Panel complete in search for police ombudsman

Jan Dobbs, the chief operating officer for Frontier Behavioral Health, will be the fifth member of a committee tasked with finding a new police ombudsman.

The group will screen applications and interview candidates for the position before recommending three finalists to the police ombudsman commission.

Dobbs’ appointment was supported by selection committee members Nancy Isserlis, Spokane police Capt. Brad Arleth and Sgt. John Griffin.

But police ombudsman commissioner Adrian Dominguez nominated Lawrence Burnley, the Whitworth University vice president for intercultural affairs, and voted against selecting Dobbs.

Dobbs serves on the police advisory committee and helps run crisis intervention training for Spokane police.

She said her interest in oversight work is to find ways to incorporate discussions about mental illness into law enforcement.

Looking at the complaints the police ombudsman’s office receives, she said there are “a fair number of them that have some type of mental health component.”

She said she’d like to see a new ombudsman initially focus on meeting community stakeholders and learning how Spokane operates, and sees implementation of the Department of Justice recommendations as a top priority.

Dobbs was one of five community members considered for the final seat on the selection committee. The panel also interviewed Burnley; Brian Behler, president and CEO of Skils’Kin, a nonprofit that employs people with disabilities; Regina Malveaux, CEO of the YWCA; and Judge Richard White, a law professor at Gonzaga University and former district court judge.