The Black Lens
Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown has narrowed her selection of the next Spokane police chief to four final candidates:
- Kevin Hall, Assistant Chief of Police of Tucson Police Department;
- Kathleen Lanier, Colonel of the Memphis Police Department;
- Matthew Murray, Chief of the Yakima Police Department;
- and Tom Worthy, Chief of the Dalles Police Department.
A candidate forum was held June 27 to introduce the finalists to the Spokane community. Police shootings and police accountability, or lack thereof, were a hot topic during the forum, given Spokane Police Department’s record of being in the Top 3 deadliest police forces in the country.
Former police Chief Craig Meidl stood in solidarity with other officers in 2011 and saluted officer Karl Thompson who was convicted of manslaughter for killing a man without lawful justification. Otto Zhem died from a lack of oxygen to the brain and heart failure caused by being restrained on his stomach, hog-tied and his mouth covered by police. Six officers were involved, but only Thomspon was convicted.
See The Black Lens’ previous reporting in April on the Spokane Police Department’s history of racial bias in arrests and sentencing of Black and Native community members, regardless of socioeconomic factors and search for a new chief.
To participate in the Public Safety Survey and voice your opinion on who our mayor should consider visit: surveymonkey.com/r/LJDBVWJ