensen a witness employee also present is sergeant james representing spog this interview is taking place in the opa office in suite 1800 of the pacific building officer jorgensen would you please state your name and spell your last name douglas jorgensen jorgensen spelt j-o-r-g-e-n-s-e-n sergeant james uh sergeant tj james j-a-n-e-s and i'm sergeant leslie smith smith this interview is being documented with an audio recorder officer jorgensen do you understand the interviews being recorded and do you agree to be recorded yes sergeant james yes i do and have you received copies of the garrity advisement and the seattle police officers bill of rights outlining your collective bargaining agreement yes do you understand them yes and have you received notification of the allegations in this complaint yes under the authority of the chief of the seattle police department you are hereby ordered to answer questions asked to be truthfully and completely failure to do so may result in discipline up to and including termination do you understand that yes and as a sworn employee witness you're advised that you're being questioned as a witness and should your answers reveal violations of the seattle police department rules and or regulations this interview will be stopped you will be advised that your status is changed to that of a named employee and you will receive a new notification and interview date do you understand yes all right so just some general background questions first about how long you've been with sbd 22 years and what's your current assignment uh patrol southwest first watch how long you've been out there uh since the precinct opened since 2003 wow that long already maybe 2004 so 14 years yourself yeah something like that okay and what's guardian william sector who's your supervisor uh tony fairgamer i don't know how long has he been your supervisor he just recently got there so he got there approximately a couple of weeks i was out i was out on uh long term uh six so he got there about two weeks before i went out there so i think the beginning of january is when he got there okay and prior to him it was sergeant askew ask you okay and then when you're working you're in full uniform driving market patrol car all that correct do you work with a partner no okay all right thank you um so you're being interviewed as a witness employee for an incident that's alleged to have occurred back on november 10 2017. on that date you were registered to attend department training which was 2017 law enforcement and society lessons of the holocaust do you remember that training yes did you attend that day i did okay provided you with a list a roster of people who attended that training just a quick review for yourself about how many of those people do you see on that roster that are from southwest precinct i see six not counting myself okay and then um how did you travel to and from the training in a uh department van did those other six employees ride with you in the van uh not not all of them were in the van do you know do you remember who was in the banner i believe it was um sergeant ek i also noticed nova sedlak um officer rios officer o'neal and officer segmon i believe we're in the van okay so the allegations in this complaint are standards and duties employees shall strive to be professional at all times and bias pre-policing officers will not engage in bias based policing are you familiar with those policies yes okay in your own words what is that bias based bias free policing officers will not engage in bias-based policing what does that mean to you that they won't have bias based on somebody's race religious preferences it just follows the city mantra on being biased as far as sexual orientation even political affiliation okay and then again the standards and duties employees shall strive to be professional at all times what in your own words what does that mean that you'll try to present the city in a good light and be uh professional in your workplace and in your daily duties and your interactions with uh other employees and citizens okay so the allegations are lieutenant dietrich um is alleged to have made comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional and biased did you hear lieutenant dietrich make any comments or jokes on that day or any other day that you would have interpreted as being unprofessional and biased i i didn't hear him make any any comments or jokes on that day um that would be unprofessional biased okay the only the only thing that he did say was that he was the first one to go to the um holocaust training and he came back and told us in roll call about the training and then he said that well the germans were actually really good people that was and i i just thought that was in poor taste i didn't i didn't think it was unprofessional bias i thought i was in poor taste to return from that type of training and say that uh you know come across that the germans were really good people sure so it's been alleged that he made a comment about specifically there was a comment made that day prior to going to the training that he made a comment or a joke about relatives dying in the prison camps specifically auschwitz did you hear any third hand reports about that commenter joke or did he obviously he said you didn't hear anything directly i heard that third hand that he had said that and when did you hear that um that might have been the day that we went to the training which would have been november 10th okay and what was the comment you heard or that you were told i heard and mark segmon told me this was that the lieutenant dietrich said that he had a relative die at auschwitz as well they both have fallen out of a guard tower okay what was your impression about hearing that third-hand comment well if if that's true that you know if he actually said that that would that would be offensive because you know just prior to going to this training i read the diary of anne frank just because i was i was curious so and you know it sets a a sad time in the world and and for somebody to make jokes of of a terrific event like the the holocaust is is not acceptable it's just you know