ORDINANCE _________________ AN ORDINANCE relating to Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) records reviewed by the Office of Professional Accountability Review Board (OPA Review Board); providing that the OPA Review Board will have access to unredacted OPA files; setting forth the OPA Review Board's confidentiality requirements and provisions concerning indemnity; and amending Seattle Municipal Code Section 3.28.920 accordingly. WHEREAS, SMC 3.28.920(A) states that the OPA Review Board shall have access to redacted complaint forms of all OPA complaints and redacted files of all closed OPA investigations; and WHEREAS, SMC 3.28.920(B) requires OPA Review Board members to protect the confidentiality of Police Department files and records to which they have been given access; and WHEREAS, in its December 2002 report the OPA Review Board observed that the process of redacting OPA files is unnecessarily labor intensive for the OPA, is unproductive, and is a practical impediment to its work, and thus limits its ability to effectively perform its duty to review the OPA complaint handling process; and WHEREAS, in its April 2004 report the OPA Review Board recommended to the City Council that it have access to unredacted OPA files because the time required for redaction and the difficulty of reading redacted files hamper its ability to review OPA cases and because redaction prevents it from determining patterns of complaints against particular officers or within specific precincts; and WHEREAS, in its April 2004 report the OPA Review Board also observed that it had honored its nondisclosure agreements by safeguarding identifying information it had received inadvertently or directly from complainants and therefore had earned the right to be routinely entrusted with such information; and WHEREAS, the City Council believes the confidentiality requirement placed on the OPA Review Board is sufficient to protect the confidentiality of OPA files in the possession of the OPA Review Board; and WHEREAS, the City Council believes the confidentiality requirement in SMC 3.28.920(B) can be stated more clearly; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SEATTLE AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Section 3.28.920 of the Seattle Municipal Code is amended as follows: 3.28.920 Access to and confidentiality of files and records A. For the purpose of reviewing the OPA complaint handling process, theThe OPA Review Board shall have access to, for purposes of review, redacted unredacted complaint forms of all OPA complaints and redactedunredacted files of all closed OPA investigations, except for information the OPA would be required to withhold from persons not members of criminal justice agencies pursuant to the Criminal Records Privacy Act (Chapter 10.97 RCW) as it now exists and may hereafter be amended. The OPA Review Board shall have access to summary information necessary for its reporting obligations as set forth in Section 3.28.910 of this chapter. B. In discharging his or hertheir responsibilities, OPA Review Board members shall protect the confidentiality of Department files to which they have been provided access. in the same manner and to the same degree they would be obligated to protect attorney-client privileged materials under legal and ethical requirements . The OPA Review Board shall also be bound by the confidentiality provisions of the Criminal Records Privacy Act (RCW Chapter 10.97) and Public Disclosure Act (RCW Section 42.17.250 et seq.). The OPA Review Board shall not identify the identity of the subject of an investigation in any public report required by this chapter. OPA Review Board members shall not disclose information in these Department files and records except in the reports required by ordinance. OPA Review Board reports shall not contain identifying information about anyone involved in an OPA complaint or OPA investigation other than the OPA Director. "Identifying information" is defined as name, badge number, physical description, address, telephone number, email address, photographs or drawings, or any other unique identifying numbers such as driver's license, employee, vehicle or social security numbers. In the event of a public disclosure request pursuant to the Public Disclosure Act (RCW 42.17.250 et seq.), the OPA Review Board shall not disclose any information contained in OPA complaint forms or in files on closed OPA investigations, and shall transmit all such requests to the OPA Director for response.C. Indemnification and defense of OPA Review Board members is governed by Chapter 4.64 SMC. It is outside the scope of OPA Review Board members' assignments to disclose information in Department files and records other than as allowed in subsection B of this section.Section 2. 3.28.920 subsection C of the Seattle Municipal Code supersedes and preempts confidentiality agreements by OPA Review Board members that are inconsistent with that subsection. Section 3. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force the later of (a) or (b) as follows: (a) whichever of the following dates (a)(i) or (a)(ii) is the first to occur: (i) March 31, 2007 (which is ninety days after the expiration of the City's Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Seattle Police Officers' Guild (SPOG) on December 31, 2006), to allow an opportunity to collectively bargain the effects of any of this ordinance's provisions on the wages, hours and working conditions of SPOG members, or (ii) the effective date, if any, of an agreement reached between the City and SPOG concerning the effects of any of this ordinance's provisions on the wages, hours and working conditions of SPOG members; and (b) either (b)(i) or (b)(ii) as applicable: (i) if this ordinance is approved and returned by the Mayor within ten days after its presentation to him, then thirty days after the Mayor's approval, or (ii) if this ordinance is not approved and returned by the Mayor within ten days after its presentation to him, then the effective date provided by Municipal Code Section 1.04.020 subsections B, C, or D, as applicable. Passed by the City Council the ____ day of _________, 2006, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its passage this _____ day of __________, 2006. _________________________________ President __________of the City Council Approved by me this ____ day of _________, 2006. _________________________________ Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor Filed by me this ____ day of _________, 2006. ____________________________________ City Clerk (Seal) Peter Harris ordinance oparb redaction d10.doc 4/4/06 version #1 1