Doug Clark: Winter-weary folks sit through snowjob on ombudsman

This spring weather is really nuts.

We’ve got blowing snow outside. And snow jobs inside Spokane City Hall.

That was the case Monday morning during the Public Safety Committee meeting.

What was billed as the first chance to discuss the hot-button topic of Spokane’s proposed police ombudsman turned into a dull regurgitation of the plan’s already-known points from Council President Joe Shogan.

Hey, I like Shogan. If this guy gets any less animated, he’ll be leaving us for a Madame Tussaud’s wax museum.

Or maybe I should give Shogan credit. His unfriendly demeanor and monotone delivery successfully cowed the small crowd that had come to the fifth-floor conference room hoping to “sound off” about this crucial issue.

Shogan droned.

The visitors were quieter than midnight in a morgue.

I wanted to stand up and holler foul. I can’t do that, of course. Journalists must be uninvolved observers.

Plus a lot of the people around me were cops with guns.

They’d love for me to make their day.

If the public sleepwalks through this, the City Council is sure to sign off on this toothless watchdog. Then they’ll pat each other on the back for being such grand and stalwart servants.

Fact 1: Spokane desperately needs an independent person on the payroll who will keep an eye on the cops.

Fact 2: What’s currently on the table is flimsier than a Monday morning newspaper.

This proposal keeps an ombudsman from investigating serious incidents. I’m talking about police-involved shootings or, say, the Tasing of a mentally impaired janitor trying to buy a candy bar in a quickie mart.

Maybe I’m just naturally suspicious. But it makes me queasy that the Spokane Police Guild will play a big role in negotiating and hammering out the details of the ombudsman’s role.

That’s like letting the James Gang set the train schedule.

That’s like letting McDonald’s plan the high school hot lunch menu.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying our police unionists are against independent oversight.

They’re totally OK with it as long as the ombudsman is muzzled more than Hannibal Lecter being moved to a new psych unit.

Prior to the public safety meeting, Kelly Edgren, one of the critics, told me he thought the City Council was trying to con the citizenry into thinking their ombudsman plan was a winner.

“A good con man makes you think you need the casket with the gold handles,” he said.

Nice.

I trust Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick’s judgment. In her relatively short time here, this pint-sized woman has done a big-time job to keep SPD from standing for “Scandal Plagued Department.”

Kirkpatrick has high moral standards. She doesn’t tolerate unprofessional behavior. She’s a disciplinarian who won’t hesitate to give the boot to an officer who deserves it.

But she won’t be around forever.

Spokane needs a police ombudsman with enough authority and scope to keep the force on the straight and narrow the next time we get stuck with a chowder-head for a chief.

Anything less is just another City Hall snow job.