OLYMPIA, WA – The Washington State Legislature passed a bill that expands the scope of the statewide Office of Independent Investigation, which recently began its initial work on police deadly use of force incidents.
Created by the Legislature in 2021, OII operates out of the Governor’s Office and originally was intended to specifically and only investigate deadly police use of force incidents. It currently operates out of several regions including Southwest Washington beginning in late 2024 and early 2025, which an expansion to Pierce County also in 2025. OII currently has numerous active investigations into deadly use of force incidents, which prior were carried out by independent investigative teams that continue to operate on incidents outside of OII’s judications. It’s first report was put out in 2024.
Introduced by Rep. Debra Entenmanat the request of OII, House Bill 2508 broadens the scope of OII’s investigative powers to include other types of incidents. This include a retroactive provision in which deadly use of force incidents or investigations that occurred prior to the bill’s passage. Additionally, OII can investigate incidents involving an officer where a person later dies, as well as instances where new evidence is found that was not included in the initial investigation.
The bill also exempts certain OII records from public disclosure, which includes records in connection with the review of any incident until the investigation has been referred to a prosecutor for filing. Further, the bill exempts all non-investigative records related to an OII review or investigation if they contain private information about an individual.
OII currently has an annual budget of $14 million and a total of $29 million over the biennium, which is significantly less than the $53 million it requested from the Legislature.
The bill’s passage comes shortly after the departure of Director Roger Rogoff, who announced his resignation in February. Gov. Bob Ferguson has appointed Jane Nesbitt to serve as interim director through 2028. Nesbitt has served OII’s chief of staff since August 2022.
Prior to his appointment to OII, Rogoff worked as a King County senior deputy prosecutor, a defense attorney and a Washington state judge. He has also served on the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force and Sentencing Guidelines Commission.
In a February interview with The Center Square following his announced resignation, Rogoff said that despite delays to investigations the OII’s current operation in 13 counties “is an incredible start.
“I think it’s it says a lot about the people we’ve hired since the first day when we had no employees, that we’ve gotten to this point where we are fully operational within those counties,” he added.
However, he noted that the ultimate goal is to operate in all 39 counties.
“The way we do that is by accruing the resources necessary, and mostly that would be investigators and the training of those investigators in places other than Southwest Washington,” he said.
Rogoff also emphasized that while the OII investigates deadly use of force incidents, that’s the extent of their work.
“We don’t make a recommendation to the prosecutor, because ultimately, it’s the prosecutor’s decision whether to file a criminal case,” he said.
In a February interview with The Center Square, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Executive Director Steve Strachan said that their discussions with OII have been positive.
“They have acknowledged when law enforcement has raised issues and had concerns, but now that we’ve had the director leave we’re going to be basically making sure what OII does…is really focused on external and internal objectivity and legitimacy of these investigations; that they always focused on facts and the law, and not social media or political pressure or family opinion,” he said.
HB 2508 cleared the House in a 90-6 vote, while in the Senate it received a 44-4 vote. The bill was sent to Ferguson for signing on March 6.
