“We want to end the questions about what the facts are. I think that is the best service we can give as this new agency. We’re never going to end the speculation of what should have happened and what could have happened, and who’s right and who’s wrong. What we can end is this dual set of facts or triple set of facts that sometimes exists now.” – Roger Rogoff, director, WA Office of Independent Investigations (OII).
At 12:01am on Sunday Dec. 1, the OII, created by the 2021 Legislature as an independent entity to investigate police deadly force incidents, will begin doing just that, in one of six regions across Washington – Region 1, encompassing 12 counties in southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula.
“It’s really historic given that an investigative agency like this has never existed in the United States, one that is completely independent of any police agency, independent of any prosecutor agency, independent of any attorney general’s office. It really stands on its own underneath the governor’s office and will do its work without the help of commissioned police officers or anyone connected to law enforcement.”
When will the OII open in the other five regions of Washington? How will the investigations differ from current investigations? Will the OII reports include charging recommendations? A discussion on those questions and many more, as Austin Jenkins interviews Roger Rogoff, this week on Inside Olympia.