Latest Issue of Police Union Newspaper Defends Birk, Blames The Stranger for "Frenzy"

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I'm sure the Egyptian secret police paper said similar things before the revolution occurred.

Will in Seattle on February 16, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Does the new issue leaked have anything on the union contract negotiations? If they want to treat us, their employers, as the enemy, then screw it: everything is fair game for public disclosure, no?

Please publish the whole issue if you have it.

Joe Szilagyi on February 16, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Why do these people chose to live and work in a place they hate so much?

care bear on February 16, 2011 at 12:37 PM

@1 Yes Will, the few, yes inexcusable but still few, incidents we have had here are directly comparable to a regime for which brutal torture was standard operating procedure.

When this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb…
happens here we can talk in the language of revolutions, but until then how about we just change some laws, add some accountability, and fix things?

Or will the evil tunnel stop that too?

giffy on February 16, 2011 at 12:39 PM

Protest today @ 6PM in Westlake.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19…

Lets hope the far left doesnt show up and call for some BS socialist revolution, they did that at the last John T Williams protest and it forced me to walk away. If they do it again, I may be forced to throw at them, random items I find in the trash bins nearby.

Kinison on February 16, 2011 at 12:42 PM

this bastard needs to be run out of town on a big fat rail.

Adrian Ryan on February 16, 2011 at 12:43 PM

@4 thats precisely the problem
. Seattle cops aren't from Seattle they dislike its liberal gov and communities. Face it. Until cops are local this will not change. This is a conservative occupation police force. Thats why soderberg is not prosecuting.

SeMe on February 16, 2011 at 12:46 PM

I think the police union needs to take a look at all the tapes of SPD behavior that have made the national spotlight. The Stranger has been very reserved in it's criticism.

Vince on February 16, 2011 at 12:47 PM

I can only hope this sort of thing figures very heavily into the DoJ investigation.

Baconcat on February 16, 2011 at 12:50 PM

@5 the tunnel is a symptom of a larger societal problem, even if it is itself provably evil.

Men's souls disappear when you enter below the waves and the Salish Sea calls to the Mountain ...

Will in Seattle on February 16, 2011 at 12:51 PM

Well, add Officer Stoltz to the shit list. Listen up, non-white Seattleites! If you are approached by a Seattle copy by the name of Pomper, Cobane, Birk or Stoltz (who else?), don't expect any kind of good or fair treatment. You've been warned.

@8 You nailed it.

Didn't it used to be a requirement (30+ years ago or something) that city employees had to live in the city? At least when it comes to SPD, maybe it's time to re-examine that policy.

Hernandez on February 16, 2011 at 12:52 PM

*cop

Hernandez on February 16, 2011 at 12:53 PM

@6 Or the Palestinian supporters. One of the things that I hate about protests is the inability to stay on message and not descend into nonsense and pointlessness.

The last protest I went to, ostensibly about I think health care if I remember right, involved a number of native and other religious spiritual nonsense, people ranting about every issue imaginable, and finally a couple electeds talking about health care.

It was boring and pointless.

giffy on February 16, 2011 at 12:55 PM

Look, Rich O'Neill is simply stating that the SPD has every right to execute people in the street at the officer's sole discretion--what could be controversial about that?

Original Andrew on February 16, 2011 at 1:08 PM

So, basically O'Neill's advice to fellow officers boils down to: "if you don't want to fall under the public's scrutiny, don't do anything to invite it in the first place."

The shorter version of which I believe would be: Don't want to get into trouble? Don't do anything stupid.

Which, when you put it that way, is actually pretty reasonable advice...

COMTE on February 16, 2011 at 1:08 PM

I can't decide if you guys are ballsy or stupid for continuing to aggravate a police department that's known to beat and kill people at the drop of a hat.

Urgutha Forka on February 16, 2011 at 1:10 PM

@17 Nah we're just white.

giffy on February 16, 2011 at 1:13 PM

I don't know why we needed recent events (dead innocent Native) to show cops that they aren't a fucking domestic military force. The frenzied climate is: wow, we don't want cops slamming innocent people against walls causing permanent brain damage or driving up and shooting innocent brown people that are walking away from you.

dirac on February 16, 2011 at 1:19 PM

@18: Speak for yourself.

Baconcat on February 16, 2011 at 1:23 PM

@18 LOL!

Vince on February 16, 2011 at 1:26 PM

Also, if Pomper does not want to comply with required training for his position, he should not be employed by SPD.

dirac on February 16, 2011 at 1:26 PM

Vile and disgusting.

I know that no one in my company could publish anything like that, whether or not it was meant for 'external consumption', and continue to be employed here. Ab-so-frickin-lutely disgusting.

merry on February 16, 2011 at 1:33 PM

While this guy is pretty clearly a cretin, and a cretin at the head of the entire police union as well, I think most of us can get behind the advice he is giving - to avoid controversy avoid the sort of cowboy antics that invite controversy, that is behave like the actual well-paid professionals who are given an extraordinary amount of authority over their fellow citizens that you are.

