Seattle police sergeant investigated over leaked sex assault memo

Findings from a Seattle police watchdog investigation have cleared a sergeant accused of leaking an internal memo to the media and show it was police leadership who initiated the probe.

With the backing of Police Chief Adrian Diaz, Assistant Chief Deanna Nollette filed a complaint against a sergeant who wrote a memo outlining severe understaffing in the department’s sexual assault and child abuse unit, according to investigation documents obtained through a public records request.

Sgt. Pamela St. John, head of the department’s sexual assault unit, sent a memo to her superiors and Diaz in April describing how the unit had been forced to stop investigating adult sexual assault cases because of the lack of staff, which potentially jeopardized timely prosecutions and left victims in limbo.