Editor's note: Above video is a report on Gov. Jay Inslee's suggestions for police reform
SPOKANE, Wash. — Demand for police reform is growing nationwide following the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In an interview on Monday, Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward said local leaders need to have "meaningful, honest and raw" conversations about policing, race relations and inequality in the community.
"We need to get from protests to conversations and then to action," Woodward said.
Some local activists are calling for defunding the police department. This could mean slashing law enforcement budgets and redirecting the money to social services for some, while others want the funding removed and departments dissolved.
A small group led by local activist leader Renee White rallied outside of Spokane City Hall for police reform during a city council meeting on Monday.
In a Facebook post, City Council President Breean Beggs said he announced to the group that he and other council members and pursuing a list of 17 initiatives to improve policing in Spokane.
The first two of those initiatives have to do with the Office of the Police Ombudsman (OPO), including empowering the OPO to publish non-disciplinary closing reports and conduct independent non-disciplinary investigations to comply with the City Charter.
These concerns have been made apparent ahead of an upcoming vote on the Spokane Police Guild contract, Beggs explained in another post.
The OPO works to provide independent review of police action, policy recommendations and ongoing community outreach.
A handful of the initiatives that Beggs and others are pursuing are related to the public's access to information, including renewing online publication of all Internal Affairs Investigations with names redacted; posting all responsive records to all public records requests online; and recording and publishing online all police Administrative Review, Use of Force and Deadly Use of Force panels.
Beggs is also requesting that body camera footage be released within 45 days of a request unless there is a current criminal investigation. He added that footage should not be withheld during Internal Affairs investigations.
Another initiative would ask that "exceptional tactics" be removed from the Spokane Police Department's use of force category, as it is "currently used to justify departure from existing use of force policies," Beggs wrote.
An “exceptional technique” is an arrest tactic to be used only when approved tactics may not be sufficient to take someone into custody, SPD spokesperson Julie Humphreys said on Monday. This means the tactic would be acceptable under "unique circumstances where there are no other reasonable alternatives and the immediate danger presented to officers or others justified an elevated governmental interest to bring the subject under control."
The removal of neck restraint and pressure techniques, except as a justified use of deadly force, is also included on Beggs' list — along with the removal of intentional dog bites by K-9 units.
Humphreys said on Monday that SPD recently updated its defensive tactics training to include that the application of a knee or shin on the neck is considered an "exceptional technique."
Other ideas from Beggs aimed at use of force policies include restricting the use of firing rubber bullets to defensive actions and publishing rules of engagement with large crowds ahead of time.
Here are the rest of the solutions proposed by Beggs and other city council members:
- Police collect and annually report the data elements on race
- Co-deploy 4-6 more behavior health interventionists with patrol officers using currently unused public safety levy dollars
- Change City Attorney to an independent position appointed by council for seven-year term and only removable for cause during that term
- Conduct robust community conversation process and implement their recommendations regarding use of force policies
- Restrict use of armored vehicles to conditions where officers are at imminent risk of gunfire
- Remove qualified immunity as a defense when the City of Spokane is paying for legal defense costs and has indemnified a city employee acting in the course of their duties
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said during a press conference on Monday that the state should explore changes to laws involving police use of force.
He suggested creating a new state agency to investigate in-custody deaths, making it state law for officers to report their colleagues' misconduct, and restricting the use of chokeholds.