DivestSPD
@divestspd.bsky.social
1.4K followers 150 following 920 posts
Seattle's community police watchdog. Got a good tip on a bad cop? DM us! Substack: www.divestspd.com Donate: ko-fi.com/divestspd and venmo.com/divestspd
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divestspd.bsky.social
No. It's just a longstanding police practice at nearly all departments to promote primarily based on civil service exams. It's supposed to be more meritocratic.
Reposted by DivestSPD
notmylinkedin.bsky.social
I find it absolutely impossible to believe that nobody in the chain of command knew that Mike Tietjen, a vocal bigot they've worked with for decades, is a huge piece of shit with an enormous public record of abuse who is unfit for command.
jseattle.bsky.social
Not much of a pledge but ok
divestspd.bsky.social
Tietjen was third on the list, therefore he was “highly qualified”

He’s still a captain. They’ll put him in charge of something else significant. Probably another precinct, maybe citywide response (CRG) because of his military background and history with ACT
divestspd.bsky.social
They don’t even consider disciplinary history. It’s purely based on officers’ rankings on the exam.

If there are more vacancies than officers on the register, they just promote everyone automatically.
amysundberg.bsky.social
Quite the embarrassment for SPD, as this suggests they haven't previously been reviewing officers' history before promoting them, which should be a fundamental part of the promotion process.
jseattle.bsky.social
Not much of a pledge but ok
divestspd.bsky.social
It's a basic requirement that the captain of the East Precinct must be...a captain. Raguso was an acting captain (with the permanent rank of lieutenant) until the results of the captain's exam were released in August. He failed. Badly.

www.seattle.gov/documents/De...
www.seattle.gov
divestspd.bsky.social
It's also typically lazy of Erica to fill the gaps in her reporting with insinuations that the acting commander Raguso was "quietly removed" despite being a "22-year veteran" and a "fixture at the East Precinct."

He was removed because literally everyone else scored higher on the captain's exam.
divestspd.bsky.social
More receipts showing a pattern going back to 2021.

bsky.app/profile/dive...
divestspd.bsky.social
Well, now that Erica Barnett has blocked us, we might as well point out that Publicola completely cannibalized a story we broke without crediting us—something she’s always loudly chastising other outlets for.

Note the dates below:
divestspd.bsky.social
This is all putting aside the fact that Erica wouldn’t even have recognized this guy’s name if we hadn’t been regularly blasting it out into the public consciousness for four years straight bsky.app/profile/dive...
divestspd.bsky.social
During the 2020 protests, Lt. Michael Tietjen racked up the most sustained complaints — including one for driving an SUV onto a sidewalk full of protesters and calling them "cockroaches."

SPD rewarded him with a promotion to watch lieutenant at the North Precinct.

tinyurl.com/MichaelTietjen
EPPs
TETURN
SEATTLE
EST
1869
POLICE
LT. MICHAEL TIETJEN
NORTH PRECINCT
Hired: 2000 Pay (2023): $153,401
• 2007 A wheelchair-bound Black man alleged
Tietjen and his partner planted drugs on him and
beat him. Investigators found inconsistencies in
their story and the video evidence
• 2020 Tietjen was suspended after he ran his
unmarked SUV onto a sidewalk full of protesters
and called them "cockroaches."
• 2020 During the July 25 demo, Tietjen violently
shoved a protester down, causing him to hit his
head on a bus shelter.
LUS ARMY
MICHAEL
TIETJEN
North.
www.divestspd.com
divestspd.bsky.social
This is also inaccurate. Erica should've read through our posts more thoroughly when she was raiding them.

Tietjen was supposedly transferred for this incident, but he had been at the North Precinct since Nov 2020 and remained after the case closed. He was promoted a few months later.
divestspd.bsky.social
She also used this incident ripped straight off our Twitter feed and then linked to the OPA report that she also lazily obtained from our Twitter feed.
divestspd.bsky.social
We even got video of it bsky.app/profile/dive...
divestspd.bsky.social
Tietjen was also suspended for another incident on July 25, when he violently shoved a protester into a bus shelter. www.seattle.gov/Documents/De...
divestspd.bsky.social
Erica Barnett is always complaining that other outlets use her reporting without credit.

Here she is again using our reporting without credit.

She links to KUOW and every other outlet in this story, but here she links to OPA

We were the only ones to cover this
divestspd.bsky.social
We're working on rolling out a series of themed packs, including:

* The Protest Pack (CRG/POET/Protest Task Force Officers)
* The 40% Club (Google "40% of Cops")
* SPD Gone Wild (Cops Getting Drunk & Disorderly)

Stay tuned!
divestspd.bsky.social
Divesters! The first DivestSPD baseball cards are being delivered.

Quote this post with pictures and the link (tinyurl.com/DivestCards) so everyone can see how cool they are.

Thanks to everyone who bought a pack (or several)!
Reposted by DivestSPD
stopsurveillance.bsky.social
SPD works with ICE. ICE just has to claim its for a "criminal" matter

The recent legislation expanding mass surveillance spelled this out: "While the City cooperates with federal immigration authorities in criminal matters, it does not do so in civil immigration matters except as required by law."
Reposted by DivestSPD
divestspd.bsky.social
EXCLUSIVE: Newly obtained bodycam footage from the May 24 bust-up in Cal Anderson shows a Seattle police sergeant beating a protester on the ground

Apparently, the sergeant also fabricated probable cause for the arrest.

Read & subscribe: www.divestspd.com/p/new-may-24...
divestspd.bsky.social
We have additional footage and more on the way. Stay tuned.

Support our work.
ko-fi.com/divestspd
divestspd.bsky.social
Compare this account of the incident to the body camera footage in the second post of this thread. None of it matches what actually happened.
divestspd.bsky.social
Adams used force again a few minutes later as they were prepping the protester to go into the arrest van.

After the protester yelled "Fuck you," he twisted the handcuffs and pushed them up his back, causing him to cry out in pain.
divestspd.bsky.social
Another aspect of Graham: Force must be judged from the perspective of a "hypothetical reasonable officer on the scene."

No need for hypotheticals. There was an officer with Adams, and he didn't use reportable force (much less punch the protester multiple times.
divestspd.bsky.social
There was zero justification for this. Per Graham v. Connor, force must be "necessary," meaning there is no "reasonably effective alternative," to achieve a "lawful purpose" (handcuffing)

The alternative was just prying the guy's hands loose (what he ultimately did)
divestspd.bsky.social
Sgt. David Adams claimed that a protester "charged" him and attempted to "tackle" him, but it was the other way around.

The man was standing about 10 feet away from where officers were making arrests, and Adams rushed him, threw him down, and started punching him.
divestspd.bsky.social
EXCLUSIVE: Newly obtained bodycam footage from the May 24 bust-up in Cal Anderson shows a Seattle police sergeant beating a protester on the ground

Apparently, the sergeant also fabricated probable cause for the arrest.

Read & subscribe: www.divestspd.com/p/new-may-24...
Reposted by DivestSPD
banalplay.bsky.social
When your custom character appears in a cut scene
The Portland frog backing down an army of jackboots
divestspd.bsky.social
Cop unions love Trump. They love his goons Patel and Homan. They love these city invasions.

SPOG prez Mike Solan testified in favor of Patel’s confirmation. He posed with Homan. He praised Trump’s occupation of DC.
danhinkel.bsky.social
One thing to bear in mind here is that the union that represents the wide majority of Chicago police earlier this year dedicated the cover and a good chunk of the inside of its magazine for members to praising Tom Homan and ICE.
FOP February cover with Tom Homan and the headline The Ice Man Cometh