Whether you approved of Chief Barnes’s work or not, former-Mayor Harrell appointed him without seeking public input. Mayor Wilson indicates she’s committed to public participation in the process.
This is a juncture where the culture of SPD can be reset, for better or worse. With the Consent Decree lifted, SPD actively undermining the existing alternative response system and SPOG (the police union) perennially resisting accountability, selection of a Chief truly committed to the safety of all of Seattle’s disparate communities is critical.
The Community Police Commission (‘CPC’) was created under the federal Consent Decree to provide an official conduit for bringing to the table the voice of the people most impacted by over-and under-policing.
A way you can lend your voice to the Police Chief search process without a big commitment of time/resource/focus is to urge the Mayor to include the CPC, with its extensive outreach to the communities in Seattle most impacted by excessive use of force and disparate policing, in the design and implementation of the search.
Here is the link for public comment: https://seattlegov.powerappsportals.us/contact-mayor/
submitted by /u/Amesenator
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