Judge Overseeing Seattle Police Reforms Orders Oversight Fix

SEATTLE (AP) – The federal judge overseeing reforms in the Seattle Police Department has ordered the city, the Department of Justice and others to fix ongoing inadequacies surrounding officer accountability, and said he will extend court oversight of the department until they do.

U.S. District Judge James Robart said Tuesday that a system that puts appeals of officer discipline by the chief of police in the hands of an outside arbitrator remains essentially unchanged from the days when the department engaged in the routine use of excessive force.

The Seattle Times reports that Robart’s order said that needs to change, but without telling the parties how to do it. Instead, he ordered the city, the DOJ, the city’s Community Police Commission and the court’s appointed monitor, Merrick Bobb, to come up with a working plan by July 15.