Spokanites meet SPD Chief finalists
Four people who want to become Spokane’s next police chief introduced themselves to the public last night at a city-sponsored forum at the Central Library.
Each candidate was asked why they want to lead Spokane’s police force. Matthew Murray said he believes many of Spokane’s problems are the same as in his current home, Yakima. June 28 is his final day as police chief there.
Murray pointed to his Yakima experience and as a Denver cop as evidence he’d be effective here.
“In the last 15 years, I spent 10 years as the chief of staff in the Denver Police Department for two separate chiefs of police. And then I was five years as chief. So, 15 years I’ve been in the chief’s office in a major city, in a local city nearby and really learned how to, like these folks, learned how to handle a lot of the challenges that we’re faced with," Murray said at the forum. "And when they asked me the question, ‘Do you still have gas in the tank? Can you still this?' I realized I do.”
The candidate who traveled the farthest to be interviewed is Memphis Police Colonel Kathleen Lanier.
“At this stage of my life, I’m more of a listener than a talker. I don’t have all the answers. I believe in letting others do the talking and sharing their ideas, especially the young people who have not been so inclusive in the things that are going on in the day-to-day operations of the police department," she said. "But we can engage them. I think that’s a must and that’s one of the things that I desire to do.”
The other finalists are Kevin Hall, the assistant police chief in Tucson, Arizona and Tom Worthy, the chief in The Dalles, Oregon.
After each candidate answered three group questions, the finalists separated into small groups to take individual questions from the public.
City officials have not yet announced when they expect to hire the new chief.
WA immigration processing center could have prevented deaths, report finds
A new report says the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma has one of the worst track records in the country as measured by in-custody deaths.
The new report is by the American Civil Liberties Union and two other groups. Researchers say nationally, at least 70 people have died in ICE detention since 2017. Two of those deaths happened at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.
Eunice Cho, one of the co-authors of the report, is a senior staff attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project.
“What we found in the review of these deaths was that ICE has had persistent failings in providing medical and mental health care that have led to preventable deaths in ICE detention," said Cho. "Medical staff, for example, often ignored key symptoms and failed to provide patients with the opportunity to see a doctor.”
The authors of the report say the failures were so egregious that they're calling for ICE to release vulnerable people from detention.
David Yost, a spokesperson for ICE, declined to provide comment when asked about the report.
SCOTUS allows OR ban on public camping
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city of Grants Pass, Oregon, this morning, June 28, in a long-running case about homelessness.
In the court’s decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the city’s enforcement of its public camping laws does not violate the Eighth Amendment. The Ninth Circuit Court’s decision has been reversed, and the case will be sent back to a lower court.
The case started in 2018 and focused on whether the Southern Oregon city’s laws regulating camping on public property constitute cruel and unusual punishment, which is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.
Attorneys for homeless people in the case argued that the city’s ordinances effectively make it a crime to be homeless when there aren’t enough places for them to find shelter.
The ruling is expected to have widespread implications for how cities across the country can enforce rules that prevent people from camping in public.
Transportation Commission hears plans to ease AF base traffic
Fairchild Air Force Base personnel are devising ways to make it easier for people who work and live on base to get there quickly.
Thursday, the Washington Transportation Commission heard a progress report from a base official.
Jeffrey Johnson reminded commission members there are only two ways to get to Fairchild. Johnson is the base’s deputy director for installation support. You can drive Highway 2 through Airway Heights – and its growing gauntlet of traffic lights and roundabouts.
“We’re not against any roundabouts, but they have had an impact to us," Johnson said. "Now we have to figure out how a way to mitigate that.”
Or you can get there from I-90 via Craig Road. That takes you to Fairchild’s second gate, but it’s not open all the time.
“We’re trying to have that gate open, instead of just two hours a day, two hours in the morning coming in one direction and two hours in the evening going the outbound direction," he said. "We’re trying to get approximately 20% of our commuters off of Highway 2.”
The base is working with the county and federal government to upgrade the road infrastructure leading to the second gate and improve the gate itself, Johnson said.
It’s also considering other options to allow traffic from the north to bypass Highway 2 to get to the base.
Reporting contributed by Doug Nadvornick and LillyAna Fowler.