CFJ and a host of citizen groups back former Mayor’s request for federal investigation of Spokane police.
In a letter sent Thursday afternoon, the Center for Justice has joined seventeen other Spokane area public interest organizations in asking the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough “pattern or practice” review of the Spokane Police Department.
The letter references and backs an earlier letter former Mayor Mary Verner wrote to Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez requesting an investigation because, Verner wrote, “I believe we need expert, outside help in examining how we do business and what steps we need to take to improve the way we police.”
In her November 16th letter, Verner specifically made clear that she was asking Perez for a federal inquiry into “the entire department.”
Perez heads the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division which, last year, worked with the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington on a similar review of the Seattle Police Department. That investigation resulted in a 67-page letter report to Seattle Mayor Michael McGinn finding “a pattern or practice of unnecessary excessive force” in the way Seattle police apprehend suspects.
In the letter sent earlier today, the Spokane groups pick up not only on the excessive force evidence that federal investigators turned up in the recent prosecution of former Spokane police officer Karl F. Thompson, Jr., but on the evidence that Thompson and other officers attempted to cover up the misconduct.
“In addition to the suspicious instances of the use of deadly force, taser use, and alleged police abuse,” the letter states, “there are deeply troubling questions about the culture of Spokane area law enforcement and questions as to whether Spokane police are properly trained to protect themselves and the public without unnecessarily escalating situations with the use of lethal and non-lethal force.”
“Based on what federal prosecutors told the jury, we can now be certain that during the investigation and trial of officer Thompson for excessive force and making a false report that federal officers found ample evidence pointing toward abuse of authority and obstruction of justice by others with the SPD.”
The letter includes an Appendix listing police shootings of suspects, many of them resulting in fatalities, going back to 2001.
The co-signers of the letter are:
Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane
Associated Students of Eastern Washington University
ACLU of Washington
League of Women Voters, Spokane Area
Eastern Washington Voters
NAACP, Spokane
Coalition of Responsible Disabled, Spokane
Community Building Foundation
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Spokane Chapter
Destinations
National Alliance on Mental Illness, Spokane Chapter
Spokane Progressive Democrats of America
VOICES
SHAWL Society
Northwest Fair Housing Alliance
Need to Know, Spokane
Scary Feminists
