Seattle, WA
Seattle city official hit with staff 'whistleblower' complaints
The embattled director of the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) faces a slew of whistleblower complaints, according to multiple sources. Now, rumors are swirling that Gino Betts is being managed out of the position.
“At least seven different civilian OPA employees in the small department have filed HR complaints against Director Betts for workplace misconduct,” the email complaint states. “Betts manages with fear and intimidation and has created a toxic work environment. OPA employees respect the chain of command and have been trying to fix this internally for over a year and a half. Betts knows what he is doing is wrong because he only lashes out at non-union employees who he knows cannot fight back for fear of being fired.”
OPA staff, who refer to themselves as whistleblowers, sent their complaints via email to city council members, the Office of Inspector General and other city officials. They complain of Betts’ mistreatment of staff, acting unprofessional and creating a hostile work environment. The whistleblowers say, “The majority of OPA staff have lost confidence in Betts” due to his alleged conduct.
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What are complaints against OPA Director Gino Betts about?
The complaint makes a number of serious allegations against Gino Betts. They center on alleged mistreatment of staff and an effort to cover up certain investigations for political gain. “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH obtained the email from the person who claimed to be one of the whistleblowers. The email was independently verified.
“Betts bullies and belittles staff he believes are weak or who have different points of view,” the complaint email alleged. “He turns what should be calm collaborative discussions into stressful adversarial arguments he must win at all costs. Employees fear interacting with him and this impacts work.”
The whistleblowers claim that Betts “has driven out many valued employees” and that he’s known to retaliate “against women filing complaints against him.”
“Betts orally reprimanded a new mother for using all of her Family Medical Leave time after giving birth,” the whistleblowers claim. “The mother’s FMLA was legitimate-Betts just thought she should not have used all of it as it inconvenienced the office. This was during the new mother’s yearly performance review. The mother received half the vacation merit days as her peers. Isn’t this illegal?”
The email continues, alleging Betts “taunts, humiliates and laughs at subordinates he perceives as disagreeing with him,” “ices out people he disfavors,” has a “tyrannical attitude” that leads to “sloppy procedural mistakes on his part that will eventually cost the city in settlement money when terminated officers sue,” and ” micromanages to an unreasonable and destructive degree.”
The whistleblowers also make a number of allegations that Betts is purposefully burying “credible” complaints made against former police chief Adrian Diaz.
“Betts ordered staff on at least three occasions to ignore the serious cases and instead focus on easy to close out contact logs — clearly frivolous cases that would exonerate the Chief with no investigation and little work,” they claim.
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What is the city saying about the allegations?
Gino Betts did not respond to a request for comment. Emails to his city account were met with an out-of-office reply, indicating he will be out until November 4. OPA did not explain why he is out of the office or when he took time off, when asked by “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.
Early last week, rumors began to spread that Betts was on his way out. While Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office will not confirm or deny any of the allegations or knowledge of the complaints, a spokesperson denied rumors that Betts was placed on administrative leave. In a follow-up email, the mayor’s spokesperson ignored most questions but did say Betts’ employment status has not changed.
Multiple sources said Betts was a no-show at the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement conference in Tucson earlier this month, despite being scheduled to attend. But neither the mayor’s office nor OPA will answer specific questions about this.
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Gino Betts has been a controversial figure
The OPA Director has been the subject of numerous criticisms from Seattle Police officers. They believe he lacks impartiality, a claim highlighted by his handling of a recent high-profile case.
Betts most recently was subject to criticism for the Dan Auderer case, a now-former Seattle cop who joked about how city attorneys would respond to the death of graduate student Jaahnavi Kandula. She ran across a crosswalk as an officer was driving to an overdose emergency. She appeared to have misjudged the officer’s speed and was hit and killed. The officer was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in her death. Auderer had been called to test the officer for impairment, which is procedure, but knew little about the victim. He made the joke privately in his patrol vehicle, while on a call. It was accidentally recorded on his body camera, leading to a complaint about unprofessionalism.
Emails and a video recording obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show” show Betts found Auderer guilty before the investigation concluded. Though Betts acknowledged he did not have evidence that Auderer committed bias policing when making his joke about city lawyers, the director recommended the cop be terminated for bias policing against the victim over the joke.
“So we brought a bias allegation against him (Auderer) that we’re not going to sustain because we can’t prove that he was biased when he made the comments. That he knew her race or he knew any personal identifying information about her. But, I do highly doubt that if this were an officer that was in her (Kandula’s) position, he wouldn’t be making these types of comments. So, I can’t say he was bias because of her race, or anything like that,” Betts admitted during a media training session on framing the OPA’s finding against Auderer, according to a recording obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show.”
Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
Seattle, WA
VIDEO: Scream Club Seattle keeps growing, midway through first year
(Story originally posted 8:22 pm, updated 12:32 am)
By Torin Record-Sand
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
From a distance, they looked like a regular crowd of people enjoying a nice evening walk on the shores of Lincoln Park. But they were gathered here for a singular purpose: to scream. Since September 2025, the Scream Club Seattle has met at Lincoln Park on every third Sunday to scream, led by head organizer Amber Walcker. No explanation, justification, or invitation to scream is needed – come as you are. “There are some harder emotions people come here to deal with, sure, but some people also just come to scream.” head organizer Amber explained.
Tonight’s crowd showed the club is rapidly growing. From around a dozen or so participants in the first gathering in September, tonight seemed to attract around 40 people gathering to let it all out.
As the sun started to set, and everyone was finally gathered together, the Scream Club was ready to begin.
There are only three screams, organizer Amber explained. The first, she said, is a scream to get used to doing it in public. The second scream is there to ground you. And the final – and longest scream – is there to let you have an emotional catharsis.
She also wanted to make sure people were taking care of their vocal health beforehand. As she told everyone to walk a little bit from the meeting place and start to gather near the shore, she instructed the crowd to hum for a few minutes on the way, to warm up the vocal cords.
With that, the crowd walked towards the shore.
“On the count of one – two – three – scream!” said organizer Amber.
You can see our video of the proceedings here. After the screaming, we talked to a few participants about why they came out.
“There’s not one thing that’s really making me want to scream. There’s a lot of stuff going on for me, a lot of emotional ups and downs. Screaming into the ocean together gives you a sense of community.” said Jessie.
“This is my third or fourth time coming to scream. With the political climate, with everything that’s happening, getting together with local community to scream feels more productive than screaming into the internet on social media.” said Ursula.
“This is my first time coming out.” said Liz. “I screamed after the Seahawks won the Super Bowl, and I really felt something. I realized I’ve been feeling a lot of frustration recently, and it felt like coming here was a healthy way to get it out rather than screaming at your neighbors.”
Organizer Amber recognizes much of what they were saying. “Meeting like this can be an important element to have in your mental health toolbox. It’s rare to have scream therapy.” She shared an anecdote about the therapeutic origins of the group, which originally started with a chapter in Chicago. “The founder was a life coach. Their girlfriend was having a bad day, and they encouraged them to go to the Chicago Pier and just let it out. He walked her through the process, and that was that. Eventually they invited more people to come do it.” She hopes to bring that same therapeutic energy to the practice here. “It’s a moment of emotional release more than anything else. Depending on what’s going on in people’s minds, everyone will come here with a different mindset and purpose. We’re providing a safe space to do that.”
Scream Club Seattle meets at Lincoln Park on the first Sunday of every month, and they are also starting to meet on the third Sunday of every month at Golden Gardens in Ballard. Tentatively, the next events will be in Lincoln Park on April 5th around 6 PM, and Golden Gardens on March 15th around 5 PM. If you’d like to know more, you can find them on Instagram here or look at their future events on their Eventbrite page here.
Seattle, WA
Detectives Investigating Robbery, Shooting Over $20 Necklace – SPD Blotter
Seattle police detectives are investigating a robbery and shooting of a 23-year-old man over a $20 necklace in Pioneer Square this morning.
At about 12:40 a.m., patrol officers responded to a shooting in the 500 block of 2nd Avenue. There, they found a victim, bleeding, with a gunshot wound to his right thigh. Police and the Seattle Fire Department treated his injury. Medics took him to Harborview Medical Center (HMC) in stable condition.
Police determined that the victim just left a bar, getting into the passenger seat of his friend’s car, when the suspect, wearing a ski mask and armed with a firearm, approached him and demanded his necklace. They struggled over the item, and the suspect shot the victim in the leg. The shooter fled in a vehicle with the necklace before police arrived. The value of the “chain” is about $20.
Detectives in the Robbery Unit responded to the scene and HMC. Anyone with information is asked to call the SPD Violent Crimes Tip line at 206-233-5000. Anonymous tips are accepted.
Incident Number: 2026-57536
Seattle, WA
Fast Start for Kraken Win, Homestand | Seattle Kraken
That stretch begins with five more home games: A skilled and successful Carolina squad Monday, followed by St. Louis (for the second time in a week) Wednesday, Ottawa next Saturday, then Nashville (just behind Seattle in the West wild-card race) on March 10 and then finishing with Western Conference leader Colorado March 12.
