Major Reforms Ahead for Seattle Police?
On March 29th, 2012, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Police Chief John Diaz announced sweeping reforms in response to a highly critical federal Department of Justice report following a series of high-profile incidents involving people of color:
As a result, 20 major reforms were proposed by the city and SPD brass:
McGinn, Diaz and Mike Sanford, the department's assistant chief of
operations, state the proposed reforms fall under 5 main categories: protecting
constitutional rights; training for Seattle's values; earning public trust;
using data-driven practices; and partnering with the public.
SPD has been in the hot seat many times since the creation of the
city. Some old scandals make some of the more recent ones seem pale in
comparison. SPD survived those and was able to shake things up and improve its
image. Very few people will deny that Police-Community Relations have been
deteriorating in recent months, including the shooting death of a Native
American wood carver named John T. Williams, and an incident involving a former
gang unit officer and Latino youth:
So, what do you think of these new reforms? Will line staff buy into
it? Does SPD racially profile people? Is there a culture of police brutality
and excessive force at SPD or were these incidents just the case of a few bad
apples spoiling the whole bunch? Are these proposed reforms just a ploy to try
and head off DOJ monitoring of the department? Was this all racially and
politically motivated? Will anything change at SPD?
