Seattle, U.S., to talk about police force

SEATTLE, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Seattle officials say they'll begin discussions with the Department of Justice about findings that city police officers engage in unconstitutional use of force.

Following up on Friday's meeting with Department of Justice officials, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Police Chief John Diaz, stood side-by-side as McGinn said the talks, beginning after the holidays, will focus on creating a legally binding set of guidelines for Seattle police officers outlining when and how to use force, The Seattle Times reported.

"We've always understood that when the DOJ comes to town, at the end of that discussion you need to have a discussion about a resolution," McGinn said.

McGinn said it was important to understand the Justice Department's methodology, including a finding that only 44 out of 1,300 Seattle police officers were found responsible for the disproportionate number of the use-of-force incidents, the newspaper said Monday.

"If that's true, if that pans out, we need to address this," McGinn said. "We're going in with a completely open mind and will go where the data leads us."

"We welcome an opportunity to talk about the next steps with the city and move to resolution of the findings and moving forward to address the problems that were found during our investigation," said Thomas Bates, a spokesman for Jenny Durkan, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington.

Diaz said in an e-mail to police officers Friday the police department had "many reasons to question the validity and soundness" of the federal findings, the Times reported.