it's it's nothing to joke about so i i if that was true i would say that would have been offensive okay have you heard lieutenant do you give any other comments or jokes i got any other occasions other than you said roll call after going to the holocaust that he went to the holocaust training early on and he told the roll call about it and then the allegations from this day has there been anything else going on that you ever heard him say anything that could be considered biased or professional as far as jokes or offhand comments no okay sergeant james is there anything you want to add okay anything else you want to add no okay to maintain confidentiality of the investigation you're advised not to disclose the information that was discussed during this interview except with your spark rep or attorney do you understand that yes that completes this interview today's date again is march 28 2018 and the time is eight o'clock a.m i'm sergeant smith of the seattle police department and the office of police accountability today's date is february 26 2018 and the time is 9 50. the opa case number is 2017 opa-1202 i'm interviewing officer todd nova sedlak a witness employee also president sergeant james representing spock this interview is taking place in the opa office in suite 1800 of the pacific building officer nova sedlec would you please state your name and spell your last name todd nova sedlak n-o-v-i-s-e-d-l-a-k sergeant james uh sergeant tj james j-a-n-e-s and i'm sergeant leslie smith smith this interview is being documented with an audio recorder officer do you understand the interview is being recorded and agreed to be recorded yes sergeant i do and have you received copies of the guaranty advisement and seattle police officers bill of rights outlining your collective bargaining agreements yes do you understand them yes and have you received notification on the allegations of this complaint yes under the authority of the chief of the seattle police department you are here by order to answer all questions asked to be truthfully completely failure to do so may result in discipline up to including termination do you understand yes as a sworn employee witness you are advised that you're being questioned as a witness and should your answers reveal violations of the seattle police department rules and regulations the interview will be stopped you will be advised your status is changed to that of a named employee and you will receive a new notification and interview date do you understand yes okay so just some general background questions first about how long you've been with sbd 25 years and what's your current assignment uh patrol southwest precinct first watch how long you been there about three years okay and who's your supervisor is uh tony fergano sergeant fergumo and as uh first watch southwest do you wear full uniform yes and drive a mark patrol car yes i do is that a quick within car video yes it is i see you're wearing body work correct are you recording us i'm not yeah so the european question is a witness on an incident that was alleged to have occurred back on november 10 2017 and on that date you were registered to attend department training spd 2017 law enforcement and society lessons of the holocaust did you attend that training yes i gave you a copy of the roster and that's you that's when you signed in on that right correct okay so the allegations in this complaint are standards and duties employees shall strive to be professional at all time and bias free policing officers will not engage in bias policing according to the roster several officers attended the training from the southwest precinct do you recognize names on there from southwest uh from southwest yes uh we have sergeant dean ek doug jorgensen who's in my squad myself of course melody rios who's in my squad mark sagamon who's on uh our watch in uh frank sector and uh there is todd whibke who's uh like cpt he's out of uh southwest precinct okay um how did you get chad did you travel to and from the training um a van precinct van that sergeant ek had uh arranged so we could all ride together okay so regarding the allegations did you hear lieutenant dietrich make any comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional and biased not directly no did you hear those did you if you didn't hear it firsthand how did you know about them or how did you come to know about them um from officer mark sagamon um and what did he tell you mark segment when we were waiting to get into the van um i forget what time we were leaving i had went out to the van first and and the rest of the group that uh that were on this roster were still inside the precinct um and then mark sigma when the group came out to the van mark segmon sat behind me and he he tapped me said where's the effect of todd you really you missed a doozy the lieutenant uh trying to be funny again and i just rolled my eyes i said what now and mark segment related that the lieutenant had told the group where's the effect of um i lost family in the holocaust too they fell out of the guard tower what happened after that after he told you about that i mark said when he he not apologize he said i i shouldn't have told you that he knew that i was really offended um i think sagimo knows too about my jewish ethnicity he knew about all of us and in the first watch knew about um previous comments uh dispersion comments that lieutenant dietrich had made about the holocaust um and that was in my presence that was what comments did he make about the hulk when the day after he went to the training uh early in he being the legislature sorry yes lieutenant dietrich he had gone to the training one of the commanders had to go to the holocaust training first and i was early in 2017. um the day he came back we were inquisitive wondering you know what the training was about and and we we asked lieutenant and he went on for for a few minutes talking about it and then he ended with the comment the one if if if there's one thing i took away from this training it's that we germans know how to rally together for a cause and that was in front of our squad and that was that comment was made sometime