On The Web And In Seattle

California Blogger Stalked Over Article About Officer's Sexual Assault Charges

Five Before Midnight, a blogger in Riverside California who covers the inner-workings of the local government and police conduct issues, seems to be the target of a creepy stalker because of the in-depth coverage written about the Riverside officer who is facing trial over multiple charges of sexual abuse... It's disturbing, to say the least.

Bloggers who cover issues of police brutality and misconduct are often the target of police harassment and several have shut down in just this last year (as I wrote about here). Earlier this year I received death threats from officers in Chicago and a police officer in Iowa calls me "The Enemy" on his personal blog...

It's a disturbing trend and officers seem to be pretty free to harass critics in an attempt to silence stories of misconduct with impunity. So FBM definitely has our support and I hope the harassment stops soon.

Seattle Councilmember Nick Licata Seeks Alternatives To Spending Millions On A New Jail, Mayor Against The Idea

The city of Seattle has been in the process of determining where to build a new 7 acre jail in the face of the expiration of a contract between the city and King County over the use of the King County Jail to house detainees for the city. The renewal of the contract is under question as older King County projections stated that there would be insufficient room to house detainees by 2012, citing increases in jail populations as the cause.

Some of these projections have been called into doubt, but the push towards making it's own jail has Seattle set to spend 4.5 million next year to study site viability, $110 million estimated for construction, and $19 million a year to operate it's own jail. Surely a daunting set of numbers while facing an oncoming recession.

However, Councilmember Nick Licata has made a suggestion in his latest newsletter, Urban Politics, that might save the city the bulk of that money through the use of diversionary programs that offer non-violent offenders the choice between jail or rehabilitation... a program apparently based on an existing small-scale trial that has seen a very successful 82% success rate in keeping offenders from re-offending.

Licata, however, is facing opposition from the mayor in his attempts to get a proviso put on the budget for next year's jail assessments in order to give this idea a shot, even though the provisio wouldn't affect jail planning. The council is set to vote Monday on the budget action that appears to be in everyone's best interests.

Seattle Police Declare Open Season On Cyclists

Earlier this year the SPD refused to press charges against a motorist who ran over a Critical Mass bicyclist in what the riders described as a fit of road rage, but SPD officers did arrest several of the cyclists who chased down the motorist when he tried to flee the scene and started beating on his car and allegedly hit him once with a bike lock.

Well, seems that the cyclists might have had reason to be angry at the police for the apparent act of selective enforcement. The Stranger's Jonah Spangenthal-Lee has an article this week about cyclists who have been complaining of police harassment and officers who ticket them when they have been hit by cars pulling out of parking lots while they were on a stretcher being taken away.

That article apparently sparked other harassed riders to step forward and give even more accounts of SPD officers showing an aggressive bias against cyclists in a city that supposedly prides itself in being bike friendly.

The bulk of stories are seeming to suggest that the SPD is sending a message to motorists that cyclists are fair game for a hit and run when that road rage has got you down.

SPD Tries To Spread More... Thin Credibility -Updated

Yes, folks, I try not to swear on this blog. But the SPD is really spreading the manure on pretty thick concerning this story about an officer who crashed into a carload of teenage girls, sending their vehicle into an apartment building, and then smacking an SUV before coming to a stop.

Both the accident victims in the SUV that were hit after the initial crash and other bystanders who witnessed the accident state that the SPD officer ran a red light without his lights or siren activated, which is what caused the accident.

Now the SPD is claiming that he was responding to a call and that SPD officers don't have to use their lights and sirens when responding to calls and disobeying traffic laws. (contrary to section 2.077 of Seattle Police Policies and Procedures which states Emergency equipment is supposed to be activated when a patrol car is driven to an incident in a manner that is substantially outside of a normal traffic pattern.)

BUT... Here's where they lay it on real thick: SPD spokesperson Deanna Nolette (no stranger to being at the center of controversial auto accidents herself) insists that the officer did not run a red light, despite several witnesses stating that he did!

Here's the kicker though, Deanna insists that the dashboard camera in the SPD cruiser shows the officer did not run a red light... BUT... The SPD is steadfastly REFUSING to show anyone the video that allegedly clears the officer of wrongdoing!

If the Seattle Police Department, the same department that has faced lawsuits from other SPD accident victims who were the target of similar cover-ups (among countless other misconduct suits they now face), and has lied about the reasons they have for not releasing other condemning video recordings, really thinks they have any credibility with which to make such absurd claims that counter several witnesses without showing PROOF, they are living in a fantasy world.

