The Spokane Police Department will have an extra six months to work with the Department of Justice on proposed changes to use-of-force policies and procedures.
Mayor David Condon’s office announced the extension Tuesday, saying it would allow more time for a new police chief to overlap with the Department of Justice.
The Justice Department released recommendations for Spokane in December 2014, which included rewriting department policies on use-of-force reporting and expanding information collected by an internal system designed to warn supervisors about officers who may be using force too frequently.
Since then, the department has expanded the types of force that will be counted in reports, made plans to conduct a cultural audit of the department and created a new use-of-force review board that will review incidents internally to suggest changes to training or policies.