after he just recently or i mean shortly after he took the training it was the day or day you know one or two days after he had taken the training okay so when he made that comment you said in front of your squad we'll say was it like a roll call or something correct so when you said squads that you said earlier that that includes officer jorgensen and officer rigos um no that was earlier in the earlier in the year so present and the squad has changed present in the squad back then there's myself doug jorgensen joel narc jason ross and andy bass and i'm trying to think of when he went out um joel houston after that comment was made was there any response there was there was no response the the the i think as i recall the the questions just just ceased because i was stunned absolutely stunned that he would make a comment like that having gone to the holocaust training and and that's you know that's what there was other things that a cup of terrain we had to go to the museum and see some artifacts and stuff but that was the bulk of the training okay it was the holocaust and that he would make a comment and and and make light of it and and you know that the only thing he took away from with that quote we germans really know how to rally together for a cause the cause in my mind was the extermination of six million jews um there was no as i recall like i said no further questions after that i think the rest of the room was as stunned as i was i couldn't even bring myself to say anything i couldn't wrap my head around the fact that i just heard that come from our lieutenant sure so then moving forward to the comment that was made before you went to the training here back in november you were not in the van but the other officers were in the van and heard him say that other officers were still in the precinct the van was outside i was in a van waiting for him i had been in so he made the comment inside the precinct correct do you know what officers were present when he made that comment everybody came out as a group like i said i got into the van first and they came out about five minutes later so there was um dean ek sarnie k there was melody rios mark sagamone doug jorgensen and todd whitkey [Applause] i asked sagimon when when he told me the comment that the lieutenant had made out loud about you know i lost people in the holocaust too they i lost family in holocaust they fell out of the guard tower and i turned around i looked it in the van i looked sideways i says does he know i'm jewish and segment just kind of put his hand he shook his head like like in disbelief i said does he know i said do you guys know that that i had family murdered in auschwitz and and sag won't again apologize said i shouldn't have told you i said that's fine that's fine and i just ended it and stared out the window was like did the lieutenant ride in the van with you no he didn't he didn't ride with us but he was at the training which was odd because i asked somebody i said we knew that he was going to be the monitor and i inquired of people going i said didn't he already go and somebody i forget who said he's been to a couple of them he he stands in back and monitors it was it ready for the comments by him while he was acting as monitor at the training itself none since you didn't hear it first hand but you heard it from officer segmon correct did you hear any other officers report that to you or is it just this officer no it was just side mountain okay that combined with the earlier comment was did you ever have any conversation with lieutenant about the comments regarding your heritage or anything like that okay no what's your impression about hearing lieutenant make that comment other than you said personally you were shocked i'm i was i was offended that that anybody regardless of of where they're employed or their rank would make such a a inflammatory and insensitive comment regardless of whether they know or not that you know officers may or may not have uh you know a jewish heritage um to to to to say that either comment just just stuns me i think it's it's uh so regarding the comments did it have any effect on the work environment with me oh absolutely you are the other opportunity i can't speak for the other officers how did it affect you and your work environment um in my mind uh every every day since since that i think i i look at lieutenant dietrich as somebody who thinks that the holocaust was a joke who thinks that the the murder of six billion jews is a joke um it just makes light of it and and if you think it's a joke then in my mind you don't think that the holocaust happened and connecting those in my mind here's somebody who has no regard for other ethnicities i i have absolutely no contact with him i avoid all contact unless he has uh you know some direct question or greeting if he says good morning i say good morning other than that i have absolutely no conversation or like banter with him at all have you heard the lieutenant make any other comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional or biased no to your to your knowledge was it reported to a supervisor or anybody else no okay has lieutenant come to you since this investigation was opened and brought anything to your i mean has he brought it up to you or talked to you about it no sergeant james does anything you'd like to add spaghetti has nothing officers would like to add no to maintain confidentiality of the investigation revised not to disclose the information that was discussed during the interview except with your spa grep or an attorney do you understand that yes that completes this interview the date again is february 26 2018 and the time is 1003. i'm sergeant smith at the seattle police department in the office of police accountability today's date is february 14 2018 and the time is 12 45. the opa case numbers 2017 opa-1202 i'm interviewing officer todd whitcke a witness employee also president sergeant hilton representing spog this interview is taking place in the eop office in swede 1800 of the pacific building officer would you please state your name and spell your last name officer todd whitley w i e b is in boy ke and ron