Federal judge says SPD on track to exit consent decree, despite flawed police contract

At a hearing Wednesday, the federal judge overseeing policing in Seattle made clear he’s disappointed with the city’s latest police contract. But he offered praise for improved practices at SPD as well.

U.S. District Judge James Robart said this year’s retroactive contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild made little progress on accountability provisions, but he said he is “structurally unable” to intervene in the collective bargaining process.

Still he said, “I wonder why I keep pushing this rock uphill only to have it roll down again.”

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Kerala Cowart with the Seattle City Attorney’s office responded that the contract contained some improvements to the accountability system, and increased wages to address the staffing shortage at SPD.

Now, she said, recruitment is improving and the city and the Seattle Police Officers Guild have been meeting twice a month to negotiate a “forward-looking” contract. Cowart said all accountability provisions “are still on the table.”

Robart has overseen a consent decree involving Seattle police since 2012 when federal officials found a pattern of unconstitutional excessive force.

Aside from concerns with the labor agreement, during the hearing Robart praised SPD’s efforts to improve transparency and oversight. He said the agency is one of the strongest in terms of tracking data to monitor for possible racial bias by police.

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He said the Office of Police Accountability website has seen “a night and day change” in transparency of its complaint records. And he said the Office of Inspector General is well-prepared to take on the roll of SPD monitor once the federal monitor’s role concludes.

Robart called SPD Interim Chief Sue Rahr his “personal hero” for coming out of retirement to the lead the agency at a critical time. Rahr said after the hearing that she’s feeling hopeful.

“When I hear the judge talking about how pleased he is with the changes, this feels like a huge, huge step towards terminating the consent decree,” she said.

The court is awaiting at least one more submission from Seattle — its revamped crowd-management policy. That legislation is currently before the Seattle City Council. A spokesperson said the earliest it could be introduced is Oct. 29.

Robart urged SPD officials to get the new policy done and “get it trained.” Once Robart signs off on the crowd-control policy, the city and the Justice Department could seek to end the decree.

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Rahr said she’s ready to move forward with the policy and the winding down of the consent decree before a permanent chief is named.

“I will say that there are a couple of very promising candidates for the new chief position that I’m very excited about,” she said.