Council schedules February 6th vote on sweeping police reform resolution.
In keeping with new Council President Ben Stuckart’s goal to lay out a broad and consensus-based road map for reforms to the Spokane Police Department, the council has put the finishing touches on a resolution that it will consider at its first meeting in February.
Council President Ben Stuckart at a recent Public Safety Committee meeting.
The 13-point resolution touches on everything from encouraging the city administration to boost the public visibility of police officer commendations, to restoring through labor negotiations the powers stripped, last summer, from the City’s Office of Police Ombudsman.
The recommended reforms are:
(1) Make public all SPD Internal Affairs Reports (with appropriate redactions to protect officer privacy) from 2009 forward.
(2) Put body (video) cameras on patrol officers.
(3) Adopt a “discipline matrix” that would plainly and systematically connect acts and types of police misconduct to specific disciplinary consequences.
(4) Adopt Ombudsman annual goals and objectives.
(5) Amend the recently gutted Police Ombudsman ordinance to:
a) Restore independent investigatory authority.
b) Restore published closing reports and recommendations.
c) Remove the Guild’s pre-screening function for Ombudsman candidates.
d) Allow OPO investigations to be considered in the SPD disciplinary process.
(6) Add a “commendation” section to the Office of Police Ombudsman’s website that report all official commendations of Spokane police officers.
(7) Review the Public Information Officer position for the SPD to determine whether the responsibilities would be better suited for a civilian employee.
(8) Re-certification of the SPD under terms of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement.
(9) Revise the SPD’s use of force policy, as informed by the work of the new Use of Force Commission and the Mayor’s Advisory Board on Policing.
(10) Review and revise, if necessary, policies to ensure a“best practices” approach for the SPD’s Internal Affairs office.
(11) Review SPD policies regarding crisis intervention training and response to people under the influence of drugs, alcohol or with untreated mental illness. Explore opportunities for engaging community mental health professionals in training.
(12) Review whether the Property Crimes Unit should be re-established.
(13) Collect accurate data on race, age, and gender of all persons stopped and searched by the SPD, pursuant to collection and reporting procedures specified in state law.
Although several of the recommendations have been watered down, all the basic proposals in the resolution were included in an initial list that Stuckart compiled and brought to the council for a briefing session presentation on January 12th. Two items were subsequently withdrawn: one that would have recommended pursuing a policy whereby police officers would be required to document each instance in which they displayed firearms during an arrest or other encounter, and one that would have endorsed the use of emergency budget resolutions and access to city reserves to fund implementation.
As we reported earlier, the display of weapons reporting requirement was tabled after objections were voiced by acting Police Chief Scott Stephens and questions from three council members. It’s not clear why the recommendation on funding for the reforms was dropped from the final version of the resolution.
The last public meeting on the resolution was at the council’s Public Safety Committee meeting on January 17th. According to Stuckart, the resolution was to be discussed in an executive session on the 22nd to assess how the city could advance the items in the resolution in the forthcoming negotiations with the police guild.
Although Stuckart and Assistant City Attorney Mike Piccolo have tried to assure the council that many of the proposed reforms can be legally implemented without bargaining with the union, some of the key pieces will undoubtedly require the guild’s consent, especially if they are going to be implemented in the coming year.
One of those items is the recommended change to the City’s police ombudsman ordinance that would allow the police chief to consider the reports and findings of the ombudsman in making disciplinary decisions. Because officer discipline is a component of working conditions, under Washington state labor law such a change would be subject to collective bargaining.
At the Public Safety Committee meeting on January 17th, police ombudsman Tim Burns initially expressed discomfort with a change that would formally allow the police chief to consider ombudsman reports in the disciplinary process.
The purpose of his office, Burns said, is “not to usurp the chief’s authority.”
The response to Burns came from Councilman Jon Snyder who said he was a strong advocate for bolstering the ombudsman office’s independence.
Snyder said the intent of formally acknowledging that the chief could use an Ombudsman report in disciplinary decisions “is not to usurp the chief’s authority but to prevent a situation where a disciplined officer could conceivably bring a legal action against the chief and say the chief was influenced by something the ombudsman did.”
Burns said he was satisfied with that explanation and, when asked, interim Police Chief Stevens said he was “very supportive” of the new ombudsman proposals, including the language that would allow the police chief to consider ombudsman reports in making disciplinary decisions.
Stuckart has made clear that he is doing additional research and still considering adding a recommendation from the council on a firearms display policy
In a related development, the City announced it had filled the three remaining positions on the Use of Force Commission that Mayor David Condon announced on January 2nd. In addition to the commission’s chair, Gonzaga University Executive Vice President Earl Martin, and its vice chair, former U.S. Attorney William Hyslop, the City announced that retired Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander would serve, as would Spokane Public Schools Equal Opportunity officer Ivan Bush, and Susan Hammond, the Director of Outpatient and Psychology Services for Spokane Mental Health.
–Tim Connor for the Center for Justice
