Snoqualmie committee backs sending Seattle‑IFIT addendum to council after debate on resources and workload
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Summary
The Public Safety Committee voted to forward AB 25‑127, an addendum allowing Seattle to join the Independent Force Investigation Team (IFIT), to the full council for a regular agenda. Officials said Seattle adds investigative resources but Snoqualmie will still pay its detective’s time under the mutual‑aid arrangement.
The Snoqualmie Public Safety Committee on Thursday voted to forward AB 25‑127 to the full council after hearing from Police Chief Haresi about an addendum that would let the City participate with Seattle in the Independent Force Investigation Team (IFIT). Chief Haresi described IFIT as a regional, multi‑agency independent investigative team originally formed in March 2021 to handle statutorily required use‑of‑force and deadly‑force investigations.
"This agenda bill is an addendum to our current interlocal agreement that we have, between 13 different agencies right now," Chief Haresi said, explaining the group shares investigators, public information officers and forensic resources across member agencies. He told the committee that Seattle was released from a Department of Justice consent decree in July 2025 and has asked to join IFIT to meet state statutory requirements for independent investigations.
Why it matters: IFIT centralizes specialized investigative work so smaller agencies can access trained detectives, PIOs and technical tools without building every capability in‑house. Committee members pressed Haresi on what Seattle’s inclusion would mean for Snoqualmie’s staffing and budget because member agencies typically provide their own personnel for callouts.
Chief Haresi said the arrangement is mutual aid and "it's on our dime" for Snoqualmie when the city contributes a detective to an IFIT investigation, though he argued the partnership is a force multiplier that also lets the city draw on Seattle’s investigative experience and equipment. Haresi added that IFIT investigations are triggered by a commander when statutory thresholds are met and that the group expects a manageable caseload: "We average about four callouts a year" for the existing membership, and Seattle—based on statutory expectations—has reported roughly 4–6 callouts a year.
Mayor Mayhew sought to square the group’s expected workload with its maximum possible hours per case, and told the committee the important distinction is between the expected number of investigations affecting Snoqualmie (about one a year, he said) versus the upper bound of staff hours a complex case might demand. "The expected value is the expected value is the same, meaning 1 investigation a year," Mayhew said, arguing that occasional high‑hour cases explain the larger maximums but not the typical workload.
Council members asked whether Snoqualmie would be reimbursed when its detective participates; Haresi replied that unlike some task forces where members are reimbursed, IFIT operates as mutual aid and the city would cover its detective’s time. He also said per‑case time varies widely—roughly 10–40 hours depending on complexity—and that the city anticipates being able to absorb the assignments in‑house without overtime because current caseloads should decline in coming months.
What happens next: The committee agreed to move AB 25‑127 to the full council on the regular agenda for further review and formal action. The council packet will include the interlocal addendum and the committee’s discussion points, including questions about exact detective‑commitment levels and any documentation on Seattle’s resource pledges.
