The following are complaints received by the Office of the Ombudsman and forwarded to Internal Affairs of the Spokane Police Department for investigation in 2016.
| Case # | Complaint Description | Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| OPO: 16-1 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by the Office of Police Ombudsman (OPO) via walk in. Police officer did not thoroughly investigate a reported break in. | Received: 1/8/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-2 | A Driving complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant witnessed police disobeying traffic laws without active emergency lights. | Received: 1/11/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-3 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via interview. Complainant called the police 2x (waited over 2 hours) before police arrived | Received: 2/15/2016 District: 1 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Mediated Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-4 | A Failure to complete a report was received by OPO via web form. Complainant was referred to make complaint in Spokane by Department of Corrections for his complaint against a former DOC officer for perjury and excessive force. Outside OPO jurisdiction, but entered for the record. | Received: 1/19/2016 District: N/A (outside Spokane) Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-5 | Complaint is outside scope of OPO. Forwarded to Washington State Patrol for further investigation. | Received: 2/15/2016 District: 1 Status: Closed as investigative inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-6 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant called 911 2x before receiving a response and when the police arrived, his investigation at the scene was inadequate | Received: 2/16/2016 District: 1 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-7 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via interview. Complainant received less than satisfactory customer service at front desk when attempting to speak with IA. | Received: 2/18/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-8 | An Abuse of Authority, Demeanor, False Reporting, False Statements, and Make Misleading Statement with Intent to Deceive complaint via web form. Complainant alleges an officer has abused position to remove undesirable people from the officer' residential neighborhood. Officer allegedly intentionally used wrong contact info and made statements that rose to the level of perjury. | Received: 2/18/2016 District: 3 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-9 | A Failure to take Complaint complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant was excluded from businesses and officer refused to take complaint | Received: 2/23/2016 District: 1 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-10 | A Conduct Unbecoming and Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant alleges he was harassed and made fun of by an officer for having cancer and being indigent. | Received: 3/13/2016 District: 3 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-11 | An Inadequate Response and Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via web form and email (duplication). Complainant alleges an officer refused to assign an investigator to the case because it was a civil matter, while complainant believes it is a criminal matter. The demeanor portion of the complaint goes to the interaction over the phone between the complainant and the officer, ending with the officer hanging up on the complainant. | Received: 4/4/2016 District: 2 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-12 | A Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via walk in. Complainant alleges he had valid concerns that were not addressed upon going to the Public Safety Building to seek assistance, instead he was made to feel like a liar and thrown out of the building. | Received: 4/6/2016 District: 3 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-13 | A Biased Policing complaint was received by OPO via interview. Complainant alleges being personally targeted for creating chalk art on sidewalks in violation of protected First Amendment rights to free speech. Complainant was issued a citation while another chalk artist was not. The citation was preprinted, complete with complainant's information, prior to citation. Lastly, citation incorrectly checked off box for matching photo ID when complaianant alleges identification was not checked. | Received: 4/11/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-14 | A Demeanor and Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant was made to feel like an idiot for waiting to report incident to police. Complainant further alleges officer made threatening comments. Complainant contacted officer's sergeant and received no response. | Received: 5/11/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed Ombudsman Findings: Certified Chief's Findings: Unfounded / sustained Officer Discipline: Letter of reprimand |
| OPO: 16-15 | A Harassment, False Reporting, Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant alleges harassment, lying on reports, and failure to investigate both parties in altercations with complainant's neighbor, with the officer only interviewing the neighbor and assuming the neighbor's statements is the truth. | Received: 5/19/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed Ombudsman Findings: Declined to certify Chief's Findings: Unfounded Officer Discipline: None |
| OPO: 16-16 | A Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via email. Complainant alleges unprofessional behavior by a SPD employee stemming from the integrity review portion of the application to be an SPD officer. | Received: 6/15/2016 District: 3 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Declined to certify Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-17 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via intake interview. Complainant alleges SPD's failure to detect and timely respond to the incident resulted in the complainant and members of the complainant's group to be assaulted. | Received: 6/21/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-18 | A Demeanor complaint was received by the OPO via web form. Complainant was pulled over by a white unmarked truck. Complainant alleges being tailgated and the stop was conducted in a hostile manner. Complainant is unsure whether the officer is a member of SPD. | Received: 6/20/2016 District: 2 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-19 | A Conduct Unbecoming and Inadequate Response