The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to release its report on the Spokane Police Department’s reforms after a public records request and appeal by The Spokesman-Review.
The report details how well Spokane police implemented 42 recommendations from the Justice Department’s collaborative reform process, a voluntary review the department undertook starting in 2012. The reform was focused on evaluating Spokane police policies and practices related to use of force.
Collaborative reforms were a program of the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services, known as COPS, which Attorney General Jeff Sessions ended after President Donald Trump took office.
Spokane police were to receive a final report in the summer of 2016, but after a long wait, the COPS program told Chief Craig Meidl in the fall of 2017 they wouldn’t be getting one. Read more…