As you can see above, there's a new poll. I'm trying to figure out how to better serve as an advocate for victims of police misconduct and detainee abuse, so I figured I'd ask our readers for help. It's a multiple choice poll, so you can pick more than one answer... though, as you can see, a few police officers visiting from the city's network address chose an option that they'd like to see happen here, which is me arrested for speaking out. (big surprise, huh?)
An interesting aside about one of those items, more legal information, victim support, etc... One of the most visited pages on our site is the misconduct attorney contact page that gives victims and their families a list of civil rights attorneys in the Seattle area that they can contact. Well, we've been hearing rumors that there has been a sharp increase in the number of suits filed against the city alleging police misconduct, so many in fact that the mainstream news outlets have stopped covering it because it's become so common.
Also, we've heard that since there are so few civil rights lawyers that serve the Seattle area that they're backlogged and can't take many more clients. So, if you do use the misconduct attorney contact page, make sure you follow our advice. Contact several of them, not just one. You might get turned down a few times, so keep trying. Since the city can't seem to enact policies that will help prevent misconduct and bring accountability to the department, and since the news media has stopped covering these issues, the only hope to enact change is through the city's pocketbook.
Take care out there.
Monday, June 23, 2008
New Poll and Stuff
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3 comments:
Aren't "this site is just fine as it is" and "this site shut down and its author arrested for writing it" the same thing? If the site is shut down and you're arrested, that means you're making a difference, which means the site is just fine as it is.
Which is why I voted for both - I'll keep reading your site regardless.
Susan,
Ah,well... I suppose the difference would be that if the site were "fine as it is" then the vote is for the site keeping the same type and balance of content that it has been up to this point.
The votes for "this site should be shut down and it's author arrested for writing it" suggests that examining government and police activities in a critical light should be considered illegal and worthy of censorship (the site deleted) and imprisonment.
That option is what police officers have alluded that they've tried to do and that this is what they want to happen to me for discussing cases of abuse and the need for true accountability. (though some have gone as far to suggest that I should be executed for such a "crime")
Think of it this way, voting to keep the site as it is means you think the site is making a positive difference and should stay up.
Voting for that second option is saying that the site should be erased from existence and I should be removed from society in order to prevent me from writing anything else ever again.
Thanks for the comment and the vote though, I appreciate it.
Also, Susan, it would be hard to say that if I were arrested and the site removed from existence that it would be making a difference... because it wouldn't be here for anyone to read.
You also have to remember that in Seattle itself I have zero support. So if I were to be arrested or killed by the police for doing nothing more than questioning their practices, nobody else would write about it, nobody would know, the site would just grow stale and people would stop reading without wondering why I stopped writing (and probably be glad that I was stopped).
So, there would be no difference made other than I would be shut up and my family would suffer because I used my first amendment right when others thought I didn't deserve that right. I wouldn't be a martyr, I'd be just another nameless dead guy.
It's not always easy or rewarding to do what is right... but, I suppose that's just how it is.
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