Comments on Police Accountability Changes Headed to Council

Jonah - you write: "The proposed legislation would require the police chief to provide an explanation when disagreeing with OPA recommendations on officer discipline."

A law requiring this was passed 9 months ago (and signed by the Mayor in October)

Ordinance 122513 "to require that the Chief of Police and the OPA Director provide written explanations when they disagree on the final disposition of a complaint investigation, and to require that the OPA Director provide a written explanation when his or her recommendation to sustain a misconduct complaint results in no discipline because the complaint investigation was not completed within the time period specified in the applicable union contract."

http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~scripts/nph-brs.exe?s1=&s2=&s3=&s4=&s5=licata%5Bspon%5D+and+%40dtir%3E%3D20070000+and+%40dtir%3C20080000&Sect4=AND&l=200&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESON&Sect3=PLURON&Sect5=CBOR1&Sect6=HITOFF&d=CBOR&p=1&u=%2F%7Epublic%2Fcbor1.htm&r=8&f=G

Is this an actual and substantial reform, or just a toothless facelift?

It all depends on how much faith you have in our system. It's definitely a facelift. Whether it's toothless remains to be seen.

thanks for changing the earlier post!