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Michael Brasfield...In addition to his prior law enforcement management career, Michael Brasfield has been active as a consultant and expert in public safety and police procedures, policy development, evaluation and training since 1986. He specializes in police legal issues. His clients have included federal, state, and municipal governments, private non-profit foundations, corporations, educational institutions, and attorneys. Over the last 40 years Mr. Brasfield has received extensive, specialized professional training in nearly all areas of law enforcement. There has been particular emphasis in the areas of the use of force, training, internal investigations, and police liability. He served for 26 years with the Seattle Police Department through the ranks - from police officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, major, and then retired as an assistant chief. He later went on to serve as the Chief of Police for the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Police Department for 6 years. After returning to the Seattle area, Mr. Brasfield was elected as Sheriff of Jefferson County, Washington in 2003. He was overwhelmingly re-elected to that position by an 80% majority in the November 2006 general election. Mr. Brasfield retired from active law enforcement in 2009. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of Washington, and is a graduate of the Senior Management Institute for Police in Washington, D.C. Mr. Brasfield has held a gubernatorial appointment to the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission, and is the past chair of the state Board on Law Enforcement Training, Standards, and Education. He also served as an advisor to the Peninsula College Criminal Justice Program, and was the Vice-President of the Washington State Sheriffs' Association. He has regularly served as either a member and/or chair of Washington State law enforcement certification revocation boards. Past memberships include the Police Executive Research Forum, National Sheriffs' Association, Florida Police Chiefs Association, and Washington State Sheriffs' Association. In addition, he was awarded “life member” status with both the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and with the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs. He is also an associate member of the American Bar Association. Michael's Curriculum Vitae Page
Leo Poort...In his 32 year career in law enforcement as the principal Police Legal Advisor for the City of Seattle, Leo Poort gave day to day advice to the Seattle Police Department. He counseled, instructed and advised seven (7) different chiefs and hundreds of senior staff members, thousands of sworn and civilian managers and countless officers…regarding criminal laws and constitutional procedures, first amendment protections, personnel laws, municipal ordinances, traffic laws, state and federal laws affecting property and personal injury (tort) liability, and personnel laws … all laws that affect the operation of a major law enforcement agency. With Mr. Poort’s long history and experience with SPD as their Police Legal Advisor, he drafted laws, testified, and worked with the legislature to develop many public safety laws for the State of Washington regarding the reporting and enforcement of domestic violence, missing persons, child abuse and neglect. He also worked to refine laws related to narcotics, police-information sharing, criminal history records, obtaining information regulated by state law under HIPAA standards, state firearm restrictions and penalties, use of force by police officers, police pursuits, seizure and forfeiture laws, classification/registration of sex offenders and violent offenders, anti-harassment laws, prostitution abatement, drug abatement, alcohol abuse, civility and trespass, landlord/tenant laws, private security, emergency preparedness, police discipline, police intelligence laws and records laws that allow victims access to police information. Mr. Poort also worked to develop criminal procedural rules relating to search warrants, obtaining sensitive information by subpoena, and inquest rules (coroner procedures) that apply when a person dies either in police custody or by lethal force employed by an officer. Mr. Poort’s long term employer, the Seattle Police Department, is one of 50 major police departments of the United States. It has an annual budget of over 213 million dollars. SPD has a sworn staff of 1277 officers and 530 civilian staff. SPD handles over 806,000 calls for police service and dispatches almost 234,000 calls with a total response by officers (including traffic stops, on-view, precinct contacts) of at least 521,000 officer contacts per year. Mr. Poort enjoyed a “direct report” to the Chief for all of his 32 years of service. Because of his unique relationship to the Chief, he was able to give consistent legal counsel across many traditional lines of command in support of SPD’s mission and to fill the needs of SPD employees for immediate legal advice. His role was to draft or review all formal policies, and approve legally sensitive policies for the Chief. He provided input and updated Department staff on new laws affecting law enforcement and reviewed all contracts with outside agencies. He also coordinated requests for legal opinions, the drafting of new ordinances, risk management issues, as well as discovery and defense of lawsuits against officers with the City Attorney’s Office. On behalf of the Chief, he represented the Department in mediations and court proceedings (local, state and federal). He produced affidavits, documents and answers to interrogatories to defend SPD’s policies and its personnel in litigation. At times he arranged for outside attorneys for officers as needed to avoid conflicts of interest. Leo Poort retired from the Seattle Police Department in February, 2009. Mr. Poort holds a B.A. degree from Michigan State University in English and taught high school for 3 ½ years. Leo is a 1973 graduate of Tulane University with a Juris Doctorate in Law. He was admitted to the Washington State Bar in 1973 and has been a member of the Bar for 36 years. Over the last 35 years Mr. Poort has received extensive, specialized professional training in nearly all areas of law enforcement. He has substantial experience in the areas of the use of force, less than lethal force, officer and supervisor training, internal investigations, personnel law and police liability. He served for 3 years as Assistant City Attorney with the City of Bellevue, WA and served as Bellevue’s first Police Legal Advisor. He prosecuted cases for the City of Bellevue worked on criminal appeals. He coordinated case investigation advice and search warrant advice on felonies with the King County Prosecutor, prosecuted land use violations and represented the Chief and City in disciplinary cases. For nine months in 2008 and 2009, Mr. Poort served as the Certification Manager for the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC) with the responsibility of reviewing police officer and sheriff deputy termination cases (statewide) to determine whether any fired officer should have his or her Washington State certification revoked for “disqualifying misconduct” under Washington State law. If decertified by the CJTC, an officer has a right to an appeal and hearing with the State. The reviews by Mr. Poort included a confidential review of all documents leading to discharge by the local law enforcement agency. Hearings, if requested by an officer, were open to the public. For over 25 years Mr. Poort has been the chair of the Legal Advisors Section of the Washington State Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC). He has instructed twice each year at the WAPSC fall and spring conferences throughout Washington State and has served for at least 30 years on the WASPC legislative committee and testified frequently before the Washington State Legislature, frequently working directly with members and the staff of the legislature on bills important to Seattle, the police community and victims. Past memberships include the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), he is a Life Member. As a member of IACP he attended over 25 conferences and was a member of the Legal Officers Section and the Legislative Committee. He taught at conferences and seminars sponsored by the IACP. He was also a member of the Legal Advisors section of the Major Cities Chiefs Association while working for Seattle, and a member of the Washington State Municipal Attorneys Association. Mr. Poort is a member in good standing of the Washington State Bar Association: (1973 to present).
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