SEATTLE (AP) - The Seattle City Council has voted to ratify the city’s tentative contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild.
The Seattle Times reports the 8-1 vote came Tuesday after intense lobbying by Mayor Jenny Durkan, who said the deal was an opportunity to financially reward officers who haven’t had a raise in four years while securing reforms including body-worn cameras.
She faced opposition from the citizen Community Police Commission, 24 community groups and the Seattle King County NAACP, who contended the agreement undermined reforms included in police-accountability legislation passed by the council last year.
The contract is subject to review by U.S. District Judge James Robart, who is presiding over a 2012 consent decree in which the city agreed to carry out reforms to address Department of Justice findings that Seattle police officers used excessive force and displayed troubling evidence of biased policing.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
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