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State investigative office describes operations, answers Spokane questions
Summary
The state Office of Independent Investigations (OII) reviewed its mission, staffing and limited jurisdiction, described how it responds to fatal officer-involved uses of force, and fielded questions about Spokane-area coverage and body-camera release policies.
Hector Castro, director of communications and community relations at the Office of Independent Investigations, told the Spokane Office of Police Ombudsman Commission on the evening of the meeting that OII was created by the state legislature in 2021 and began receiving notifications of law-enforcement deadly-force incidents in November 2022.
"By statute, law enforcement agencies are required to notify our agency when 1 of their officers is involved in the use of deadly force incident," Castro said, adding OII opened a prior-investigations program in July 2023 and started responding to active incidents in Region 1 on Dec. 1, 2024.
The agency is organized into six regions, Castro said, and will initially investigate only cases that result in a fatality. He said OII does not make charging recommendations; it completes an investigative report and delivers the file to the appropriate local prosecutor.
Anwar Peace, who identified himself during public comment as "a 24 year police accountability expert," described a December officer-involved shooting in Spokane that killed his upstairs neighbor and urged the commission and the visiting OII staff to investigate possible failures of prior police responses in that case. "I'm demanding that there's an investigation...on the 30 times that my neighbors called police to get Joshua Musselman help, and they did not do anything," Peace told the commission.
Castro and OII staff answered questions from commissioners about forensics, evidence collection and legal authority. "We're a full investigative team," Castro said, describing OII's ability to photograph scenes, canvass neighborhoods, process involved officers and collect evidence. He added OII staff cannot compel statements: "No. We can't compel anyone to speak." Castro said the agency presents the investigative file to the local prosecutor's office; referrals to the state attorney general's criminal division are "not currently" part of the process.
Angie Smith, OII director of tribal relations, said agency staff have met with many Washington tribes and are preparing culturally appropriate outreach and coordination plans. "We wanna be able to provide culturally appropriate services wherever we can," she said, noting tribal jurisdictional complexities and that OII generally does not exercise authority over sovereign tribal nations.
Felicia Cross, community liaison supervisor, described outreach plans and said OII will hold community briefings before it opens operations in a region. "We're gonna do that for every region before we open," Cross said. She also asked community groups to invite OII to local events and said the agency will post notices and a community tab on its website.
Commissioners pressed OII about service in Spokane (Region 6). Mark Griffiths, identified in the presentation as OII’s regional supervisor for the Spokane area, is on staff but Castro said OII does not yet have a full team in Region 6 and cannot immediately respond to active incidents there. On timing for opening Region 6, Castro said only that the agency is "having those discussions now" and would make a public announcement in advance of becoming operational in any additional region.
Castro described OII's policy for video release: body-worn camera footage "won't be released until the investigation has been complete," although family liaisons can arrange viewing for impacted family members on request. He also described OII's prior-investigations program, which reopens past deadly-force incidents only when a claim of new evidence is submitted and the incident resulted in a fatality.
Contact information and outreach: Castro said OII posts materials and regional maps on its website and maintains a 24/7 notification hotline. "We established a hotline, it's staffed 24/7," he said.
Why this matters: OII is a newly created statewide investigatory agency whose operations and region-by-region rollout affect how deadly-force incidents are investigated in Washington. Commissioners and community members asked specifically how quickly Spokane will be covered and how OII interacts with local prosecutors and tribal authorities.
Looking ahead: OII staff told the commission they will continue community outreach in eastern Washington, recruit for vacancies and provide public notice before opening operations in another region.
