On her last day as ombudsman for the Seattle Police Department, Sam Pailca told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “It’s a lonely job. There were those days when you just felt like you were swimming upstream. Criticism was so intense.”

Pailca got continual flak from police officers who thought she was unfair and from citizens who thought she was too cozy with the department. But she was able to survive because the office was insulated from those pressures. She couldn’t be fired without an explanation, unlike many “at will” employees who report to mayors. She could be dismissed only for incompetence or wrongdoing after public hearings.

If Spokane hopes to hire a qualified, effective person to fill the role here, it will need to offer that same assurance. Though the tentative proposal for the office was released April 9, the question of how firings would be handled has yet to be answered. The ombudsman agreement was on the April 21 agenda of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, but that detail was not addressed.

Mayor Mary Verner and Council President Joe Shogan, who heads the Public Safety Committee, have said they support the proposal, but they haven’t indicated their preference for how the job would be structured. Given the delicate nature of the position, it’s an important consideration. The public needs a detailed answer before the proposal moves forward.