Rick Dobrow, Interim Police Chief, No Phone Number Available
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 at 2:45 p.m.
The Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services released its Six-Month Assessment Report on the Spokane Police Department this week. The report shows “significant progress” in the January-to-June-2015 assessment, and much more has been accomplished since.
We are in regular communication with DOJ COPS through our Office of Professional Accountability as part of the collaborative reform process. The most recent update provided to DOJ COPS was sent this week and shows completion of 18 of the recommendations and progress on 17 more. Of the remaining seven recommendations, three are subject to bargaining and will be discussed in 2016 and the other four relate to civilian oversight, which as the DOJ notes are “outside of the direct control of the SPD.” The six-month DOJ assessment showed five complete, 27 in progress and 10 with no progress.
The 42 recommendations from DOJ COPS are another critical piece in the re-engineering of the Spokane Police Division that is underway. The collaborative reform process focuses on four areas: examining use of force policies and procedures, analyzing a sample of use of force investigatory files, examining the role of the ombudsman in use of force recommendations, and improving the division's culture and public trust.
DOJ COPS plans to release its next progress report in the fall 2016.