hilton h-y l-t-o-n and sergeant leslie smith s-m-i-t-h this interview is being documented with an audio recorder officer do you understand the interview is being recorded and agreed to be reported yes i do and sergeant i do as well and officer have you seen copies of the garrity advisement of the seattle police officer's bill of rights outlined in your collective bargaining agreement yes i have do you understand them yes i do and have you received notification of the allegations in this complaint yes i have under the authority of the chief of the seattle police department you are here by order to answer all questions asked to be truthfully and completely feel you should do so may result in discipline up to including termination do you understand yes i do and as a sworn employee witness you're advised that you're being questioned as a witness and should your answers reveal violations of the seattle police department rules and or regulations the interview will be stopped you will be advised your status is changed to that of a named employee and you will receive a new notification and interview date do you understand yes okay so in general background you are assigned to southwest cpt yes and you've been working in the southwest precinct for about how long um my whole career 18 years south southwest and as a cpt officer what hours of the day do you work um they vary um right now i'm working from o 500 to 1 30 13 30. so your shift overlaps first watch the second walk yes it does okay so you're you're being interviewed as a witness employee for an incident that was alleged to have occurred back in november of 2017 and on that date you are registered to attend department training which is entitled spd 2017 law enforcement and society lessons of the holocaust do you remember that training did you attend yes i do remember it and so i gave you a copy of the class roster i just want to make sure you're you're handwritten at the end and that's your signature yes that is me yes okay so the allegations in this complaint are standards and duties employees shall strive to be professional at all times and bias free policing officers will not engage in bias-based policing according to the roster several officers attended this training from the southwest precinct how did you as a member of the southwest precinct travel to and from that training i drove on my own pickup truck so you didn't travel with the other officers in a van or anything no i did not okay i met them uh prior to the class there's a coffee shop across the street and a bunch of them came in there and we had a little bit of coffee before we went into class did you hear either directly or second hand from any of those officers you had coffee with that day about any remarks that lieutenant dietrich may have made or any jokes that he could have made prior to prior to the class no i know there's hard feelings in that first watch with the lieutenant and i strive very hard to stay away from all of that so to the to your memory you don't remember hearing lieutenant dietrich making any jokes prior to the class or after the class um i know during the class i had a conversation with him because i was extremely upset about the content of the training um being both german any police officer i was very upset at the information the way it was presented to us so you had a conversation with lieutenant dietrich um he was standing there um and actually he was very professional with me and kind of calmed me down it wasn't getting to the point where tempers were flaring it's just everybody the general mood in the in the room was very uh aggravated amongst all the officers did lieutenant dietrich make any comments or presentations of the class during the training if if i remember correctly we were all sitting in seats and he was standing off to the side and in the back and i felt that his presence there was almost like when i was in the academy and the boss was standing behind you to keep you from losing your temper and being professional so i thought he was there as a professional monitor more than anything else okay so do you remember you didn't hear make any jokes about the training about germans about jews about the holocaust anything like that absolutely not okay i don't have any further questions nothing okay anything you'd like to add no that will end the questions here and to maintain confidentiality of this investigation you're advised not to disclose the information that was discussed during this interview except with your representative or an attorney you understand yes that completes this interview today's date again is february 14th 2018 and the time is 12 51. i'm sergeant smith the seattle police department and the office of police accountability today's date is february 28 2018 and the time is 10 20. the op case number is 2017 opa-1202 i am interviewing officer melody rios a witness employee also president is officer carrie zeiger representing spock this interview is taking place in the opa office suite 1800 of the pacific building officer would you please state your name and spell your last name my name is melody rios r-i-o-s carrie zeiger z-i-e-g-e-r and sergeant mostly smith smith this interview is being documented with an audio recorder officer do you understand the interview is being recorded and agreed to be recorded i do both please okay and officer zagar yes ma'am and have you received copies of the guardian advisement of the seattle police officers bill of rights outlining your collective bargaining agreement i have do you understand them yes and lastly have you received notification of the allegations in this complaint i have under the authority of the chief of the seattle police department you are here by order to answer all questions asked to be truthfully and completely failure to do so may result in discipline up to and including termination do you understand that yes and as a sworn employee witness you're advised that you're being questioned as a witness and should your answers reveal violations of the seattle police department rules and regulations this interview will be stopped you will be advised your status has changed that of a named employee