Public Forum for Spokane Police Chief Candidates

SPOKANE, Wash. – The four finalists for Spokane Police Chief met in person tonight with members of the public as the city tries to find the next person to lead the department.

The mayor wanted to hold this forum so that the public could meet the candidates in person.

They come from different parts of the country and hope to become the next police chief of the city of Spokane.

“I hope there is a stronger dialogue in the community about which of these candidates the community feels is most important,” said Anwar Peace, a member of the Washington Coalition of Police Accountability and commissioner of the City of Spokane Human Rights Commission.

Peace is one of many who attended the public forum at the Spokane Public Library in downtown Spokane Thursday night, wanting to know how the prospective new police chief will solve a problem related to officer conduct that Peace said could have been avoided.

“Personally, I want to know how the candidates feel about this and how they deal with the fact that several police officers in the police force have multiple murders to their credit,” Peace said.

The four candidates Kevin Hall, Matthew Murray, Tom Worthy and Kathleen Lanier talked about the issues they believe must be addressed if you want to become boss.

Hall is the deputy chief of the Tucson Police Department and says the selection process is important, especially because there can be different criteria from department to department for what is accepted.

“What does your training curriculum look like?” Hall asked. “What do your field instructors look like? What do your sergeants look like? All of that will impact how that person joins the police force and what ownership they will have for the rest of their career.”

Murray, chief of the Yakima Police Department, says accountability within the police department is not possible without open transparency, and he says his department takes advantage of that transparency.

“I think providing data, making sure people can see everything, flock camera systems is something I’m really committed to,” Murray said. “Every single one of those hits is on our website and you can look it up, and I think that’s really important.”

Worthy is police chief in Dalles, Oregon, and he says the key to accountability in the community is making sure all sides of a case are heard.

“Give the public a voice,” Worthy said. “That’s a prerequisite for good criminal justice. Even suspects and citizens – we’re here to protect and represent them – must have a voice in our operations.”

Colonel Lanier of the Memphis Police Department says she is aware of the power of the police chief and would keep that in mind if given authority, especially with officers who have criminal records.

“If someone gets caught shoplifting and their record is expunged, they can go back to work,” Lanier said. “But I have a problem with that. Things like that or a criminal past, but it varies from case to case.”

Each candidate has listened to the public’s opinion, and Peace hopes that as the number of candidates for chief diminishes, there will be more opportunities for the public to voice their concerns.

“We are really looking forward to seeing change in our community and we hope that police leadership will lead the change,” Peace said.

The candidates will then meet with members of the police department on Friday. After that, Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown will gather opinions from citizens and officials and then make the decision on who will be the new police chief.

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