Regarding the vagrant who got rousted for loitering: Citizens don't want vagrants loitering in their neighborhoods. It makes the place look blighted. Good for him for moving the guy along.

Strike Team :D

Maybe it is part of the reduced use of force program to put these two officers in the white NW precinct where there are less opportunities to be racist. It is hard to believe that the chief doesn't have a 'little list'. I'd like knowing the wording of the 2012 agreement with the guild. How do we learn who has more power, the chief or the guild? Oh.

Slacking around aimlessly without fighting crime, bad mouthing the department and the citizens and the Justice Department and the rules, tossing around homophobic or sexist or racist remarks, getting your shoes shined, hassling a homeless person, hassling a signature gatherer, dropping off a buddy to moonlight for big side-pay with the corporate bosses, plotting destruction of evidence. Quite literally all in a day's work for Seattle's finest. If you think any bit of this is an aberration you are kidding yourself. You just saw a completely random and typical six hour SPD shift. 100% par for the course. The only thing missing is someone getting their ass kicked. Which is why this clip is probably a better presentation than the average. This is who we are dealing with people.

FWIW, the location at 2:25ish is the S wall of the AMC in OakTree Plaza as they head west on 100th.

You can even see what looks like that same RV in this google maps view of the area dated from Aug 2015 (over a year after the video).

https://goo.gl/maps/sShMwD9vm3F2

Bravi, jeffuppy! Great summarization of this short clip. Times this by the thousands across the nation and add homicide into the equation and there you have the country's law enforcement. Those good cops trying to expose this type of behavior are terminated, ridiculed, or disciplined for daring to oust these types of dangerous criminals in uniform.

Asshole cops. Shocker.

It appears we have learned that even cops engage in the same bored workplace banter and workplace fantasies we all do, even up to dreading training meetings, and using all your sick time and then quitting with a big Fuck You to management.

@4: Cops don't really "fight crime." Their job is to apprehend people once crimes have been committed, and usually just drive around enforcing banal laws like "no loitering on this sidewalk" as you read about above.

I'm surprised they're not endlessly gabbing about how lucky they are to have jobs in a city where they're beloved by the citizenry - people who are way too big of pussies to ever even contemplate signing up for their job.

@11: The conversation the two had was deemed to have violated the SPD's policies for professional conduct.

What is the City Light gig they are discussing and clearly fear losing?

While the actions and conversations recorded are pretty damning, it's also interesting to note what *wasn't* recorded during that long span. Specifically, it doesn't sound like there was a whole lot of, you know, ACTUAL WORK taking place.

Seattle's finest.

not surprised we don't have a very high bar for police officers in this country. even been in the military? you'd make a great cop! oh, no. no you wouldn't. two very different jobs. and they teach us in the army never to point a weapon at something you do not intend on destroying, not point it at everybody any chance you get. make this the hardest job to obtain and you will see better officers out there. also this guy doesn't appear like he could catch a cold let alone somebody running from him!

@troll 10, same reply as the last time you made this idiotic comment.... You first.

Well, that was boring! Is that all you've got?!?

Hey ansel the intern, next time why not just make it shorter, like "I really HATE cops!" It would carry the same weight without wasting people's time.

Can't call a spade a spade, pun intended. Flat shovel and card suit, of course.

All the complaints come from social workers uniformed as police officers? Any from the general public? How does he handle calls?

I used to work at the NE corner of Greenwood Ave N and 85th. Officer Ditusa used to come in all the time to do business.

Even though we had a huge open parking lot behind our building for customers, Officer Ditusa would always park in front of the business on Greenwood Ave, blocking a major bus stop. Sometimes he would be coming from the North and just pull over into his classic space blocking the bus stop from the other side of the street (aka parked facing against traffic at a bus curb).

He always had his this pompous assholery about him that he was above the law. I always wanted to tell him off but couldn't because he was my customer!

@18
They were being paid (roughly) $50/hour of taxpayer money to shoot the breeze, seems like for that price we deserve an accounting of all the breeze that was shot.

Panhandler was in a dangerous spot, head at bumper height right at the turn, right on the curve. and sig gatherer was an idiot. No, you do not have the constitutional right to assemble on private property if the owner does not want you there, move to the other door like they allow - or leave. Yah, cops can be dicks - but this is a yawner. So he hates his job?

Panhandler was in a dangerous spot, head at bumper height right at the turn, right on the curb. and sig gatherer was an idiot. No, you do not have the constitutional right to assemble on private property if the owner does not want you there, move to the other door like they allow - or leave. Yah, cops can be dicks - but this is a yawner. So he hates his job? I'd hate it too.

Evidence like this would get me fired from my $15/hr job, #1 reason being slacking, #2 reason being poor customer service, #3 reason being conspiring to sabotage the business behind the boss's back. Who's paying the salaries here? Oh, wait...

Not a big deal. Wish cops would use a little more salty language with chuggers especially ones gathering signatures on private property.

I’m always pleased to see quality journalism in The Stranger. When it’s good, it shines a light on a problem, calling it out; it asks the important questions; and in the best of circumstances, it provides leadership of public opinion and ideas for solutions to our most pressing problems. Such was the case with both'The Thin Blue Line Meets Blinking Red Light' AND 'Road Workers’ in this week’s issue.

We can agree on the problems caused by some of the folks who appear not to be doing a good job as police officers, in this case Officer Salvatore Ditusa. And the problems of major construction projects that do not hire more workers of color. But in both of these cases, I should like to also draw attention to some of the root causes. For example, we might agree that police officers who grew up in or near the neighborhoods they patrol might do a better job and better connect to the people they are serving and protecting. And we might agree that many of the folks with the potential to succeed in the skilled construction trades are people of color who live in the zip codes referenced in the article.

Then we would have to ask what our public schools are doing to encourage students to pursue careers in criminal justice and in the skilled trades, and what are they doing to provide these students opportunities in these fields. May I suggest, not enough.

The signature gatherer was on public property at the Ballard Sunday market. I'll bet our cop never got a call about him, signature gatherers are always there, including a now sitting legislature member. Also, this was many miles from Ditsma's beat in Lake City/Northgate.