Skyline Tower Suite 1500 10900 NE 4th Street Bellevue, WA 98004

 

Katherine F. Weber

Attorney at Law Dir: 425.450.4229 kweber@insleebest.com

Inslee Best Doezie & Ryder P.S.

Main: 425.455.1234

 

Fax: 425.635.7720 insleebest.com

 

REPORT OF INVESTIGATION Prepared for City of Bellevue Date:

August 7, 2020

To:

Steve Mylett, Police Chief

CC

: Kathy Gerla, City Attorney Melissa Chin, Assistant City Attorney

Investigator

: Katherine F. Weber

SCOPE OF INVESTIGATION AND SUMMARY REPORT

On or about June 17, Inslee, Best, Doezie & Ryder and Katherine F. Weber were retained by the City of Bellevue (the “City”) to conduct an independent fact-finding investigation into certain citizen reports involving the social media activities of Officer Nicolas Roche. Specifically, on or about June 2, 2020, the Bellevue Police Department (the “Department”) received a series of tweets, initiated by “QAA Podcast @ QanonAnonymous,” reporting that Ofc. Roche “is a full-on QAnon promoter” and asserting that Ofc. Roche’s social media posts called into question Ofc. Roche’s fitness to serve as a police officer. Similarly, on June 5, 2020, the City received a citizen email complaint, referencing “The content of Nicolas Roche’s social media posts.” The QAA Podcast tweets (including the string of comments responsive thereto) and the citizen email are collectively referred to herein as the “Complaint”. I conducted this investigation during the period of June 22 through July 30, 2020.

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 In connection with such investigation, I reviewed and researched the complained-of posts, consulted with representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Defamation League, reviewed Ofc. Roche’s complete background file and interviewed Ofc. Roche himself. This report is a summary report and is not intended to be a comprehensive recitation of all the information that was collected, reviewed and considered as part of the investigation. The findings and conclusions set forth in this report are based on the entirety of the record considered by the investigator, and are not

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 The Covid-19 pandemic (and correlating witness availability) prolonged the interview phase of the investigation somewhat.

 

 Page 2 of 21 limited to the factual information contained in this report. The findings are based on a preponderance of the evidence, which means that based on the credible evidence gathered during the investigation, it is “more likely than not” that a particular event occurred or did not occur as alleged. Finally, this report is not intended to provide any legal conclusions or offer any legal advice and should not be construed as such.

GENERAL BACKGROUND

 Ofc. Roche was born in France and grew up in Quebec, Canada. French is his native language but he is also fluent in English. After graduating from the National Circus School in Montreal, Ofc. Roche traveled and lived around the world as an acrobat performer for the Cirque du Soleil. Upon leaving the circus, he settled in Hawaii, where he became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in 2016. While in Hawaii, Ofc. Roche was hired by the Honolulu Police Department as a new police officer on February 3, 2014. He thereafter joined the Bellevue Police Department as a lateral police officer on December 29, 2017, and is currently assigned to the Department’s Traffic Division Motors Unit.

SUMMARY OF COMPLAINT

As noted above, on or about June 2, 2020, Ofc. Roche’s Twitter account became the subject of public scrutiny. A total of six “tweets/retweets,” along with a series of comments, by Ofc. Roche were identified as the subject of concern. These concerns were that the complained-of posts by Ofc. Roche included symbolisms of racism and misogynism and other offensive or inappropriate “messages” and indicated that Ofc. Roche aligns with the “QAnon” movement. The Complaint included various objections and reactions to Ofc. Roche’s posts, relative to his role and mental fitness as a police officer; the email complainant contended that Ofc. Roche’s posts demonstrated that “he is not the sort of person that should be entrusted with serving and protecting the people of Bellevue” and “raises doubt about [his] ability to effectively perform his duties, doubts about the department’s hiring practices, doubts about other officers he works with and whether they similarly hold dangerous sentiments that [he] expressed publicly, and doubts about the overall culture within the Bellevue Police Department.”

INVESTIGATIVE FINDINGS

 Ofc. Roche’s posts, on their face, objectively present as reasonably concerning to those who are familiar with the symbolisms, sentiments and ideologies referenced therein. However, the entirety of the evidence, including but not limited to Ofc. Roche’s proffered explanations and responses, supports a finding that, while ill-advised, the complained-of posts are not indicative of a bias or prejudice by Ofc. Roche and do not reflect an inappropriate attitude in or approach to his police work. Ofc. Roche’s individual posts are specifically discussed below.

 

 Page 3 of 21 I. Background At the outset, Ofc. Roche acknowledged that the he had a Twitter account under the handle @NicoRoche6, and that he posted the “tweets/retweets” at issue. Ofc. Roche estimated that he opened his Twitter account in approximately March 2020. He explained that he did his so he could follow President Trump’s Twitter feed: Ofc. Roche reflected that he has heard a lot on the news about things that President Trump has said and what that meant, and Ofc. Roche wanted to go “to the source and see what he says directly to make his own research.” Ofc. Roche prefaced that, because he was born in France and grew up in Canada, he already had two citizenship options when he immigrated to the United States. However, he was drawn to the U.S. because of the values it represents, which he described as “freedom,” “equality for all” and “one nation under God.” He emphasized that he worked hard to become a U.S. citizen and loved, and was proud of, his new country. It was in this vein that he wanted to follow the President. He indicated that in so doing, he viewed and shared what he interpreted/believed to be positive, patriotic and unifying messages. He emphasized that he has only recently come to understand that some of his posts may have underlying, sinister references. He denounced these references and unequivocally denied that they reflected his beliefs or values. II. Posts The Complaint was prompted by the following posts by Ofc. Roche: A. April 24, 2020 Post On April 24, 2020, Ofc. Roche tweeted the following: This meme includes several symbols and references, including: Pepe the Frog; the Punisher Skull; and certain QAnon references, including, #INITTOGETHER, a “Q” on the Besty Ross flag and the Red Cross symbol on a battleship.