In a major step toward meeting federally mandated reforms, the Seattle Police Department on Thursday announced it has opened outside bidding on the development of a sophisticated computer system to track use of force, biased policing and other vital information. Building the so-called “Data Analytics Platform” has been considered a linchpin of the 2 ½-year-old…

Drive-by shootings were reported in Seattle’s Central District and Beacon Hill neighborhoods Tuesday night, police said. Witnesses told officers they saw a dark-green Chevy Tahoe chase a light-colored SUV while passengers fired at each other near 23rd Avenue and East Union Street around 10:30 p.m., according to the Seattle Police Department. Officers collected numerous shell casings at…

Four boys and a girl were arrested Tuesday night after they pistol-whipped, punched and robbed a man in the North First Hill neighborhood, Seattle police said. The victim, 25, and two women were smoking cigarettes in the 1200 block of Boylston Avenue when a group of five to six boys and a girl walked up  10:20 p.m. One of…

A man posed as a school transportation official and tried to lure a child into his minivan Wednesday morning in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood, police said. A woman told police she was waiting with her elementary school-aged child near 34th Avenue West and Brygger Drive West around 8:20 a.m. when a man pulled up nearby in a gold minivan. The man claimed…

Seattle police Officer Britt Kelly said the car that pulled up next to her parked patrol car on the night of Oct. 31, 2009, was so close that she couldn’t open her door. “The next thing I remember is a very bright muzzle flash, a very loud noise and the smell of gunpowder so fierce…

UPDATED, Wednesday, 6 a.m. | Seattle police say they’re investigating a possible methamphetamine lab in a north Seattle residence. Detective Drew Fowler says firefighters notified police Tuesday afternoon after they were called to the site for a medical call. Firefighters suited up in protective gear and entered the residence, where they found a 30-year-old man unconscious. Fowler says…

A freelance photographer has dropped a lawsuit alleging he was roughly arrested by Seattle police and later charged with assaulting an officer during the 2012 May Day protests, according to court records. Joshua “Alex” Garland claimed a video posted on YouTube shows he never touched the officer, who later alleged Garland grabbed his wrist and twisted during…

Update at 3:11 p.m.: Court adjourned for the day Tuesday just after Kelly testified that she and her partner, Timothy Brenton, pulled their patrol car over moments before shots were fired, killing Brenton. Kelly will resume her testimony Wednesday morning. Update at 2:31 p.m.: Seattle police Officer Britt Sweeney Kelly is recalling the Halloween night in 2009 that…

The Associated Press Police say they arrested four teenage girls accused of beating and robbing two women out walking in a South Seattle neighborhood. On their website, police said the victims reported that the four teens approached them Tuesday afternoon and one asked for a dollar. When one victim said she didn’t have any money, the four…

A veteran Seattle police officer paused to compose himself and wipe away tears Tuesday morning as he recounted seeing the massive wounds that Officer Tim Brenton sustained in a fatal ambush on Halloween night 2009. Like Brenton, Sgt. George Davisson was training a rookie officer the night when Brenton’s trainee, Officer Britt Sweeney, broadcast over the…