Ethics, confidentiality
and privacy

This practice operates under several overlapping ethical obligations, and they are stated here because a reader is entitled to know what constrains the work before engaging it.

Professional associations. As a member in good standing of the American Society of Criminology, the American Society of Evidence-Based Policing, and other professional bodies, Dr. Atherley is bound to the standards of conduct those associations require of their members: honesty in the reporting of research, accurate representation of qualifications, acknowledgment of the limits of one's expertise, and the avoidance of conflicts that would compromise independent judgment.

Public employment. As a public employee holding a position of public trust, Dr. Atherley is additionally bound by the ethical code of conduct of the City of Seattle, including its provisions governing outside employment, conflicts of interest, and the use of public resources. Outside engagements are deconflicted against those obligations before they are accepted. Where a relationship or circumstance leaves the position unclear, a determination is sought from the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission before the engagement proceeds.

Policing. Membership of a policing organization carries a further and higher obligation to honest and trustworthy conduct. That obligation does not lapse when the work is undertaken independently.

Consulting is undertaken independent of any affiliation. It is not performed on behalf of, and does not represent the views of, any employer or affiliated institution.

Opinions are formed on the basis of the evidence available and the methods appropriate to it, and are held to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty. Where the evidence does not support an opinion to that standard, no opinion is offered, and the limitation is stated plainly.

Qualification. Every opinion is qualified appropriately to its context. The basis of an opinion, the materials relied upon, the methods applied, and the limits of what those methods can establish are stated in any report and on the record in any testimony.

Independence. Opinions are independent of payment and of the identity or position of the retaining party. No fee is contingent on the outcome of a matter, on the content of an opinion, or on the admission of any testimony. Where analysis does not support the position of the retaining party, that is reported plainly and promptly.

Scope. Opinions are offered only within areas of demonstrated expertise. Where a question falls outside those areas, it is declined or referred.

Correction. An opinion later found to rest on an error of fact or method is corrected and the correction disclosed, including where disclosure is unwelcome to the retaining party.

Opinions are constructed so that the methods underlying them can be examined against whichever admissibility standard governs the forum. In practice this means the same discipline in either regime.

Testability. Methods relied upon are ones that can be, and generally have been, tested. Where a method has not been empirically validated, that is stated rather than assumed away.

Peer review and publication. Preference is given to methods that have been subjected to peer review and published in the criminological and policing literature. Several of the methods relied upon appear in Dr. Atherley’s own peer-reviewed work, and the publications page identifies which.

Error rate. The known or potential rate of error of a method, and the conditions under which it degrades, are stated where they can be established, and their absence is stated where they cannot.

Standards and controls. Analyses follow documented procedures. Data handling, coding decisions, and analytic choices are recorded so that a competent analyst could reproduce the result from the same materials.

General acceptance. Methods relied upon are those accepted in the relevant scientific community, which is the controlling question under Frye and one factor under Daubert. Washington applies the Frye standard; federal courts and many other jurisdictions apply Daubert and Rule 702.

Fit. An opinion is offered only where the method actually bears on the question in the case. A reliable method applied to the wrong question is not a reliable opinion.

No opinion offered has been excluded or limited by a court.

Much of this work involves material that is confidential, privileged, protected by court order, or restricted by statute. The practice is built to handle it.

Vetting. Dr. Atherley has undergone extensive vetting, including background investigations conducted by multiple state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies. He received a favorable adjudication following a Single Scope Background Investigation for access at the Top Secret level; that clearance is not currently active.

Current status. He holds an active CJIS clearance and a position of public trust, with authorized access to criminal justice information under the CJIS Security Policy and subject to its screening, training, and handling requirements.

Confidentiality agreements. He has an extensive history of work performed under non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements, protective orders, and data use agreements, including agreements governing access to criminal justice records by outside researchers.

In engagement. Confidential material received in the course of an engagement is held under the terms of the letter of agreement and any applicable protective order. Where those conflict, the order governs. Materials are retained, and destroyed, according to the terms agreed and the professional obligation to preserve a working file for disclosure.

Before engagement. Case materials should not be sent with an initial inquiry. Unsolicited privileged material can create a conflict that prevents retention, which serves nobody.

The inquiry form. Submitting the form transmits the information you enter: name, organization, email address, telephone number if given, practice area, parties, jurisdiction, deadline, and your description of the matter. It is sent to a private email address and is not stored on this website.

Do not include confidential material. The form is for identifying a matter sufficiently to run a conflicts check. Case materials and privileged information should not be sent until a conflicts check is complete.

Document access requests. Requesting the standard letter of agreement transmits your name, organization, email address, and a short description. A record of the request is held for up to three days to operate the approval process, then expires.

Bot protection. Forms use Cloudflare Turnstile, which assesses whether a submission is automated. Cloudflare processes technical signals including your IP address for that purpose.

Server logs. The hosting provider records standard request logs, including IP address, time, and page requested. These are used for security and reliability.

No advertising or analytics trackers. This site sets no advertising cookies and runs no third-party analytics.

Information submitted is used to run a conflicts check, to assess whether an inquiry falls within the practice, and to reply. It is not sold, rented, or shared for marketing. It is not used to build a mailing list.

Third parties involved in transmission are the hosting provider and the transactional email provider. Each processes data only to deliver the message.

Information may be disclosed where required by law, by court order, or by a professional obligation.

Inquiries that do not lead to an engagement are retained only as long as needed to complete a conflicts check and reply, and are then deleted.

Where an engagement follows, records are retained under the terms of the letter of agreement, which requires the working file to be kept for not less than seven years for professional and disclosure reasons.

A conflicts record identifying the parties may be retained indefinitely. This is necessary to check future conflicts and is the minimum required to do so.

You may ask what information is held about you, ask for it to be corrected, or ask for it to be deleted. Requests are honored except where retention is required by law or by a professional or disclosure obligation, in which case the reason will be given.

Write to the address on the engagement page to make a request.

This site is operated from the United States. If you write from elsewhere, your information is transferred to and processed in the United States.