In his role on Springfield's Compliance Evaluator Team, Mr. Teeter is responsible for reviewing force incidents, policy, and the investigation and review of those force incidents to evaluate Springfield's compliance with its settlement agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the evaluation process, Mr. Teeter provides technical assistance to the City of Springfield regarding force investigation methods, practices and training.
Captain Teeter led the creation of Seattle’s Force Investigation Team (FIT), a highly skilled investigative unit responsible for objectively investigating officer involved shootings, in custody deaths, force involving misconduct and other serious force incidents. He and his team responded directly to the scene of critical incidents. From that initial call-out, they were responsible for interviewing involved personnel and witnesses and for completing a detailed, thorough, objective highly technical investigation into all aspects of each incident.
Building relationships and trust in our community was just as important as the technical side. FIT regularly presented to community groups throughout the city explaining processes, answering questions, and building trust. Transparency was built in to the investigations, as initial news releases including video excerpts were published within two days of an incident. In one deadly force case, former reporter Mr. Andrew Garber wrote a detailed article for the Seattle Police Department including this video outlining the investigative results and process start to finish.
The Force Investigation Team’s work, and these investigations of Seattle's most serious force incidents, was the first portion of Seattle’s Consent Decree in which Seattle was found to be in compliance. The Monitor overseeing the consent decree wrote in his assessment, “…FIT’s Captain, Mike Teeter, and his team of dedicated investigators should be commended for their commitment to fair and thorough investigations of officer force.”
Mr. Teeter has reviewed and testified as an independent expert regarding deadly force incidents which took place in King County, Washington, as part of the county's inquest process into police involved deaths.
Additionally, Mr. Teeter has provided independent reviews of force incidents to the U.S. Department of Justice in support of DOJ's ongoing work.
In his role on Springfield's Compliance Evaluator Team, Mr. Teeter is responsible for reviewing force incidents, policy, and the investigation and review of those force incidents to evaluate Springfield's compliance with its settlement agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the evaluation process, Mr. Teeter provides technical assistance to the City of Springfield regarding force investigation and review, training and accountability.
Seattle’s Force Review Board is the official body charged with reviewing incidents where police officers use force which causes injury or complaint of injury, including cases where officers use deadly force. The Force Review Board also reviews certain significant incidents where no force is used including in custody deaths. Captain Teeter chaired dozens of these boards, and attended dozens more as a board member, with the goal of completing a thorough critical review of each incident evaluating it for compliance with training, law and policy. At the same time, the board looked for individual, unit, and departmental areas for improvement and lessons learned.
Captain Teeter has served as an expert witness on behalf of the City of Seattle in numerous cases including those involving deadly force, excessive force, fatal and serious injury collisions, officer involved collisions, and others.
As a consultant, Mr. Teeter was retained by a Washington State city to testify in a case where an officer's employment was terminated as a result of incidents raising search and seizure concerns. The officer's termination was upheld. Mr. Teeter was also retained as an expert in a criminal case in which a police officer was charged following his use of deadly force.
Mr. Teeter has testified in Inquest Proceedings in King County, WA, regarding his independent review of incidents of police involved fatalities.
Mr. Teeter is now serving as the Graduate Program Director for Salve Regina University's online criminal justice and cybersecurity graduate program. He teaches graduate level criminal justice courses, advises students and is responsible for the overall content and quality of this degree program.
Mr. Teeter regularly reviews, provides critical feedback and approves training curricula in his role on the Springfield Compliance Evaluator Team. For many of his clients, he reviews training curricula and evaluates individual incidents for compliance with training.
As Captain of the Education and Training Section, Teeter led the team that developed and coordinated continuing education and training for Seattle's 1800+ personnel including 1300 sworn officers. He was responsible for on-boarding, pre-academy, post-academy and field training of approximately 100 police recruits and student officers at any given time. In the course of this assignment, he was involved in national discussions regarding training and policy surrounding de-escalation and the use of less lethal tools through the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) and California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). He was also responsible for firearms training and for operation of the department’s shooting range used by Seattle officers and many regional partners.
Captain Teeter worked to bring relevant and timely training to the Seattle Police Department, helping to facilitate department-wide training in the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) program from Georgetown Law, implicit bias training and employee wellness. He was also responsible for ongoing training programs covering the full range of law enforcement topics including use of force, de-escalation, crowd management, crisis intervention, defensive tactics, bias free policing, supervision and leadership.
In his work as a member of the Springfield Compliance Evaluator Team and his efforts for the U.S. Department of Justice, Mr. Teeter has conducted in-depth reviews of completed internal investigations.
Earlier in his career, Captain Teeter served as a detective sergeant in Seattle's Internal Investigations Section. He was responsible for conducting thorough and objective investigations into allegations of misconduct, including criminal conduct, on the part of department employees. He also served as that unit's acting lieutenant, overseeing and reviewing other sergeants' internal investigations.
As a Seattle Police Captain, Teeter reviewed many completed internal investigations and made findings and recommendations regarding those incidents. Additionally, in the course of his work as leader of the Force Investigation Team, Force Review Board, and West Precinct, he referred many instances of potential misconduct for a full investigation.
In his role at Salve Regina University, Mr. Teeter teaches online graduate courses in criminal justice leadership.
Additionally, Mr. Teeter is one of the leaders who instructs and facilitates 21st Century Police Leadership for the State of Washington. This is a three week intensive online 21st Century Police Leadership training program designed for police executives and leaders. This class was developed in partnership with Microsoft and is conducted by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. The training is broken up into three key modules: emotional intelligence, effective communication and cultivating culture. The course culminates in a capstone project where students use the skills learned to create a plan to implement meaningful improvement within their organization. Mr. Teeter has also taught this curriculum to leaders serving the Metropolitan DC Police Department.
Captain Teeter led Seattle's recruiting, hiring, and background investigation units for four years, and spent one year serving as the Human Resources Director for the Seattle Police Department. As HR Director, Captain Teeter was responsible for the full range of HR functions for an 1800+ employee organization including all hiring and separations, early interventions, payroll/benefits, accommodations, and performance management as examples.
Captain Teeter partnered collaboratively with a number of local community organizations and political leaders to increase the number of qualified applicants participating in Seattle's hiring process. Recruiting activities were held frequently at community events, colleges and universities, and military facilities.
In his role on the Springfield Compliance Evaluator Team, Mr. Teeter reviews, provides feedback, and approves policies, particularly those relating to police use of force.
As an expert for the U.S. Department of Justice and other clients, Mr. Teeter regularly reviews department policies providing detailed feedback regarding force, accountability requirements and other topics.
Captain Teeter served as captain of Seattle's Audit, Policy and Research Section. He was responsible for maintenance and development of department policies and procedures as well as audits of departmental operations. He worked with the United States Department of Justice, court appointed monitor and city attorney to revise highly scrutinized policies on use of force, bias-based policing, crisis intervention and early intervention systems.