The Kirkland City Council voted on Jan. 6 to authorize the city manager to sign a second modification to the King County Independent Force Investigation Team (IFIT) interlocal agreement to add the City of Seattle as a member. The modification also clarifies activation procedures for statutorily required independent investigations.

Chief Mike St. Jean and Deputy Chief Phil Goguen briefed the council on Initiative 940 (the Law Enforcement Training and Community Safety Act) and state regulations that require independent criminal investigations when the use of deadly force results in death or substantial bodily harm. They described IFIT’s structure, past call‑outs (14 since 2021) and Kirkland’s role: Kirkland personnel have responded to most call‑outs and been lead investigator on several cases.

Seattle requested to join IFIT after its federal consent decree ended; staff said Seattle’s membership is intended to increase available investigative resources but will also increase the total number of qualifying activations that IFIT handles. Several council members expressed concern that Kirkland has carried a disproportionate operational load on past cases. To address monitoring, Councilmember Paschal successfully moved an amendment requiring the city manager and police chief to present a report no later than Dec. 31, 2026 detailing IFIT activity since Seattle’s addition, the number of activations involving Kirkland staff, resource impacts on Kirkland, and information on how all members contribute to IFIT activations. The amended resolution passed in council roll call (four yes, three no as recorded) and staff emphasized ongoing leadership-level check‑ins and efforts to certify additional lead investigators across member agencies.