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February 16, 2012 in City
Condon lays out plan for policing
Mayor seeks input on search for new chief
Spokane Mayor David Condon gestures during a news conference Wednesday as he announces his plan to help restore public trust in police.
(Full-size photo)
Spokane Mayor David Condon said Wednesday that the search for a police chief won’t be rushed.
The city still is accepting applications for the job. But Condon said he will seek feedback from the public on the kind of experience and other parameters the city should use to narrow the field of candidates.
“We need to understand as a community what we want in our next police chief,” he said.
Meanwhile, Interim Chief Scott Stephens said he likely will apply for the job.
“Everybody is driving toward the same goals, and I find that very encouraging,” Stephens said. “That has encouraged me to lean strongly toward putting myself into consideration for that position.”
Condon and Stephens spoke at a news conference laying out their “immediate police action plan.”
Most of the plan already had been announced by Condon, in a speech to Greater Spokane Inc. last week or at earlier events.
The plan calls for officers to attend all neighborhood council meetings to start creating closer relationships with citizens, an evaluation of officers wearing cameras to record their interactions with the public, a review of the department’s use-of-force policy and a commitment to provide training to officers to “better serve vulnerable populations.”
Stephens said the department is working with mental health experts in Spokane to create a training program that will be presented at the Spokane Police Academy sometime in “early spring.”
Condon said he wanted to craft the action plan before moving ahead with the search for police chief.
“I wanted to make sure that I understood what were the areas that we needed to work on, start that work and then flow into the search process,” he said.
Closing Geiger: Wise or worrisome? 
DickAdams on February 16 at 8:31 a.m.
Mayor Condon appointed the same officials at city hall who are guilty of corruption, notwithstanding, the cover-up of the Otto Zehm homicide. Same ol, same ol. Many of the Spokane citizens have hopes that the DOJ does something to lay the law down. I for one am waiting.
Shelala on February 16 at 11:43 a.m.
IMO All talk. TALK to mental health professionals, TALK to community. No action it seems. How about making some personnel changes, taking some discipline, actual policy changes? What? more committees who meet behind closed doors? As far as Stephens, he refused to discipline the saluters and failed to to take any discipline or even address the problems and issues that inflamed the community. He backed his troops - right or wrong. Keep him out of the Chief’s position because he lacks both an understanding of the community and a backbone. Seems to be our leaders are simply waiting for public pressure to ease up and will continue business as usual. There would be no need to purchase cameras for cops if we prevented the incidents from happening in the first place. Kinda like painting over gang graffiti The gangs continue to tag and we continue to paint. Stops nothing.
Otto_Pilot on February 16 at 4:45 p.m.
DickAdams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgDrJ5Z2rKw
mary1958 on February 16 at 7:56 p.m.
Please do NOT choose Stephens. His exoneration of the saluters when the code of ethics and standards clearly say that officers must keep their personal life unsullied, for example, tells me he cannot separate himself from his friends. Please make sure that an outside person is chosen that has not had any incidents in his or her past policing career that would indicates ANY inability to behave morally. For example I know of officers that are in positions of authority at the SPD who have been suspended before. That would be a red flag for me. Perhaps someone who has worked on changing such issues as we have here successfully might be a good choice. I’d even even be open to giving that person the part of your salary that you won’t take to get them here.
mary1958 on February 16 at 8:14 p.m.
Also they need to have at least a four year degree in psychology or social work. They need to have been recently evaluated by an independent psychiatrist and have that evaluation compared to the MMPI that they took when they started LE. If any indicators of personality disorder exists–X this person. We don’t need the “police personality” at the top of the barrel.
Bill_Jackman on February 16 at 9:18 p.m.
This just in, look what the largest capital city in America is considering -
http://phoenix-on.us/2012/02/16/phoenix-has-seven-candidates-for-police-chief/
Maricopa County has an out of control Sheriff so it looks like our former inept Police Chief may take some of the heat off of him!
Shelala on February 16 at 9:30 p.m.
@Bill
Wow! Isn’t that the place that houses inmates in tents?
mary1958 on February 16 at 11:22 p.m.
They promise to not run away. I hope Phoenix investigates her. How big is her ego that she thinks she could be a chief somewhere else after the fiasco she created here. Maybe she should just start over as a patrol officer.
Bill_Jackman on February 17 at 6:24 a.m.
Hundreds of sex crimes were not investigated by the Maricopa County Sheriff department. Instead Sheriff Joe had his folks investigating President Obama’s birth place claim.
Housing inmates in tent’s is one of his few good ideas.
Bill_Jackman on February 17 at 6:43 a.m.
Kirkpatrick should find herself at home defending her boys in blue,even if they lie. In neighboring Scottsdale, this is a breaking story.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-16/arizona-officer-six-shootings/53121362/1
There’s no problem here so just move along, I wonder if that will be the new SPD mission statement.
There will be no meaningful reform until Mayor Condon fires Rocky Treppiedi as he promised during his campaign. Otherwise, we will have more of the same.
The City of Spokane has somebody in charge of everything except common sense.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on February 17 at 7:00 a.m.
Mr Jackman…thank you for the information about Chief K… how she even got i the door for a first pass is boggling to the mind. I opened an account on that link and posted a long post about why NOT to hire our highly incompetent and unresponsive Ex Chief…. she would not even be a good patrol officer…. small woman with a big gun… yeah… best john
BlueHealer on February 17 at 8:32 a.m.
Scott Stephens would be an excellent choice for the permanent Police Chief. He has a well balanced approach and the respect of the rank and file. If you’re looking for an outside chief, I have two names for you-Chertok and Kirkpatrick. The last outside chief we had worth his salt was Terry Mangan.
brianrbreen on February 17 at 8:49 a.m.
Although Mangan was in the Priesthood for a short time, I don’t think he would qualify as a Saint.
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960413&slug=2323912
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19940805&slug=1923872
The_Seer on February 17 at 8:56 a.m.
What’s the deal with the recent Dan Lessor OIS? Remember the cop who shot the supposedly suicidal man who was hanging upside down in his seat belt in an overturned van that was shot and killed by the SPD? If this was such a clean shoot, as the cops and their supporters on here claimed, what is taking so long to release the results of their investigation?
This is the third citizen Lessor has killed while wearing the SPD uniform. Why hasn’t the SR pursued this story? Is it because the victim wasn’t a business owning preacher?
I watched Condon and Stuckart on KSPS the other night fielding questions from reporters and the public. A caller specifically mentioned the Rocco firing campaign promise to Condon and watching the tap dancing reminded me of Savion Glover at his best.
Shelala on February 17 at 10:09 a.m.
@Seer
I watched the same program yesterday hoping for some more succinct answers regarding police reform. I don’t know what I was expecting, but you are very right. Condon danced. I wonder what it takes to get a straight answer? Maybe citizens have to form their own non-affiliated committe. The public is talking, but Condon isn’t listening.
If Phoenix had a favorable lateral transfer policy, maybe we could send them our former Chief, the saluters and some other officers we’d like to see gone too. Worked for Thompson.
The_Seer on February 17 at 10:46 a.m.
BB: Mangan’s tenure is at the center of my next film project involving the conspiracy between the local catholic diocese and the SPD to cover up sexual abuse of children.
Hardly a saint. More like a stain. Or Satin. Funny that they all use the same letters, eh?