and you will receive a new notification and interview date do you understand yes okay before i ask you about specifics for this incident just some general background questions about how long you've been with spd approximately four or five years and where where are you assigned currently southwest first watch how long you've been working there uh for first watch about a year getting used to that schedule of sleeping and not sleeping yes okay and so who's your supervisor currently tony ferragamo okay how long has he been your supervisor about a month oh okay who was your supervisor before that will he ask you okay and you work patrol we're full uniform yes coban yes and body worn video yes are you recording us now no sure good thing all right so that was just a trick question all right so you're being interviewed as a witness employee for this incident that occurs alleged to have occurred back on november 10 2017 on that date you were registered to attend department training which is spd 2017 law enforcement and society lessons of the holocaust did you attend the training on that day i did i gave there's a list of the class roster there from that list how many of those people went to that training work at southwest precinct that you recognize you can say it out loud how about how do i use that approximate no just tell me the names you recognize i'll say that yeah okay the names i recognize are ek jorgensen nova scotland rios segmon as well as whitkey okay and then so did you all travel together to the training with the exception of officer whibke yes okay how did you guys get there by a carpool van okay so the allegations in this complaint are standards and duties that employees shall strive to be professional at all times as well as bias pre-policing that officers will not engage in bias-based policing so according to that roster you all traveled there together those of you from southwest precinct prior to leaving the precinct and that traveled together in the van or whatever it was did you hear lieutenant dietrich make any comments or jokes that could be interpreted as unprofessional and biased i did not did you hear him make any comments or jokes regarding jews germans and the holocaust i did not prior to leaving the precinct where did you guys muster up or how did that how did it go that you guys all got together to drive to the front to the training some of us were in the precinct area as and some of us were already waiting inside the van as it was getting time to leave we just got on everybody got inside the van and so where were you waiting do you remember i was in the i was in the van you were in the vehicle okay did you hear any third-hand reports or from other employees about a comment that would have been uttered by the lieutenant i did what did you hear i had heard that the lieutenant had made a comment in regards to a family member falling out of a guard tower a family his family member how in what context would that have been the context was as a joke was how the officer had phrased it that he also had family members who had died in the holocaust and it was a someone who had fell out of the guard tower so you didn't hear that directly from the lieutenant you heard it third hand from another officer okay what did you what was your impressive impression about hearing that joke uh that i didn't hear directly that some other officer had mentioned it inside of the bus okay yes on any other occasions have you ever heard lieutenant dietrich make any comments or jokes not third hand that could be interpreted as unprofessional or biased in your in front of you yeah that you've heard directly uh the only thing was during the training itself when i heard some comment about germans rallying together for a cause could you explain that it was during the holocaust training during yes and the lieutenant was there at the training and he made a comment about the germans rallying rallying rallying together rallying together and that was during the training itself yes was he saying that in terms of a joke or did he believe that i mean how was that how did that come up i don't believe i don't remember the context of how it was related to the training just simply that some comment made about he made a contrivance rallying together for a cause and that was it did anybody else hear that comment uh possibly not that i'm aware of also but it was so you were still at the museum when that took place when you heard this during a break period and was he talking directly to you or just you just overheard him say it i just hovered okay what's your impression about hearing that comment i wasn't directed at me there was nothing in context with the class that it was related to so to me i i had no impression okay all right officer zeiger is there anything else that you would like to add nothing from the guild is there anything else you would like to add no this time all right to maintain confidentiality this investigation you were advised not to disclose the information that was discussed during this interview except with your spark representative or attorney do you understand that yes that completes this interview today's date is february 28 2018 and the time is 10 28. i am lieutenant strozier of the seattle police department and the office of police accountability today's date is march 28 2018 and the time is 0 6 10 hours in the morning the opa case number is 2017 opa-1202 i am interviewing lieutenant dietrich a named employee also president is lieutenant bockler this interview is taking place at the opa office in suite 1800 of the pacific building lieutenant dietrich please state your name and spell your last name seth dietrich diaz and david i e t r i c h lieutenant bockler please state your name and spell your last name scott buckler b-a-c-h-l-e-r this interview is being documented with an audio recorder lieutenant dietrich d um saying this interview is being recorded and agreed to be recorded i do lieutenant bockler do you understand this interview is being recorded and agreed to be recorded yes lieutenant deidre have you received copies of the guarantee advisement and the seattle police officer's bill of rights