Originally published by the Inlander (http://www.inlander.com/Bloglander/archives/2013/10/12/more-from-this-weeks-ombudsman-vote) by Heidi Groover In this week’s issue, we have a story on the lengthy, and increasingly bizarre, struggle to empower Spokane’s Office of Police Ombudsman. Police accountability advocates have long pushed for independent investigative…

Originally published by the Inlander (http://www.inlander.com/spokane/the-race-card/Content?oid=2195467) by Jacob Jones In a new program to track police interactions and deter racial profiling, Spokane Police officers will start packing statistic forms while out patrolling their beats next year. Every time an officer…

Originally published by The Spokesman-Review (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/oct/08/spokane-city-council-pares-down-police-oversight/) by Mike Prager Spokane City Council members voted unanimously Monday to create a new citizen Police Ombudsman Commission to oversee future investigations of officer misconduct and police performance. Council members backed away from a…

Originally published by The Spokesman-Review (http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/oct/05/protest-guns-in-schools/) by Louise Chadez Armed employees will be in our schools beginning January 2014. That’s when Spokane Public Schools will become one of only two districts in the state to take this drastic measure to…

Originally published by the Inlander (http://www.inlander.com/Bloglander/archives/2013/10/04/center-for-justice-says-new-police-contract-does-not-include-independent-investigative-powers-for-ombudsman) by Heidi Groover Earlier today, we reported that the Spokane Police Guild and city administration have reached a tentative agreement about a new police contract, but few details about its content were available. Now,…

Police Oversight: Out of Excuses People like you–making your voices heard–have made the difference at every step as we’ve worked with great determination to win real, meaningful independent oversight of police for Spokane. As we know, change worth working for…