Seattle City Council candidate Bobby Forch is casting himself as The Police Reform Candidate. He released the results of a poll in March that found citizens want more police oversight. And this week he’s releasing an eight-point plan for reforming the Seattle Police Department that focuses on recruiting officers who live within the city limits, fortifying police oversight programs, and putting more officers on the street.
Of particular concern, he says, is the US Department of Justice’s current investigation into the SPD’s patterns and practices.
“Why are we having someone come in and clean up our house?” asks Forch.
Forch says the existing cast of council members—particularly incumbent Jean Godden, who he’s challenging—haven’t used their platform for any meaningful change, despite numerous controversial cases of officers using force against racial minorities. Forch agrees with several of the council’s 11 recommendations for police but says they should do more.
“We should be putting an emphasis on recruiting officers from inside the city,” he says. He says that the more police share the city’s values, the less tolerance there will be for those who act out. “It appears that a lot of the officers are coming from the suburbs. When building an organization, there is a social engineering that goes along with it.”
However, Forch is vague about how he would change hiring practices, put a voting civilian on the firearms review board, require the council to reconfirm the police chief, or achieve the other aims of his eight-point plan. Asked to describe specific mechanisms (legislation, hearings, letters, etc.), Forch says, “A lot of this is people power, and public energy. No one is talking on the council. Whatever is in the toolbox we need to leverage for reform.” He also paused for a long time when asked what sort of legislation he might introduce, eventually saying that he would sponsor some sort of bill “supporting labor and small business.”
Forch started as a laborer with the Seattle Department of Transportation installing parking meters and worked his way up the chain as a project manager. He ran for council in 2009 but didn’t make it through the primary election. He’s an affable man with decades of experience cranking the cogs of the city. The question of whether he can transform that experience into a viable council run will be determined not only by honing in on issues where the council is weak—e.g., reforming police culture, expediting transit construction—but also by articulating specific mechanisms for achieving those goals.
Other leaders in the race: Challenger Maurice Classen, a county prosecutor, who has raised $70,229; incumbent Godden, who has raised $133,626. Forch has raised $30,283, according to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.
Hopefully, he supports the tunnel.
Wow, it’s J.K. Simmons.
A police reform candidate who wants to put more cops on the street? That’s enough to tell me he’s full of shit. How many people need to die before we understand that it’s the nature and function of the police that is the problem. You can take a turd and mold it into a beautiful replica of the Statue of Liberty, but it’s still a turd. And your hands stink.
Dominic is exactly right. Another 8 point plan is garbage if it doesn’t articulate specific mechanisms for achieving those goals.