SPOKANE, Wash. — The four finalists for the Spokane Police Chief job met face-to-face with members of the public on Thursday as the city looks to find the next person to lead the department.
The mayor wanted to hold this forum so members of the public could meet the candidates face-to-face.
They're from different parts of the country, hoping to be the next chief of police in the City of Spokane.
"I hope there's more of a community dialogue on which one of these candidates the community feels is important," Anwar Peace, a member of the Washington Coalition of Police Accountability and commissioner of the City of Spokane Human Rights Commission, said.
Peace is one of many who attended Thursday night's public forum at the downtown Spokane Public Library. Peace said he wants to know how the prospective new police chief will solve the issue of officer's actions that he believes could have been avoided.
"For me, personally, I want to know what candidates feel, like, how they're going to address having multiple officers on the force having multiple killings under their belt," Peace said.
The four candidates: Kevin Hall, Matthew Murray, Tom Worthy and Kathleen Lanier, all spoke about the issues they feel are vital to address if becoming chief.
Hall is the Assistant Chief of the Tucson Police Department, and he says the screening process is important, particularly as each department can vary in what's accepted.
"What is your training curriculum looking like?" Hall said. "What are your field training officers looking like? What are your sergeants looking like? All of that is going to have an impact on how that person is going to police and the self-accountability they're going to have for the rest of their career."
Murray, who is the Chief of the Yakima Police Department, says accountability among the police department isn't possible without the open transparency that he says his department utilizes.
"I think providing data, making sure people can see everything, flock camera systems [is] something I really advocate for," Murray said. "Every single one of those hits is on our webpage and you can look it up, and I think that's really important."
Worthy is the Dalles Police Chief in Dalles, Oregon, and he says the key to accountability in the community is making sure all sides of a case are heard.
"Let the public have a voice," Worthy said. "That's a core foundation of good criminal justices that even a suspect, community, we're here to protect and represent them, that they have a voice in our operations."
Colonel Lanier with the Memphis Police Department says the power the chief has is something she is conscious of, and would keep that in mind if given the authority, particularly with officers with misdemeanors on their record.
"If someone's caught shoplifting, got the record expunged, they can let them come on the job," Lanier said. "But I have a problem with that. That type of thing, or having any type of criminal past, but it'll vary case by case."
Each candidate heard from the community, and in Peace's case, he hopes there will be more opportunities for the public to voice their concerns as candidates for chief are getting fewer.
"We're really looking forward to having a change coming to the community, and hopefully this police leadership will be that change agent," Peace said.
From here, the candidates will be meeting with members of the police department on Friday. After that, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown will gather input from the community and officers and make the decision on who is the new chief from there.
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