Vote no on police agreement

Mayor David Condon and police Chief Frank Straub are working to convince Spokane residents they cannot have real police accountability and that the tentative agreement (TA) is as good as it gets.

This TA violates Proposition 1, approved by a 70 percent vote, which would establish real accountability, and is now part of our city charter. This agreement will put the city in blatant violation of that charter, expose the city to an expensive lawsuit and loss of whatever public trust might remain for the Police Department.

Condon, Straub and the Guild are asking public bodies to support this compromised agreement in duplicitous presentations in which only part of the truth is told, and in some cases, blatant untruths, such as the presentation at the community assembly on Dec. 5.

The mayor’s blatant trickery of this unsuspecting and naïve civic body was disturbing to watch. The people of Spokane spoke loud and clear through Prop 1: real independent investigative authority; not “almost independent,” not “investigation by commission,” not “monitor Internal Affairs,” but “independent investigation by the ombudsman.”

I’m asking my City Council member to vote no on this violation of the city charter and of the people’s 70 percent vote.

Marianne Torres

Spokane