Ombudsman, police department vow to review complaints following Sunday protests

The Spokane Police Ombudsman will review more than a dozen complaints filed about officer conduct in the wake of Sunday’s protests.

Bart Logue, the civilian in charge of independent police oversight, said his office would review all of them.

Julie Humphreys, a spokesperson for the police department, said it received fewer than a dozen complaints that will be investigated following Sunday night’s unrest, some of which were directed to them by the ombudsman. Each will be taken seriously, she said.

Humphreys noted, however, that general complaints about police on social media platforms like Facebook are not treated formally and not investigated. The largest surge of complaints this week, she noted, was not tied directly to the protests, but to photographs of a March arrest in Riverfront Park during which a police officer knelt on the neck of a man in handcuffs.

The ombudsman’s office said Friday that 12 complaints and two commendations had been filed related directly to the protest, while four were made about the March arrest in Riverfront Park. The office also received three inquiries related to policy and procedure.

Each complaint received by the ombudsman’s office will be reviewed, Logue said, but some may be combined into a single case if they revolve around the same incident.

The number of complaints is within the scope of what his three-person office can handle, Logue said.

“We’re never going to tell people to not bring us their concerns – ever,” Logue said. “If we’ve got to work longer, we’re going to work longer right now. That’s the community expectation, that’s why the office was established, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Logue said it was important to focus on the concerns of people right now to “make sure that the police really get a good sense of what the community’s going through.”

Spokane Police arrested about 15 people on Sunday night and expect to continue to arrest more as they continue to investigate potential crimes that occurred.

The tactics used by Spokane Police on Sunday to disperse protesters and rioters from downtown streets and Riverfront Park have sparked community debate, and came under scrutiny by Spokane City Council members.

Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl, said Monday his department tried to accommodate protesters as they marched through downtown on Sunday evening, but stepped in with tear gas and other measures once businesses, including the Nike Store on Main Avenue, were broken into.

Peaceful demonstrators said they were subjected to tear gas and rubber bullets, despite not breaking any laws.

There are two ways to report police misconduct in Spokane.

A complaint can be made directly to the department’s Office of Professional Accountability, which is overseen by an internal affairs lieutenant, or the Office of the Police Ombudsman, which is independent from the police department.

Spokane’s police ombudsman does not have the authority to discipline officers but can conduct a preliminary investigation when he receives a complaint and determine whether to forward it to the police department’s internal affairs for further review. He can also choose not to refer the complaint for further investigation or suggest mediation between the police department and complainant.

Once internal affairs receives the complaint, it carries out an investigation that Logue observes. At its conclusion, he can either certify the investigation or recommend it be investigated further.

The Spokane police chief has final say on whether officer conduct violated department policy and the severity of officer punishment such conduct will receive.