Police ombudsman

Public-interest law firm the Center for Justice has seen a copy of the tentative labor contract between Spokane and its police union and called the provisions for oversight of the department “a travesty.” The agreement doesn’t comply with a City Charter amendment requiring the city to give the ombudsman power to independently investigate police wrongdoing, the law firm’s executive director said in a letter Thursday to Spokane Mayor David Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart.

Spokane City Council members voted unanimously Monday to create a new citizen Police Ombudsman Commission to oversee future investigations of officer misconduct and police performance. Council members backed away from a proposal to empower the existing police ombudsman to conduct independent investigations.

Spokane police watchdog reappointed, details jump in internal complaints

A fraud investigator from the federal public defender’s office has joined the Spokane Police Department to focus on improving the city’s seizures of drug assets, implementing new laws legalizing marijuana and updating records management. Tim Schwering, 40, will serve as deputy director of tactical and strategic initiatives, a new position that will be a point of contact between the department and the city attorney’s office.

The city of Spokane has agreed to pay $49,500 to a guest of the Davenport Hotel who suffered shoulder injuries when he was tackled by police in 2008. Charles J. Potter was charged with obstruction of justice and resisting arrest in connection with an August 2008 confrontation in which he expressed concern about how police were treating two young men they were arresting. He was acquitted by a Spokane Municipal Court jury, then sued officers Corey Lyons and Jake Jensen in U.S. District Court.

Cases where people die at the hands of police officers should be examined in a public forum, Spokane Police Ombudsman Tim Burns says in his annual report. Burns made the recommendation to hold coroner’s inquests in a report that he presented to the Spokane City Council this week. Other supporters of the idea include Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and representatives of Spokane’s Center for Justice, a public interest law firm.

Spokane voters easily approved a City Charter amendment giving the police ombudsman more authority and a tax to ensure that branch libraries won't close.

The Spokane City Council has tried several times over the past two decades to craft a police oversight system with teeth. Now it’s the citizens’ turn.

City officials have a new strategy to achieve independent police oversight after multiple failed attempts: Let the voters decide. Spokane City Council members Steve Salvatori and Mike Allen want to ask voters in February to approve a city charter amendment creating a police ombudsman position with the ability to investigate alleged police abuse separately from the Police Department’s internal affairs division. The plan also would create a citizen board that would oversee the ombudsman.

Here’s where we stand, in terms of policing the police: One of the most hopeful signs about the latest proposal for true independent oversight is that it’s all bark and no bite. That’s right. All bark and no bite – that’s the selling point.

Advocates of greater police accountability are again pushing to give Spokane’s police ombudsman independent investigative authority. The Center for Justice presented a proposed ordinance during a news conference Thursday, noting that the time is right to push for the expanded authority because the city’s labor contract with the Spokane Police Guild has expired and a new one is being negotiated.

Spokane’s first police ombudsman will keep his job for another year. Mayor David Condon decided in August against renewing Ombudsman Tim Burns’ three-year contract. The move angered some City Council members, who questioned Condon’s willingness to let the city go without an ombudsman even as the city works through recent scandals involving police misconduct.

Condon relents on ombudsman

Spokane hosts national ombudsman conference

The Spokane City Council appears ready to challenge Mayor David Condon’s decision to dismiss the city’s first police ombudsman. Tim Burns, who helped pioneer Spokane’s still-fledgling police oversight program, was informed on Monday by City Administrator Theresa Sanders that his three-year contract would not be renewed. His last day is Oct. 31, though he’ll be using up vacation for the last month.