Committee reports on police chief conversation

Police Leadership Advisory Committee discusses attributes, search

Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 509.625.6740


Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 3:38 p.m.


The Police Leadership Advisory Committee has recommended updates to the police chief job description, identified attributes it would like to see in the next chief and made some suggestions about how the police division leader should be recruited.

City human resources will review the committee’s recommendations, update the job description and outline a recruitment and hiring process that could begin in mid-February. The revised job description and proposed process will be discussed with the committee at its meeting on Feb. 8.

“Members of the Police Leadership Advisory Committee have put a lot of time, thought and energy into what we should be looking for in our next chief, the job that chief should do and how we should recruit and hire that person,” Spokane Mayor David Condon said. “We appreciate very much the work each member has done to engage the community, compile feedback and outline recommendations.”

Separately, the committee will begin work on providing guidance on the development of a cultural audit, a recommendation of both the Use of Force Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services. The committee will make recommendations about the scope and process of a cultural audit and how the findings should be reported back to the community.