The city’s civilian police watchdog told elected officials last week that his office made little progress in overcoming barriers to independent oversight of the department in 2019.

In their quest for police reform, elected officials in the city of Spokane may lean on their counterparts in the state Legislature for help.

Midway into a new ombudsman's report on the now-infamous profanity-laced rant of a still happily employed Spokane police officer, a word appears that is crucial in considering where we’ve been, where we are, and where we going with police and accountability.Culture.

Spokane police brass should have looked more critically and with greater transparency at an officer’s use of his police dog to apprehend a fleeing suspect in a trapped truck in February 2019, a report from the department’s civilian in charge of oversight found.

Edith McNinch never let age be a limit. When she was 52, she started a 21-year career as a kindergarten teacher. Now 91, she’s often much older than most of the residents she serves as a volunteer advocate at an assisted-living facility in Colville.

“What I think is – right now, what I would lean toward – is the most transparency possible,” Spokane Police Ombudsman Bart Logue said of the fact that members of the SPD’s SWAT team don’t wear body cameras. “But keeping in line with that doesn’t endanger officers and that sort of thing.”

Chief Craig Meidl and Capt. Tom Hendren said they believed that the context of the arrest led them to conclude the use of force was appropriate. They did not mention earlier conclusions that raised serious concerns about Officer Dan Lesser’s use of his K-9.

This moment is precisely why the ombudsman’s office exists. The police department has essentially signed off on everything in the video but Lesser’s demeanor. But we’ve got to have more than their word for it. Because it just doesn’t look right.

The Feb. 12, 2019 arrest of Lucas Ellerman included a police K9 being placed in the vehicle. The body camera video was released 10/30/2019.

Two different body camera views of the Feb. 12, 2019 arrest of Lucas Ellerman, which included a police K9 being placed in the vehicle. The body camera video was released 10/30/2019.

The relationship between police chief and ombudsman – always bound to have some inherent tension – has devolved into a chilly estrangement, growing partly from criticisms regarding a still-secret case in which an officer reportedly heaved a police dog into a car with a suspect.

The chief watchdog of the Spokane Police Department raised a red flag on Tuesday about what he said is an “alarming,” crucial and unannounced change to how uses of force are referred to Internal Affairs investigators.

The update, released Oct. 4, includes a new section on de-escalation, reporting of ethical misconduct and deadly force.

An interactive use-of-force dashboard was launched on Tuesday on the Office of Police Ombudsman’s website.

With glowing praise, the Office of the Police Ombudsman Commission unanimously voted on Tuesday to renew Bart Logue’s contract to serve as the civilian watchdog of the Spokane Police Department for three more years.

Members of the Spokane City Council will not sign a nondisclosure agreement requested by the Spokane Police Guild before they review footage of an arrest in February that the agency’s independent watchdog has indicated is troubling.