Civilian Review Board? Anyone?

This week the ACLU sent a letter to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle Police Chief John Diaz protesting the shooting of Native American wood carver John T. Williams by a Seattle police officer. The letter called for a review of training procedures at the Seattle Police Department. It hinted that failures in leadership might be responsible for a recent increase in violence against homeless folks and people of color by SPD officers, and that the department might try to cultivate some “cross-cultural” skills.

Even this mild letter provoked indignation from SPD Chief Diaz and the local pro-business press (The Seattle Times). Mayor McGinn took a wait-and-see attitude: let’s all wait for the results of the inquest and the Firearms Review Board’s ruling. Well, past inquests have, without fail, ruled in favor of the police department. The Firearms Review Board is run by Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer, so we can’t hold out any hopes for that.

Where are the calls for a civilian review board? Community activists still want one, but in this one-newspaper town, there’s no media forum for debating the issue. So the idea of a civilian review has disapeared from view. Except here, of course.