Yes, folks, it is clearly yet another botched cover up by your favorite keystone cops, the utterly unaccountable SPD.

Seriously, could you imagine the actual BOOST in confidence the public would experience in their police department if they actually manned-up and said "we admit we made a mistake, we're working on making sure it doesn't happen again, and will make it right."?!? Not only would Seattle start to believe in their police department again, but the SPD officers themselves would start to believe in their management and feel better about their jobs and relations with the community.

But when the SPD practices such outlandishly obvious attempts at avoiding responsibility for their mistakes, it only makes us less likely to believe them if they are not at fault in the future. Instead, the SPD sacrifices the morale of the public and their officers for what? Getting out of a traffic ticket?!?

Please stop this foolishness, Seattle.

SPD Officer Crashes Into Two Vehicles After Running a Red

image courtesy of KOMO 4 News

Just after 8pm tonight an SPD officer rammed into an SUV after running a red light at high speed without its emergency lights or siren activated, sending the SUV into a nearby apartment building before the police cruiser continued onward to smash into a Jeep.

Was this a case of misconduct or just negligence? It doesn't matter.

SPD spokespersons insist the officer was responding to a call (without lights or sirens) but I've seen so many instances of SPD cruisers speeding down the street and running red lights just to slow down a bit later in a way that certainly makes it seem like they weren't responding to a call, but just asserting their ability to act as if they are above the law with complete impunity.

Indeed, given the Seattle Police Department's constant efforts to cover for officer wrongdoing at all costs and the chief's repeated exonerations of cops that are found to have participated in misconduct, I wouldn't be surprised if the SPD spokespersons don't just make up excuses on the spot automatically and without thought.

Thankfully, in this case, nobody was seriously hurt. But there have been too many instances of officers disobeying traffic laws out of convenience and, ultimately, getting into accidents. For their own sakes, and for the sake of public safety, officers must be made to comply with the laws they enforce, if they are responding to a call they must use their lights and sirens, and if not they must obey the rules of the road we all follow.

The longer the city of Seattle continues to encourage this type of behavior by ignoring or covering up for this type of misconduct, the more likely it becomes that eventually there will be serious injuries or even fatalities that could have been avoided. This is why, in such cases, there is no difference between negligence and willful misconduct.

An Example of Selective Enforcement

Over at The Stranger's blog (SLOG) David Schmader posted up a message he received alleging that the SPD had ignored a request to look into a case of assault where the victims and witnesses had descriptions of the attacker along with his license plate information.

From the post in question:

Last night, January 6, my heterosexual male roommate and his friend were buying beer at the Shell gas station on Broaway and Pike when they were confronted by an angry man in line, who stated the he “fucked up faggots.” He then asked my roommate’s friend if he was a friend of gays, and he told him yes, and that the angry man should not speak about gays like that. The man then called him a faggot and told him that he would be waiting outside for him. When they went outside, both of them were blindsided and my roomate had his nose broken.

The most fucked up thinng about this is that a man in line heard the entire ordeal, called the police, but they didnt come! They only came after several other people had called the police, and a while after the incident happened. These guys are not gay, but the point is that we have a serious issue on Capitol Hill with people attacking anyone they think are “fags.” Also once the police arrived, my roomate and co. were told that nothing much would probably come of it (even though they had the license plate of the getaway car, a rental), although this technically qualifies as a hate crime under Washington state law.

So that’s my fucked-up Hot Tip, and I hope that these motherfuckers get caught so they can’t harm anymore innocent people, gay or straight.

Of course, it is suggested that the SPD officer who did eventually respond may have refused to take down the complaint because it involved discrimination against homosexuals, even though the victims themselves were not homosexual. This is borne out by what I've experienced and read as it's not the only example of selective enforcement on the part of SPD officers. Officers are obligated to at least record the complaint, the refusal to do so for any reason is misconduct and is percieved as a license for the public to assault anyone who the SPD refuses to protect.

Selective enforcement is misconduct, plain and simple. The only solution here is political pressure focused at the top, that means people have to make it a media issue and make a lot of noise, complaining to the officers or the OPA will have no effect, unfortunately. Until more people understand that selective enforcement can affect them too, it will continue to become a larger problem.

Update: And SPD spokesman refuted the claims in a call to The Stranger by insisting the officers did everything they are supposed to, they took the report and are actively investigating. Though the spokesperson refused to speculate as to why officers told the victims that they shouldn't expect anything to come of it despite being given reliable identifying information about the attacker.