complaint was received by the OPO via intake interview. Complainant alleges being denied medication after being arrested. | Received: 6/24/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-20 | A Demeanor and Unlawful Search complaint was received by the OPO via intake interview. Complainant was stopped by police during a traffic stop. Complainant alleges being detained for a long time, with officers acting in an aggressive and unprofessional manner. Complainant further alleges another officer searched the complainant's car over the complainant's objection. | Received: 7/1/2016 District: 2 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-21 | A Demeanor and False Reporting complaint was received by OPO via referral. Complainant alleges an officer's demeanor was improper after the officer responded to a car accident. Complainant further alleges possible fraud in the police report. | Received: 7/6/2016 District: 1 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-22 | A Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via intake interview. Complainant witnessed officers allegedly hurting a black male despite the male's compliance and repeated requests for the officers to stop hurting him. Complainant alleges seeing unnecessary force and hearing officers refuse to search the man's bag while making racial slurs. | Received: 6/24/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed Ombudsman Findings: Certified Chief's Findings: Exonerated / Unfounded Officer Discipline: None |
| OPO: 16-23 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via web form. Complainant received word from an unidentified officer that the complainant's stolen car was spotted in Northtown Mall. By the time the complainant responded to the scene, the car was missing. Complainant believes had the officer waited for the complainant to respond, additional cost to recover the car would have been avoided. | Received: 8/8/2016 District: 1 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-24 | A Demeanor complaint was received via walk in. Complainant alleges a security guard at River Park Square represented him/herself as "with SPD." Complainant further alleges being threatened by one of the security guards. | Received: 9/9/2016 District: 2 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-25 | A Demeanor and Inadequate Response complaint was received via email, USPS, and fax (duplication). Complainant reported continuous unlawful entry into the complainant's home. The complainant alleges the responding officer's demeanor was inappropriate and the officer did not thoroughly investigate the incident. Complainant filed a subsequent related complaint regarding SPD's involving FBH. | Received: 8/25/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-26 | An Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via intake interview. Complainant was trespassed from a building and SPD was contacted to deliver a report to FBH. Complainant would like to know how FBH became involved and why complainant was not contacted to verify the contents of SPD's report prior to submitting to FBH. Complainant doesn't believe there is an incident report surround being trespassed and would like to know where the report is. | Received: 9/12/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed as Investigative Inquiry Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-27 | An Improper Driving complaint was received via web form. Complainant alleges a police cruiser was parked illegally at emergency parking at Deaconess Hospital. | Received: 8/31/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed Ombudsman Findings: Certified Chief's Findings: Exonerated Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-28 | A Demeanor and Biased Policing complaint against 3 officers was received by OPO via intake interview. Complainant is a business owner who had an issue with a customer. Customer called for police assistance. Complainant alleges the responding officers bullied the complainant and made the complainant feel like a criminal. Complainant also filed a related complaint to the business when an officer responded to theft. Complainant alleges the officer's demeanor made the employee feel like an insubordinate child. The complainant feels as if the employee was made to feel like the culprit. | Received: 10/10/2016 District: 3 Status: Closed Ombudsman Findings: Certified Chief's Findings: Sustained / Sustained / Unfounded Officer Discipline: Letter of reprimand / Documentation of Counseling / None |
| OPO: 16-29 | An uncategorized complaint was received by OPO via walk in. Complainant wishes to compel SPD to explain why the complainant was arrested. | Received: 9/28/2016 District: 2 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-30 | A Demeanor and Inadequate Response complaint was received by OPO via referral. Complainant confronted a minor who complainant believes stole the neighbor's mail. Complainant alleges the minor pulled out a chrome ruler and the complainant drew his/her weapon in response. After complainant agreed to let the minor go, an officer pulled up and accused the complainant of pulling a gun on a minor and a gun on a ruler. Complainant identified 2 other officers on scene, neither of whom attempted to retrieve the stolen mail. | Received: 10/13/2016 District: 2 Status: Closed Ombudsman Findings: Certified Chief's Findings: Exonerated Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-31 | A Demeanor and Unlawful Arrest complaint was received by OPO via USPS. Complainant was arrested and alleges officers knowingly arrested the wrong person. Complainant further alleges the officers who initially approached the complainant were rude. | Received: 10/26/2016 District: 3 Status: Administratively Suspended Ombudsman Findings: Concur Chief's Findings: N/A Officer Discipline: N/A |
| OPO: 16-32 | A Demeanor complaint was received by OPO via referral. Complainant alleges a detective made rude comments toward the complainant. The complainant was also displeased with the response time to the complaint. | Received: 9/27/2016 District: 2 Status:Closed Ombudsman Findings: Certified Chief's Findings: Not sustained Officer Discipline: N/A |
Office of Police Ombudsman
1st Floor, City Hall
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
Spokane, WA 99201
Phone: 509.625.6742
Fax: 509.625.6748
Regular Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday
opo@spokanecity.org
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Police Ombudsman
Luvimae Omana
Deputy Ombudsman
Christina Coty
Administrative Specialist
Tim Szambelan
Police Ombudsman Attorney
