SEATTLE —The Seattle City Council has voted to allow police to use less lethal weapons such as tear gas, pepper spray and blast balls under specific circumstances, reversing previous restrictions imposed after 2020 unrest, The Seattle Times reported.
The ordinance passed 6-3 on Tuesday, moving the city closer to ending more than a decade of federal oversight of its police department, according to the report.
The new law allows officers to deploy less lethal measures when an imminent threat of physical harm or significant property damage is present. Approval from the incident commander is required, and in cases involving tear gas or blast balls, the mayor must first declare a civil emergency, according to the report. Amendments to the bill mandate that blast balls be thrown underhand and away from people unless there is an immediate threat to life.
Seattle has been under federal oversight since 2012 following a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found excessive use of force, according to the report. The passage of this ordinance fulfills the final requirement before the city can petition to dissolve the settlement agreement with the DOJ.
The Seattle Police Department has not used blast balls since October 2020 and has continued to follow its own policies on less-lethal weapons despite past legal battles over city regulations, according to the report. The new ordinance also requires the department to submit an annual report on crowd-control weapon use.
With the council’s approval, the ordinance will now be reviewed by a federal monitor before the city moves forward with its effort to lift the federal consent decree.