Stars Shine and Star-Crossed Hat Trick
Vince Dunn opened the scoring in his 600th NHL game. Jordan Eberle topped the best Kraken-season goals mark with his 21st and 22nd goals of the year, with 23 games left to flirt with his first 30-plus goals on the year since his sophomore season in 2011-12. Joey Daccord registered 27 saves on the victorious night, including nine high-danger chances in the first 40 minutes alone.
To the fans’ disappointment, the slick-stickhandling Daccord missed a historic goalie goal by inches. But the sellout crowd was rewarded when Eberle cashed in on the Vancouver empty net. Eberle now has four two-goal games this season.
In a bizarre twist, when Eberle scored that empty-netter, Kraken fans rightfully cheered and tossed headwear for what was presumed to be a hat-trick score. But after Eberle scored, the scoring change on the Kraken’s power play goal was announced when off-ice officials realized Eberle’s shot had just ever-so-slightly deflected off Matty Beniers’ skate. So no hat trick for the second time this season. Linemate Jared McCann and hat-tossing fans thought the Kraken’s all-time leading scorer had notched a hat trick earlier this season, only to have it reversed when an offside infraction by, wait for it, Beniers, erased the goal.
Eberle joked post-game that maybe fans deserved some hats. The Kraken captain also said when Daccord missed by inches on his goalie goal, he was on the bench saying, “he got it, he got it.” Post-game, Eberle said, “It’s just a matter of time before he gets one” because he greatly admires the goaltender’s puck-handling skills.
The Kraken came out fast Saturday night with two goals, a couple of near-misses, lots of scoring attempts and pucks on net during the first 20 minutes. One near-miss was a hard wrist shot from Jordan Eberle that clanged off the far post. But no matter, Eberle scored a pivotal goal in the second period, getting in front of a Vancouver shot and chasing his own ricochet to create a breakaway with his still-elite speed. The 35-year-old Seattle captain went to his lethal backhand to beat Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen. Eberle’s tally re-upped the two-goal lead.
Good night for Kraken special teams as well. The penalty killer snuffed an early third period Canucks power play to keep the two-score cushion. Later third period, Matty Beniers scored on the power play, deflecting an Eberle shot, to push the score to 4-1. Chandler Stephenson earned his second point of the night with the primary assist. Same for Dunn, who notched the second assist. The Kraken needed just 10 seconds to score the man-advantage marker.
Captaining His Best Kraken Season…
It is Eberle’s 21st goal of the season. The next one he scores will set a new high as a Kraken for the teammate everyone calls “Ebs.” That makes it three of five seasons that Eberle has scored 20 or more goals. Eberle almost scored again later second period when matching cross-checking penalties on SEA forward Kaapo Kakko and VAN defenseman Filip Hronek. The ensuing 4-on-4 play was dominated by the Kraken quartet of Eberle, Matty Beniers, Brandon Montour and Ryker Evans. Beniers stood with some moves and an improv that had future Hall of Fame play-by-play man John Forslund saying, “Beniers did everything but score.” It was heartening to see Seattle flexing its offensive chops with a 3-1 lead.
The Kraken scored twice in an opening 20 minutes played to order, returning to the hard forechecking game they exhibited on a heater 10-game streak before the Olympic break. The starting goalie did his part, stopping all nine of Vancouver’s shots in the first 20 minutes to bring confidence to the first-intermission home locker room.
Jumping Out of the Starting Blocks
The Kraken faithful were mega-decibel loud during the announcement of the starting lineups, welcoming back Olympian bronze medalists Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen, as well as Seattle teammates. This week’s two road losses forgotten, replaced by rousing cheers for starters and fourth-liners Freddy Gaudreau, centering Jacob Melanson and Ben Meyers (on the wing for the first since a road matchup in LA right before the winter holiday break).
Defenseman Cale Fleury and Ryker Evans rounded out the skaters in front of Joey Daccord. It’s not a stretch to think head coach Lane Lambert was sending a message with his fourth line and third pair getting the first shift after losing two games in the Midwest by a composite score of 9-2.
Saturday morning, both defenseman Vince Dunn and Lambert both talked about what would be the ideal first 10 to 20 minutes in this Pacific Division showdown with rival Vancouver.
“We need to play simple and hard and direct,” said Dunn, who was playing in his 600th NHL game, 333 with Seattle. “I think we’re very connected when we can get our forecheck going. I think the way we play as a five-man unit is that we slow teams down and don’t get scrambled in our own end. We’re more patient in our own end and letting guys accept their positions and roles and areas that they need to defend in.
“Right away, we need to start shooting pucks … the past two games, the shot count hasn’t been where we wanted it to be in the first 10 minutes. So let’s get some looks and see what happens. Let’s see if we can get the other team scrambling.”
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