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Interim chief: DOJ agreement improving Seattle police

Canadian Pacific
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Seattle's new interim police chief says that despite some turmoil at the outset, an agreement with the Justice Department is already improving his department's operations.

Chief Jim Pugel was picked to fill in after John Diaz retired this week. Pugel acknowledges that he and many others in the police department were upset when DOJ investigators determined in late 2011 that Seattle police had a problem with the unconstitutional use of force. 

But he says that's water under the bridge. The department has agreed to make changes under a settlement agreement entered in federal court, and a monitor has been appointed to oversee the reforms.

Pugel says that the agreement is already improving the way the department reports and documents its uses of force.

 

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