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Comments
Nobody has the slightest inkling how they'd fire the whole police force, even if they realized they needed to. So we can Cynthia and then walk away knowing the police force is exactly like her. Great.
Now what?
Maybe her downfall is an early positive result of the beginnings of an SPD cultural shift--forced by Seattle citizens and DOJ.
Celebrating the ouster of one bully--and a low-hanging fruit of a bully at that--shouldn't interrupt our vigilance, however.
I reflect on this, too recent, 6-second warning till death and think . . . shit, there's a long way to go.
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/11209…
So there's a go-along-to-get-along chief who has to keep running around to get back in front of the parade when it suddenly starts marching in another direction; a "court-appointed monitor" (what's his name? Bobbert Murk? something like that) who files bland reports and bills every now and then; an openly belligerent union; a couple of good and civil but guarded spokespersons; and a handful of officers you might actually be comfortable to have interacting with your mischievous teenager.
What to do? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
I do think public staff who have the extraordinary authority to harm people on the job and to lock people in cages should operate under extreme scrutiny. And everything we hear from our police needs to be met with extreme skepticism. They have earned our distrust. The good cops will need to understand that our skepticism is grounded in reason and based on their coworkers' actions.
The majority may be great. If so, though, the majority are providing cover for the abusive minority. When good cops stand up and do something about bad cops, they'll deserve our respect. Until then, I have to assume they're on board with the abuse.
An organization I'm part of has an open PRA request with SPD for copies of all OPA investigative files, and once we figure out how to manage it, we're going to need help sifting through the data.
How 'bout just firing her?
Is this the same officer w the pepper spray? if so why isn't that being mentioned?
The SPOG is a piece of work, but they aren't the only bad actors in this situation.
If even a few of the really bad apples are fired, it essentially breaks the wall of "solidarity uber alles" that SPOG has managed to maintain for decades. The reason many officers act like this is because they know they CAN, with impunity, safe in the assurance that SPOG - and their fellow officers - will have their back, no matter what. OTOH, knowing the union can no longer protect officers who consistently display such unacceptable behavior from the consequences of their actions puts ALL officers on-notice that any one of them could be next, which in turn SHOULD result in better behavior on their part. We can't change the mind of a bigot, but we can at least instill enough fear of losing their job & prestige to compel them into correcting their behavior while on-duty. And in the long run, that may have enough overall impact to begin shifting the cultural "us versus them" mentality that seems to be rife within the Department.
It's certainly no silver bullet to be sure, but it would have the effect of tipping the balance of power away from SPOG, hopefully resulting in a much more balanced dynamic of power between the Guild and the City, which is rightfully where labor-management relationships should be.
O'Toole serves at the whim of the Mayor and Council.
I wonder if MIke McGinn would ever want to run for city attorney.
http://q13fox.com/2015/01/29/70-year-old…
(Has James Lynch mocked Mr. Wingate for crying like a little girl yet, by the way?)
Here's a list of bad actors surrounding Whitlatch, in particular (cross-posted):
SPD didn't pick anybody to pay anything. They knew about the Wingate incident since last summer. Middle-management officially learned of it last October. Only three days ago did SPD take action (besides, of course, locking Wingate in a cage overnight and tarring him with a report of attempting to assault a police officer): verbal apology to the victim (but not by any of the multiple SPD staff involved in the related misconduct), return of his unjustly seized property to him, and "counseling" for Whitlatch. They knew about Whitlatch's racist attitude and willingness to publicly express it since Brian Davis reported it to OPA. OPA's response to that, straight from director Pierce Murphy, was to have her manager tell her to keep quiet about her racism: "Her chain of command was directed to talk with her and to remind her of the importance of using discretion when representing herself," said Murphy.
SPD chose to take no substantive action until bad PR came knocking.
"Double-minority" police officer Whitlatch is now in the hot seat because her racial minority victim William Wingate took a stand, and because we have press who are willing to report on individual and systemic police misconduct. (Thanks, Ansel. May you never find the need to request from SPD the services for which we pay them or meet any of them alone in a dark alley.) Mr. Wingate, those who supported him, others who since came forward with their stories, and Ansel, all deserve credit for finally getting this powder keg off the street.
O'Toole and Murray are simply following those people's lead and doing damage control.
I think share your general concern, though. Most of the abusive cops on our city's payroll are likely straight white men. Someone, please help Ansel or other reporters force O'Toole to deal with one of those guys next.