Mayor Mike McGinn announced his appointments to the new Community Police Commission on Monday, Jan. 14. The Community Police Commission is a partnership between the police department, its officers, community members, and public officials intended to support the development of reforms, establishment of police priorities, and mechanisms to promote community confidence in the Seattle Police Department.
The Commission consists of 15 members, all of which are appointed by the mayor and are subject to City Council confirmation. The agreement requires that one member from the Seattle Police Officers Guild and one member from the Seattle Police Management Association sit on the Commission. The remaining 13 members were selected from applicants who reside or work in Seattle and include residents from each of the five geographic police precincts.
“Public safety relies on public trust and engagement,” said McGinn. “That’s why I proposed the creation of a Community Police Commission as part of our agreement with the Department of Justice, to implement reforms in the Seattle Police Department. I thank all the members of this new Commission for volunteering their time and experience to help build trust in our police force, by working to develop reforms and engage the larger Seattle community.”
The co-chairs of the commission are Lisa Daugaard and Diane Narasaki.
In addition to Daugaard, Narasaki, and Tokuda, the members of the Commission includes Kate Joncas, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association; Bill Hobson, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Services Center; Jay Hollingsworth, John T. Williams Organizing Committee; Joseph Kessler, Seattle Police Department, captain; John Page, program coordinator at the Defender Association’s Racial Disparity Project; Tina Podlodowski, former Seattle City Councilmember; Marcel Purnell, Youth Undoing Institutional Racism; Jennifer Shaw, deputy director of ACLU of Washington; Kevin Stuckey, Seattle Police Department, officer; Rev. Harriet Walden, co-founder of Mothers for Police Accountability; and Rev. Aaron Williams, Mount Zion Baptist Church, senior pastor. (end)
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