Late last month, city officials asked a federal judge to find the Seattle Police Department in “full and effective compliance” with its 2012 consent decree with the Department of Justice.
Now, the Community Police Commission (CPC) says it agrees with the city’s assessment that local cops have reduced excessive force and biased policing enough to move onto the second step outlined in the consent decree: Maintaining compliance for two years.
The CPC, an advisory body created to provide community input on police reform, announced its decision in a briefing letter to U.S. District Judge James Robart, who presides over the agreement between the city and the feds. It’s up to Robart to decide whether the department has met the baseline requirements of the consent decree to move onto the two-year “sustained compliance” period.
The CPC’s letter says that a finding of “full and effective compliance” would not mean “the end of police reform in Seattle.” Rather, Robart’s nod would signal that the city has made significant process in achieving the goal of “deploying police to keep people safe while earning and maintaining the trust of every community.”
Today’s letter means both the city and the CPC are at odds with federal court-appointed monitor Merrick Bobb, who issued a report last month saying the police department has made significant improvements, but not enough to meet compliance with the consent decree.
Submitted by CPC co-chairs Rev. Harriet Walden, Enrique Gonzalez and Issac Ruiz, the letter also outlines areas where the city could improve upon meeting baseline requirements of the consent decree, including studying disparities in stops and detentions, expanding the scope of a committee set up to address crisis intervention concerns, look at alternatives to internal investigation of serious use-of-force and re-examine Taser training.
The fatal police shooting of Charleena Lyles by two white officers renewed public scrutiny of Taser use when it was revealed that one of the officers, though required to carry a Taser, did not have the device on him when he opened fire on the 30-year-old black mother of four.
The CPC’s letter also raises police reform areas not addressed in the agreement that the department could consider, including addressing use-of-force during protests, coercive interrogation techniques and looking at setting up an appeals process for people who make complaints against police.
The Department of Justice is expected to submit a briefing today as well.
