It pains me to say it, but the sheriff’s leadership in the aftermath of the shooting death of a 74-year-old Spokane Valley pastor by a sheriff’s deputy has been neither swift nor inspiring. In particular, Knezovich’s decision to allow Deputy Brian Hirzel to postpone a key voluntary interview regarding the shooting until he got back from a scheduled vacation to Montana and Las Vegas galls me greatly. We’ve reported that Knezovich has defended not canceling the deputy’s time off out of concern that doing so “could taint the investigation by making it appear that he forced Hirzel to give the statement.” Sorry, Ozzie. That explanation is about as close to political doubletalk as I’ve ever heard you utter/Doug Clark, SR. More here.

Question: Do you agree that Sheriff Knezovich set a bad tone for the investigation into the shooting of Pastor Creach by allowing Deputy Hirzel to take a vacation before questioning?