Police ombudsman

City council looks at police oversight

Spokane City Council members suggested they may need voters to save the stronger police oversight rules they approved last year, by working to place the concept on the ballot. Passions were high during the council’s Monday meeting as they discussed overturning police oversight rules. The debate included a few shouting matches between attendees and Council President Joe Shogan.

As city deals with more revelations in Zehm case, Verner campaign points to ombudsman

Memo from Center for Justice about arbitrator's decision ruling that the city violated bargaining rules by approving a law giving the police ombudsman investigative powers.

The Spokane City Council appears headed for a showdown over whether to appeal a decision limiting the powers of the city’s police ombudsman. The mention of a proposed ordinance accepting the decision of an arbitrator and rolling back the investigative powers approved last year showed a sharply divided council Monday afternoon. The hearing on the ordinance is at least two weeks away.

Today's prediction: Fireworks ahead on ombudsman

Three Spokane groups are urging the City of Spokane to challenge an arbitrator's ruling that the police ombudsman's authority was improperly expanded. But the council could go the other way, and repeal the ordinance that added those powers.

Police ombudsman rules downgraded

An arbitrator this week revoked a law that strengthened Spokane’s police ombudsman powers because the city did not consult the Spokane Police Guild before it was approved last year. The decision by arbitrator Michael H. Beck effectively reverses rules that strengthened the ability of police Ombudsman Tim Burns to investigate alleged officer misconduct independently of police. The opinion was dated Monday; the city received it Tuesday.

More citizens alleged misconduct by Spokane Police Department employees last year than the previous four years, but the number of complaints that resulted in discipline decreased. Police leaders attribute the uptick in complaints to the hiring of the police ombudsman. Last year was Tim Burns’ first full year on the job.

Spokane Police Ombudsman Tim Burns also declined to certify an investigation regarding a driver who had a permit to own a handgun but was given the gun back in pieces following a traffic stop. The man, whose name was withheld from the report, informed police upon being stopped for a minor traffic offense June 27 that he had a loaded and holstered handgun. Police handcuffed the man and placed him in the back of a patrol car while they verified his gun permit.