Is Mayor Ed Murray serious about reforming the Seattle Police Department? That question arose shortly after his successful election campaign, which was backed by the city’s powerful police unions, when Murray’s newly appointed interim chief of police attempted to quietly overturn a series of disciplinary decisions against officers.
Now the question is being asked again, one year after the installation of a new, well-regarded chief from Boston, Kathleen O’Toole. That’s because in 18 months, despite promises to move the ball on police reform, Murray hasn’t signed, or even introduced, legislation to fix Seattle’s broken police accountability system—the system that contributed to the SPD being investigated for excessive use of force and then forced into a reform process by the federal government in 2011.
If reforming the police department were a big class project, then Murray would be so late turning in his homework he’d be failing.