Comments

1
This city needs to chillax. Let me get my mayor on.
2
They've sent a clear message that police misconduct WILL be tolerated, though it will be surrounded by a fog of obfuscatory bullshit to the extent that no one, not even the principals in the incidents, will be able to say whether anything has happened or not. Bet on "not".
3
So the rep from the Community Police Commission, required under the consent decree, is listed dead last after an armada of city and SPD staff. Meanwhile the monitor's office appears moribund since at least last September, with Merrick Bobb tweeting exactly twice, last April, with his Seattle-consultancy chapeau on. As usual, Fnarf cuts to the chase.
4
Bring in the Justice Department NOW. Today. Straight-up fed takeover. Invite every cop in the city to resign if they don't like it.

Look, I'm generally speaking a pro-cop kind of guy. I like cops, I appreciate the difficult work they do, I side with them most of the time. If you've lost me, you've lost the war. SPD is unreformable and needs to be broken and put back together again.
5
@4 what makes you think the DOJ intends to behave any differently? Jenny Durkan and Pete Holmes are political allies with Ed Murray. Durkan signed off on Murray's changes at the top of SPD when he took office. She might be annoyed at the ham-fisted way Murray is handling this, but she's on board with everything else.

The sooner people realize that police reform in Seattle is about power plays and score settling - including the DOJ - and not actually about fixing the department, the sooner we can move on to the solutions that will actually work, like an elected chief and/or an elected police commission with the ability to fire cops.
6
He's the mayor you wanted, CM Harrell.
7
If the City Council doesn't do something, it's time for seriously looking into a ballot initiative to tie off the city in handcuffs from ever again signing any labor deal with any union that doesn't agree to permanent, binding, public oversight through a disciplinary panel which would have final and absolute say over these things -- and no ability for any union, politician, or anyone else to overturn a decision outside of a full lawsuit. If any union doesn't like it, they can sit on their old contract. Arrest the city to protect it's people.

8
In 2012 the Seattle Human Rights Commission submitted a Report on Police Accountability. The report noted that to meet human rights standards, a police accountability system must:1) be run by an independent, neutral body with the power to investigate and impose discipline as necessary 2) provide all the parties an opportunity to be heard 3) allow appeal to an independent decision-maker and 4) be transparent. The current oversight system fails on all four points and the recent debacle is an event that will reoccur until an independent civilian review board with the power to investigate and render binding disciplinary decisions is established.
As we did in 2012, the Seattle Human Rights Commission is calling for the creation of an independent civilian review board. As #7 correctly notes, the Mayor and the City Council must be prepared to make the creation of such a panel a non-negotiable term of any new contract with SPD. Until this fundamental reform occurs, real police reform will not have been accomplished.

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