What hateful group is this officer writing about? It's the Racial Profiling Task Force (RPTF), a group that's met for the past year to determine how to collect data at traffic stops in an effort to study whether or not the Seattle police engage in racial profiling.
"Although this 'committee' is supposed to be comprised of 'citizens,' you would see them for what and who they are," the cop continues. "The usual who's who of full-time activists, advocates, and lawyers' groups."
What's noteworthy about this officer's outrage--voiced in last October's issue of The Guardian, the newspaper of the Seattle Police Officer's Guild, obtained by The Stranger--is the fact that he will soon head up the 1,200-member police guild. The officer, Ken Saucier, will be sworn in as president of the cop union on Wednesday, February 27, for a two-year term.
"I'm going to be out there speaking for [the officers] every chance I get," says Saucier, a 38-year-old African American. "The officers need someone to speak up for them when they're right."
Statements like that, along with his two-page Guardian essay, are indicative of his public style: blunt, controversial, and intransigent. Saucier has applied that style to numerous issues--racial profiling, de-policing, and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske's job performance.
"If I have a disagreement, I'll voice that," he says. "I love debate. I love to discuss an issue."
City leaders, however, are worried they'll have a hard time discussing things with Saucier.
"He uses very sarcastic language," says City Council Member Nick Licata, who has read Saucier's Guardian essay. "It's not helpful for creating a dialogue."
Unfortunately for the city, open communication with the guild is crucial, especially now. In the last year, the guild and the city have butted heads over everything from fully implementing the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) to keeping Chief Kerlikowske. (The ornery guild recently initiated a vote of "no confidence" against the chief following a published OPA report.) This spring, the city and the guild will begin negotiations on a new police contract--a nearly guaranteed wrestling match over police accountability. The city wants more accountability and openness, and the cops want a strong say in what that means for their jobs.
The outgoing guild president of six years, Sergeant Mike Edwards, has been at the forefront of these issues, speaking for the guild's members. Edwards was a strong voice for the rank-and-file union, defending individual officers and criticizing the chief after last year's Mardi Gras and last month's published OPA report. Saucier's similar firebrand approach may have helped him win the position over current guild vice-president Stuart Colman and longtime officer Jim Dyment.
"I thought [Saucier] would be good in front of the TV cameras," says guild member and officer John Montagna. "He's got a nice presence about him."
Saucier's supervisor at the police firing range in Tukwila, Sergeant Pete Verhaar, calls him an effective communicator. "He stands for what he believes, and he will speak to that, and he will hold his line," Verhaar says.
Saucier has spoken out on a number of issues in the local papers and on national television. After 36-year-old African American Aaron Roberts was fatally shot by police in the Central District last May, Saucier publicly backed officers who admitted to de-policing in Roberts' community--responding only to 911 calls, to avoid accusations of racism.
"Just by sheer percentages, I pull over people of a certain race. All of a sudden I get these labels, I'm a racist," Saucier told The Seattle Times last June. "Screw it. I'm not going to stop anybody. I'm going to park my car on some quiet street and do the crossword puzzle."
Saucier says the RPTF has "doomed" any chance of collecting accurate data, if they ask for police identification on the data forms. And he says the racial profiling debate detracts from a bigger problem--that blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime.
Saucier has also stood behind the rank-and-file members of the guild, against city leaders and the police chief. After the 1999 WTO chaos, Saucier defended the use of pepper spray ("Before you decry the use of pepper spray, think about the alternative"). And after last year's Mardi Gras riots, he criticized the recently sworn-in Kerlikowske for inaction ("Morale dropped so quickly and deeply because people actually had hope [for leadership], and had those hopes dashed").
"[Saucier's] not a politically correct-type person, but he's not a brash person," his supervisor Verhaar says. "I think it's rather refreshing to find someone who will speak to their values, and will hold themselves and other people accountable for what they say."
But Saucier may get the tables turned on him. He may be held accountable for guild stubbornness on contract negotiations and guild criticism of the chief. And while city leaders are hopeful the new president can stay away from harsh comments and work with the city on police issues, they're already tiptoeing around Saucier's divisiveness. (City Council Member Jim Compton--chair of the city council committee that oversees the SPD--didn't return several calls about this story.)
Editor's note: Despite several advance requests to interview Saucier, he contacted The Stranger far too late. We managed to work in his point of view as best we could at the last minute.
