John Fowler of Bellevue, assistant director of the Seattle Police Department Office of Professional Accountability’s Citizen-Police Mediation Program, has won the 2009 Washington Mediation Association’s President’s Award.

Fowler designed and created the Seattle Police Department’s Citizen–Police Mediation Program. The voluntary program within the Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability allows community members with complaints about treatment they received from the police and involved police employees to sit down face-to-face in a neutral, non-confrontational and confidential environment to discuss their issue – with the facilitation of a professional mediator.

The mediation allows each a police officer and a citizen complainant to gain a better understanding of the other’s perspective about an incident.

In designing the program, Fowler said that mediation would offer an opportunity for officers to learn more about the effect their words, behaviors, and actions can have on the public, and help to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of communication and facilitation.

The Seattle Police Officer’s Guild is a strong supporter of the program and one of the prime reasons it has been successful within the Police Department.