In Our View: Police reform complex, necessary undertaking The Columbian Share: Improving police accountability and transparency is a complex process. As demonstrated both statewide and in Southwest Washington, entrenched systems are sturdy and difficult to improve or dismantle. The need for improvement is demonstrated by one simple fact: According to an investigation last year by The Seattle Times, Washington has never decertified an officer for the use of excessive force. As the Times explains: “The circumstances for decertification are so narrow, and the agency’s enforcement arm so understaffed, that the state hardly ever takes action. … Instead, officers with long histories of misconduct have been able to move from department to department.”