outlining your collective bargaining agreement and do you understand them i have have you received notification of the allegations made in the complaint yes under the authority of the chief of the seattle police department you are hereby ordered to answer all questions asked of you truthfully and completely failure to do so may result in discipline up to and including termination do you understand yes lieutenant dietrich where are you currently assigned i am the first watch commander in the southwest precinct and how long have you been on the seattle police department almost 33 years and how long have you been a lieutenant for i've been a watch commander for two years i've been a lieutenant for about a year and a half okay [Music] approximately how many employees do you supervise normally between 18 and 21. and what are your duties as a watch commander i just i supervise the watch make sure the sergeants have their squads ready and make sure staffing levels are appropriate respond to major incidents okay you're being interviewed as a named employee for an incident that was alleged to occur november 10 2017 the complaint alleges that you made unprofessional and biased comments regarding the holocaust germans and jewish persons and that comments were heard by employees of the southwest precinct are you familiar with this incident i'm not sure what you're talking about did you attend the holocaust training that is mandatory trained for the seattle police department i have and how many times have you gone to that training i've attended it as a monitor probably half a dozen times okay has anyone ever uh talked to you about making comments that they thought were unprofessional or biased no the training that you accu that you attended as a monitor what does the training address and what is your role of that training it's a historical perspective on law enforcement and the era of the nazi regime in germany my role as a monitor is to monitor the officers that are attending to ensure that everybody maintains a professional demeanor and concerning professional demeanor and the policy standards and duties employees shall strive to be professional at all times how does that apply or what does that mean to you basically means that their behavior is professional that they are not becoming insulting or derogatory towards the instructors or anybody else in the class that you know they you know that they follow policy and obey the rules as it occurs in the class and what about biased policy how does biased policing apply in this instance in any incident well i would i would suspect that in order for there to be biased policing first there would have to be policing and that a law enforcement decision would have to be made based on a person's statute status within the community okay on that date that you attended as a monitor to the training from the southwest pre there were several employees from the southwest register to attend a training did you attend the training also i did and how did you travel to and from the training i drove my uh lieutenant's vehicle so you didn't travel in the van with officers and sergeants no it is alleged that prior to leaving the precinct you made a comment or joke that could be interpreted as unprofessional and biased it has been alleged that you made the comment something to the fact that you lost relatives at auschwitz too that they fell out of the guard towers does this sound accurate to you no i recall making a joke but i certainly did not make it prior to the training on this day what was the joke that you made i was it was after the training and i was talking to an officer who with the community police team in my office and we were discussing i think it was a day or two later and we were discussing the training i asked him what he thought of it and then he made a joke i'm not sure what it was at the moment but i responded with this particular joke are you asking me to tell you the joke yes please oh yeah i just i as i recall i told him that i lost a relative at auschwitz and he said really and i said yeah he fell out of a guard tower okay was that joke or comment meant to be truthful fact or was it supposed to be humor it was supposed to be humor okay and you said there was only one person that was there that heard the comment and who was that person i believe that was todd ruki yeah and uh so i'm sure you were in your office and just until you were present correct additionally it has been alleged that you made another comment something to the fact that your take away from the training is that we germans know how to rally together for a cause did you make that statement absolutely not are you aware that such comments could be interpreted as bias and and or unprofessional if you had made them i that would be unprofessional to make a comment like that i'm sorry that would be unprofessional to make a comment like that did any of your subordinates approach you to discuss their reaction to those comments no regarding the allegations of professionalism policy directs employees not to to not use language that is disrespectful toward any person do you believe your comments or did you make any comments that could have been interpreted as disrespectful i don't believe that the joke that i did make was intended to be disrespectful towards any one individual or group regarding the allegation of bias policing policy direct employs to not express any derogatory comments concerning discernible personal characteristics characteristics do you believe that you made any comments that could have been interpreted as derogatory towards a group for a group or a person i do not okay so i want to make sure i understand the who was you're talking to again in your office i believe if i remember correctly it was todd luki top wiki and when you made the joke um about the guard tower did he express any um concern over the joke or did he laugh or as i recall he chuckled okay and it was meant to be funny not fact correct did you have any relatives die in the holocaust as far as i know i did not is there anything else that you would like to add to your statement yes for one thing to go back my wife is part jewish