King County Sheriff Unveils Deputy Complaint Dashboard

KING COUNTY, WA — The King County Sheriff's Office has launched a new interactive dashboard, giving the public new insight on the number of complaints, findings and disciplinary actions resulting from internal investigations dating back to 2014.

The latest data portal follows the launch of a similar dashboard that tracks deputy use of force incidents. Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht said providing easily accessible data to the public helps build community trust.

"The King County Sheriff's Office is the first in our state to offer these dashboards," Johanknecht said in a statement. "A few law enforcement agencies around the country share IIU data, but none of them offer this data to the public in an interactive format."

Users can sort the data by incident type, employee classification and rank and search by precinct to narrow down data in their neighborhoods. Residents can also find the trends over time, reflecting changes between years.

Right now, the dashboard does not include information from 2020. According to the sheriff's office, the goal is to update the data annually.

Last year, internal investigations processed 729 complaints and 1,168 allegations against employees. Two of the most common allegations included excessive or unnecessary use of force or actions "in violation of directives, rules, policies or procedures."

Among the 230 sustained findings, 32 percent of employees received a reprimand, 21 percent were given "corrective counseling," and just 4 percent resigned or were fired.

View the dashboards for complaints and use of force incidents on the King County website.