Rhizome on February 16, 2011 at 1:34 PM

LOL @18, 20 thinking Urgutha Forka@17 meant Slog commenters were by any stretch of the human imagination "ballsy", instead of the Stranger writers, the ones who are actually (re)printing this vile crap from the SPD Guardian.

on February 16, 2011 at 1:39 PM

Wow, the SPD learns nothing. News flash, cops: you are police officers. You are public servants. You do NOT make policy, you don't get to disobey policy, and your Republican whining should happen on your own time, not at work.

If you think Seattle residents are still "the enemy," then you are simply making it so. Rich O'Neill should be in a different line of work. Ditto Mr. Steve Pomper. Driving around all day, hating everyone you see, listening to Glenn Beck, no wonder one of your own murdered a transient. Get a new job.

WeeblesWobble on February 16, 2011 at 1:41 PM

Wow, do they hate Obama. It's all about the black man who is President, with Seattle diversity and McGinn just coming in the wake.

I always assumed cops are more conservative than the general public, but this is creepy shit. Aaron Stoltz and Rich O'Neill both sound like they're going to explode with rage against the world that treats them so unfairly.

Not the kind of people you want in the police force. Scary, hate-filled, low-brain power stuff. They think their freedom of speech is being silenced, but that's nuts. People are just reacting to Seattle cops like Pomper, O'Neill, and Stoltz, who hate all he people they serve.

WeeblesWobble on February 16, 2011 at 1:52 PM

It sounds like we have a police force of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh disciples. Truly frightening. I don't care how a cop votes, but to quote rightwing talking points verbatim is contemptible. What's next, "Birther Cops" putting their own spin on the Constitution?

And besides, what are these patriots doing in a union? I think Beck has a place on his chalkboard teaching how Anti-American unions are.

Under The Clouds on February 16, 2011 at 2:06 PM

Well why dont any of u progressive faggots join the force then and turn it around?

Yournamehere on February 16, 2011 at 2:36 PM

"Always back each other!"
Yeah, and NO SNITCHIN'

Lack Thereof on February 16, 2011 at 3:14 PM

I'd post some sort of criticism of the guys who wrote this dreck, but they can apparently gun me down and get away with it, so I'll err on the side of caution.

Zebes on February 16, 2011 at 3:17 PM

@15 sums it nicely.

dwight moody on February 16, 2011 at 3:24 PM

It's the job of the media to keep these creeps in check, no matter what self serving motive it is that they check themselves with. Call the Stranger what you want, but you are in Check, bitch. And pluralism is in direct conflict with monism, democracy with totalitarianism, so if he wants to call it a jihad it's his jihad.

aardvark on February 16, 2011 at 3:36 PM

@4 -- yeah, that's what I keep thinking -- love it or leave it, Mr. Policeman!

@12 -- You've got a good point.

@Everybody -- Just show up at Westlake today at 6 PM. Just be there. Obviously our cops care about media coverage, so the more Seattleites register their disgust with the way the cops are behaving, the more likely it is that something will change for the better.

zentriloquist on February 16, 2011 at 4:58 PM

You gotta love that the standard the SPD operates under is, apparently, "survival". What is this, the Idaho panhandle? Jesusdamn, O'Neill... remember who pays your paycheck and who you're supposed to be out there to "serve and protect".

pheeeew!crack!boom! on February 16, 2011 at 5:08 PM

"Recent events should show us that many in the city don't want aggressive officers who generate on-view incidents"

I think O'Neill is right. I certainly don't want aggressive police gunning people down for no reason. What ever gave them the idea that people wanted that?

Fucking thugs in blue.

Gus on February 16, 2011 at 5:35 PM

Appalling. Absolutely appalling. I hope the justice department can shake this shit up. These cops are despicable and have no business policing Seattle.

Spokane might be hiring. Lotsa white people and you can shoot with impunity here.

TVDinner on February 16, 2011 at 5:41 PM

Great - another ticking-time-bomb cop who hates the people he "serves." There is no honor in the SPD. I'd be embarrassed to work there.

Free Lunch on February 16, 2011 at 7:02 PM

GUARDIAN = KLAN RAG

masgroovy on February 17, 2011 at 5:14 AM

"You were smart enough to get the job and now you must be smart enough to keep the job in this current climate!"

Um... last time I checked police departments reject candidates who score to high on intelligence tests.

mammal on February 17, 2011 at 11:56 AM

I remember last year when Capitol Hill had its police brutality protests and everyone was whining "Whyyyyyy" because they were the zygotes too young to remember as far back as 1999 and the decade of police brutality that followed in Seattle. I do hope they've studied the problem and have a bit more education on their city's sordid police tactics over the last 10 years. After the protest, the brown-nosing students at SU helped mend the widdle hurt feelings of the East Precinct by staging an "appreciation breakfast" for them. A breakfast attended by Father fucking Sundborg.

Fuck the SPD.

spinflux on February 17, 2011 at 2:10 PM

http://www.ratemycop.com/index.php?st=WA…

cattycat on February 18, 2011 at 1:21 AM

Of the cops mentioned here, Birk is not on the list (doesn't matter since he's now no longer a cop). The others are, but there are no 'ratings' or 'reviews' on them, so join ratemycop and start to work!

cattycat on February 18, 2011 at 1:31 AM

Latest Issue of Police Union Newspaper Defends Birk, Blames The Stranger for "Frenzy"

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