and she's participated in reform judaism i have two stepdaughters who are half jewish and i've always respected their faith and their history this particular complaint i believe is retaliation for a front-line complaint or a frontline investigation that i completed on officer nova sedlik uh is my understanding from what other officers have told me is that officer noah sudlik has bragged about filing this complaint and he's filed an almost identical complaint with the eeo office there's been a history of harassment intimidation from officer nova sedlik towards me i have had more complaints since i took over as a watch commander in the southwest precinct filed against me than i have had in my entire career to go back uh this particular file these files represent five opa and three eeo complaints that have been filed against me and these are files that you brought to the office these are files that i brought in this is a this is an opa uh investigation it was filed and honored by an anonymous employee um officers are telling me that officer nova sedlik was bragging about having filed that particular complaint this is an eeo complaint that was filed by officer julius howard once this issue was resolved officer howard came to my office and we had a rather robust discussion during the discussion he told me that he didn't want to file this but that officer novoselic encouraged him to do so and he felt obligated to file it this is a opa complaint from officer doug jorgensen this is a complaint of retaliation because he had testified against me in an opa manner the original complaint on this call without going into detail at the investigation because i believe is still an open investigation uh but the original complainant on the call on this incident was officer nova sedlec who came to me under the guise of wanting to have provide code 4 for officer jorgensen but alleged a major policy violation that put me in a position where i felt i needed to make a referral to opa i felt that officer nobody said like did that on purpose that he had an axe to grind with officer jorgensen at that time and that he felt he could kill two birds with one stone so to speak by putting me in a position where i either would file the complaint against officer jorgensen and risk a retaliation complaint from him or not take action with opa and then he could turn around he could have turned around and filed a failure to take action complaint against me this is a uh another opa and an eeo complaint that uh i just recently had an interview on so as far as i know it's still open uh but it was also filed by officer nova sedlik in retaliation for me directing his supervisor to take care of a particular matter with him that's pretty much all the files that i have at this point any of those officers officer nova satellite officer howard officer jorgensen were any of those officers present on this date that you were the monitor for the holocaust training on this particular date i don't recall if they were present on on this date there was a another date i believe where i actually ended up giving them a ride down to the training in my biu and the day that you gave them a ride were there any jokes or comments made uh similar to the ones we just discussed uh there was some general banter going back and forth um oh i do recall a joke being made to me about my responsibility as having a germanic background and i did say at that point on that drive i did make the comment that you know as germans were nice people but as a group we tend to rally so earlier in this interview you said you didn't make germans know um how to rally so are you saying you're just not remembering or yeah i'm just now remember okay okay and as the question was before it was that germans rallied to a cause and that's not what i said what i said was as a group we tend to rally as a group you tend to rally and who was present when you said that um officer howard officer narc i believe officer jenkins alex jenkins and officer ryan blake and officer noah cycle was not there no he was not and you've never made that comment in his presence if not okay and was that the only instance that you made that comment as best i can recall yes okay and do you remember the date that when that occurred i would have to go back and look in my calendar to make sure okay and you were driving your piu yes and what does piu stand for patrol interceptor utility i believe okay and that's you roll from the southwest precinct to the training yes and i drove them because parking's uh an issue down there right so we went on one car okay do you have anything else that oh boy um like i said this particular complaint i believe is in retaliation this these ongoing series of complaints have created in my mind a hostile work environment i actually have had to change some of my own behavior where i actually turn my phone off when i get home so that i don't look at my emails because one of the chief concerns is i'm going to get a five-day notice and it's going to ruin my day off so you know it's it's a to me it's a hostile work environment and he's he's and officer novacelic has created this lieutenant bockler do you have anything to answer i have a clarifying question uh for you and i'm not really expecting much of an answer but it seems that there's the possibility that there's a concurrent uh investigation for this incident going on in this office opa and eeo at the same time and i'm a little unclear whether that's on purpose or if just kind of what the status is because it seems like there are potentially issues if we're having multiple interviews over the same conduct happening at the same time so we will try and clarify exactly what's happening with that yeah i don't really have a good answer for you i understand what you're saying i didn't expect it yeah but i just want to have this part of the record no i understand i understand okay to maintain confidentiality of this investigation you are advised not to disclose the information discussed during your interview except with your representative or attorney do you understand i do this completes the interview today's date is march 28 2018 and the time is 6 28 am