Washington AGO Ordered Private College to Collect Documents for Potential Lawsuit

The Washington Attorney General’s Office is being accused of an “unethical and probably illegal” act of ordering a private university that is not a client of the AGO to seize and preserve records in anticipation of a potential lawsuit, a process known as a “litigation hold notice.” The litigation hold notice is part of an ongoing dispute between Police Strategies President Bob Scales, a former King County prosecutor, and the AGO over various aspects of a request for proposal process to develop a public police use of force database. Scales intended to subcontract with Seattle University, which at the time was looking at bidding on the proposal but ultimately declined.