Public-interest
law firm the Center for Justice has seen a copy of the tentative labor contract
between Spokane and its police union and called the provisions for oversight of
the department “a travesty.”
The
agreement doesn’t comply with a City Charter amendment requiring the city to
give the ombudsman power to independently investigate police wrongdoing, the
law firm’s executive director said in a letter Thursday to Spokane Mayor David
Condon and Council President Ben Stuckart.
Voters
overwhelmingly approved Proposition 1 last February calling for
such power.
Members
of the Spokane Police Guild are currently considering a labor agreement reached
after more than two years of negotiations and state mediation.
The
Center for Justice was given a copy of the tentative contract to review but
agreed not to publicly release it.
Details
of the agreement remain confidential until after the Guild votes on the
proposed contract, which is expected next week. It would then go to the City
Council for public consideration.
The
letter sent by the Center for Justice on Thursday, however, said the new
contract “is so plainly contrary to Proposition 1 that the City Council cannot
vote to approve it without being in violation (of the charter amendment).” It
was signed by Rick Eichstaedt, executive director of the center.
Stuckart
has said he wants to hold public forums on the contract as well as a proposed
ordinance needed to boost the ombudsman’s powers. A council vote on the
ordinance was postponed on Oct. 7 because of the pending
contract agreement.
Currently,
the ombudsman can’t independently investigate allegations of police wrongdoing;
he mainly monitors the department’s internal affairs investigations.
Eichstaedt
recommended that the proposed contract be reviewed first by the mayor’s Use of
Force Commission, which has recommended an independent ombudsman.
He
said the proposed contract and council decision to postpone action were major
setbacks in “the city’s efforts to rebuild public confidence” in the department
and city administration.
The Center for Justice
sued the city and police on behalf of the mother and estate of Otto Zehm, an
unarmed janitor who died after a violent encounter with police in 2006. The
case was settled in 2012 when the city paid $1.67 million in damages to
Zehm’s family.