Announcement expected on DOJ, Seattle police reforms
Jul 27, 2012, 9:37 AM | Updated: 11:03 am
The Department of Justice and the City of Seattle have
reached a tentative agreement on reforms to address a
finding that officers have a “pattern or practice” of
using excessive force, confirmed Seattle councilmember
Bruce Harrell.
The details are expected to be announced Friday at 3:00
p.m,
but reports say all that remains are the signatures.
The two sides have been working for eight months on the
best way to implement the reforms after the DOJ found
Seattle police have a pattern of using excessive force.
Federal officials set a July 31 deadline for an agreement,
The Times reported. Lawyers for the DOJ threatened to file
a civil rights lawsuit against the city if a deal was not
reached.
“I think everybody on the council and the mayor have
wanted to do the right thing from the beginning. I hope
that we’ll see that that’s been achieved,” councilmember
Tim Burgess tells KING-5.
It’s expected an outside monitor will be named in the next
two months to make sure Seattle is making the changes. The
DOJ will have the power to go to a judge to force the city
to do so if it’s dragging its feet.
