The Pierce County Force Investigation Team (PCFIT) is a team of detectives, forensic investigators, and public information officers from law enforcement agencies throughout Pierce County who investigate use of deadly force incidents involving officers.  The multi-agency team operates under the independent investigation criteria set forth by Washington State Administrative Code 139-12-030 of the Law Enforcement Training & Community Safety Act.  The Orting Police Department is a member agency of the PCFIT Team.

PCFIT is committed to the five guiding principles to enhancing public trust in the integrity of independent investigations involving police use of deadly force:

• Independence
• Transparency
• Communication
• Credible process
• Credible investigators

The team works under a rigorous set of Standard Operating Procedures & Guidelines to ensure that the investigative process will be performed in a manner that is thorough, fair, complete, and professional while free of conflicts of interest. 

 The team is comprised of experienced officers with a background in criminal investigations who have received training on basic homicide investigation, interviewing and interrogation, violence de-escalation and mental health training; the team members also participate in annual training on advanced criminal investigation topics.  PCFIT members are expected to have a work history free of a sustained finding of serious misconduct and/or a pattern of sustained complaints, and a personal history free of demonstrable bias or prejudice against community members that may be impacted by the police use of deadly force.

Each law enforcement agency participating in PCFIT has non law enforcement community member representatives who have credibility with and ties to communities impacted by police use of deadly force.  These volunteers were selected through a transparent process, and are required to sign a binding confidentiality agreement at the beginning of each police use of deadly force investigation that remains in effect until the prosecutor of jurisdiction either declines to file charges or the criminal case is concluded.  The community representatives are provided a copy of all press releases prior to release and have access to the investigative file when it is completed.

Once the PCFIT has initiated an investigation, all media releases related to the investigation shall be made by the designated PCFIT Public Information Officer.  The designated PCFIT spokesperson will not be a member of the involved agency.  PCFIT may release information typically on the day of the incident, a weekly press release updating the status of the investigation, and then a final release when the complete investigation has been sent to the prosecutor.  All press releases will be posted on the PCFIT website until the case is concluded.

All public records requests for copies of PCFIT reports must be submitted through South Sound 911.

To view PCFIT Team press releases regarding the team's activities, visit the PCFIT Team press release page.