This morning Judge James Robart, who presides over the city’s consent decree with the DOJ over biased policing, issued an order granting the DOJ more time to file its brief. But he also ordered the city to hand over several additional documents that dive into the details of the SPD disciplinary/appeals process and the recently-signed Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the police officers’ union.
Continue reading Robart approves briefing schedule change, but asks for more details
In the aftermath of Judge James Robart’s bombshell order earlier this week asking the City of Seattle and the DOJ to explain why he shouldn’t find that the city has fallen out of compliance with the Consent Decree, today both parties jointly asked Robart to amend his order and allow more time for briefings to be filed. the DOJ asked Robart, with the city’s assent, to allow more time for it to file its briefing.
Last Friday, the City of Seattle filed an official notice with the U.S. District Court that it had negotiated and ratified a new labor agreement with Seattle’s police officers. Judge James Robart, who oversees the Consent Decree, had previously signaled that he would not weigh in on the merits of the new contract until it was properly before his court. But now that it is, he wasted no time in making his thoughts known: this morning he issued an “Order to Show Cause” why he should not find that the city has failed to maintain full and effective compliance with the Consent Decree.
Continue reading Robart threatens to find SPD out of compliance with Consent Decree
This morning at a press conference in City Hall, Mayor Durkan, Chief of Police Best, City Attorney Holmes and City Councilmember Gonzalez announced that they would be submitting a motion to Seattle Municipal Court to vacate 208 outstanding low-level misdemeanor arrest warrants.
Only one story today: yesterday’s approval of the police officers’ labor contract.
By an 8-1 vote, this afternoon the City Council approved the tentative labor agreement reached with SPOG, the police officers’ union.
This morning, twenty four community leaders held a press conference to announce that they were collectively urging the City Council to reject the proposed contract with Seattle police officers.
Continue reading Community members urge City Council to reject SPOG contract
This afternoon Judge James Robart held a status conference with the parties in the consent decree between the city and the Department of Justice over police misconduct. The issue at hand: now that the city has negotiated a new police contract, how and when to put that in front of Robart for his blessing.
Continue reading Robart clarifies path forward for SPOG contract
(this article has been heavily modified since it was first published earlier this evening)
This afternoon was the deadline for briefs to be filed by the City of Seattle, the DOJ, the CPC, and other relevant parties related to the tentative labor contract with SPOG, the police officers’ union. Instead, the parties asked Judge Robart to give them until November 2, since he already agreed last week to move a scheduled status conference out to November 5. Robart didn’t respond, so the parties burned the midnight oil and got their briefs in anyway. Also, Inspector General for Public Safety Lisa Judge and OPA Director Andrew Myerberg both sent letters last Friday to the City Council with their feedback on the tentative contract.
Continue reading OPA, OIG, CPC , City, and DOJ weigh in on SPOG contract debate
Today Judge James Robart, the judge overseeing implementation of the consent decree over biased policing by SPD, scheduled a status conference for next Thursday, November 1, to discuss the tentative contract with Seattle police officers.
Continue reading Judge Robart orders hearing on SPOG contract for November 1