Originally published by the Inlander (http://www.inlander.com/Bloglander/archives/2014/02/04/city-announces-new-police-contract-agreement)
by Heidi Groover
City and Spokane Police Guild negotiators have reached a new tentative contract agreement they hope will satisfy the city council, which rejected an earlier agreement and has repeatedly called for more authority for the police ombudsman.
The new agreement maintains the current structure in which the ombudsman sits in on Internal Affairs investigations, but adds several new roles:
Where he previously forwarded all complaints of excessive force or “improper/inappropriate interaction with an officer” to IA, the ombudsman would now conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether to forward the complaint to IA. (Unless an officer is the one filing a complaint, the ombudsman cannot interview officers at this step.)