The Spokane City Council plans to formally ask the mayor to launch an investigation into Police Chief Craig Meidl.
The inquiry comes after an independent ombudsman revealed Meidl had shared police reports and data with a group of property and business owners. Spokane’s Mayor said called the request a “political move.” The city council said she’s legally required to act.
Spokane’s Police Ombudsman was initially looking into another potential police conduct issue when he reviewed emails between chief Meidl, and commercial property owners mostly representing downtown. City code doesn't allow the ombudsman to investigate the chief of police directly.
The information Meidl shared with those business owners is normally available only through a public records request. Some details in police reports released likely would have been redacted if they had been processed by a trained public records officer.
At least 20 community and civil rights organizations have called for Meidl’s resignation, accusing him of offering special access to well-connected, wealthy city residents. City Council members say they’re concerned some of the information he provided was also used for lobbying and campaigning.
Monday Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward struck a defiant tone at a gathering of supporters in front of the South Police Precinct.
“I just know this is a political move on the activists’ part, who, number one, don't like our police chief, I don't think like law enforcement,” she said. “They would like to see fewer police. This is a whole organized attempt to disparage our police chief and our police department. And this community won't stand for it.”
She argued the request for a human resource, or independent investigation, is an attack on Meidl and the police.
“The majority in our city council doesn't like to listen to dissenting opinion,” she said. “(They don’t) like the police chief engaging with communities that have dissenting opinion, that's what this is about.”
Woodward says she's already instructed the police department to implement recommendations in the ombudsman's report, such as requiring all requests for data that aren’t publicly available to go through a public records process
In an interview Spokane City Council President Breean Beggs said the mayor is legally required to launch an investigation, and their request is only a reminder of what is already in city code.
Beggs argued some of the details released by Meidl could have compromised active police investigations.
“Confidential investigations that would be jeopardized were being released to people who didn't have the authority,” Beggs said. “I'm hopeful going forward that will be handled. But right now, those are just observations from the ombudsman's office. We need someone with policymaking authority to actually make that determination and clean things up so the police department has more support from the public.”
He noted the sponsors of the request, he and Kinnear, are not running for office. He said they’ve also both been supportive of the police, through assisting in negotiating a new contract for the Spokane Police guild that led to pay raises, and approving funds to hire more officers.
The city council plans to vote on the request for an investigation in the coming weeks.
