Last week, the City of Seattle submitted to U.S. District Court Judge James Robart a plan for evaluation and reporting over the next two years, as it works to sustain its compliance with the 2012 consent decree requiring police reforms. Today, Robart issued an order approving that plan.
The order was uncharacteristically brief and to the point for Judge Robart: noting that the Department of Justice and the court-appointed police monitor had both recommended approval and that he had reviewed the plan and the lengthy matrix of required reports, he approved the plan without further comment or suggestions for improving it.
Now the hard work begins: if the city can stay in compliance for two full years and meet all the reporting deadlines, it can petition the Court in January 2020 to terminate the consent decree.