Spokane7
50°
April 29, 2010 in Opinion
Editorial: Police Guild voting stunt hurt its own rank and file
Just because the Spokane Police Guild races to the defense of officers who break the law, abuse their authority or demonstrate other inappropriate conduct, that’s no reason to conclude the guild condones such behavior. After all, it’s a union’s job to protect a member’s contractual rights.
Just as it’s a police chief’s responsibility to uphold appropriate standards of professional conduct and impose consequences for violations.
But the Spokane Police Guild went way beyond its proper role when it deliberately misrepresented the outcome of a no-confidence vote against Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and Assistant Chief Jim Nicks. Still worse, guild leadership threatened retaliation against any member who dared expose the deception.
The guild’s leadership was quick to announce early in April that a no-confidence vote had been taken and that most members had expressed their dissatisfaction with Kirkpatrick. They refused to provide specific numbers but described the outcome more than once as a majority.
Actually, 40 percent of the guild’s 276 members voted no confidence.
You’d think 40 percent would be ammunition enough for the guild to insist publicly that the administration’s internal support is shaky. And you’d think that the guild’s officers would be smart enough to realize that someone with access to the truth would eventually reveal it.
Someone did. The Spokesman-Review received a printout of the vote information, showing that only 112 guild members supported the no-confidence vote. That was more than half of the 191 who voted, but not the majority of the full membership that union leaders claimed.
The highly publicized incidents that have put several Spokane police officers in a negative light over the past couple of years are not typical of the department’s rank and file. We suspect that most members of the force disapprove of officer misconduct, even if many of them think Kirkpatrick’s response has been too harsh.
On the latter point, we strongly disagree. For the sake of the community as well as the police force, a bond of public trust is essential for effective law enforcement. It’s an important part of Kirkpatrick’s job to encourage that trust by making it plain that deviations from professional conduct will not be tolerated. She’s assumed that duty admirably, even at the risk of pushback from the union.
On the other hand, the Spokane Police Guild’s falsehood over the vote of no confidence reveals seriously misplaced priorities. It leaves the public wondering if the union is willing to overlook misconduct after all.
The strict personnel actions that have earned Kirkpatrick the guild’s animosity serve to solidify the public’s faith that law enforcement officers in Spokane are held to a high standard. That’s in the best interests of the officers on the street. It’s not their chief who’s let them down – it’s their union.
To respond online, click on Opinion under the Topics menu at www.spokesman.com.
Editorial: Workers’ beer routine undermines public trust 
Scoutster on April 29 at 5:56 a.m.
In fairness to the Guild, they never said they were going to tell the truth.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on April 29 at 6:18 a.m.
When the behaviour of multiple officers coming to court during a trial of one of their own dressed in uniform, which would likely intimidate the jurors who are identifiable, and including “high fiving” when the jury comes back with a not guilty verdict in spite of overwhelming evidence to convict in my opinion there is a deep problem with “public image” and trust of all of the police force.
There was no comment about “conduct unbecoming” by the Mayor, or the Chief of Police even though it was reported.The Mayor could have “read it in the paper”…. john
liarsinnews on April 29 at 6:55 a.m.
It reminds me of the incident/crime that happened a few years ago at a bar on east Sprague when 2 police officers refused to pay two prostitutes for services rendered..
HammerSix on April 29 at 8:36 a.m.
I called this! The minute it was reported, I knew it was not a majority opinion of no confidence.
Where the hell is the Ombudsman? Some will tell you he has no business in any of this, but I say, why not?!
I applied for the position of Ombudsman. I had vast experience as an Army Inspector General which was ideal for establishing an unbiased public servant between city leaders, SPD leaders, and the public. The city manager, Ted Danek (a military retiree himself), encouraged me to apply, but claimed that the city was looking for a police officer or a lawyer—flat out. The SPD had 2 of the 5 votes to include the Guild President and the representative of the SPD Lieutenants and Captains.
In his first year, I have seen nothing of worth from the Spokane Ombudsman.
Madam Mayor, Mr. Danek, and SPD Leaders: You have done yourselves and the city a disservice. Open your mind to something FAR BETTER than you currently have!!
Further, I propose a City Inspector General. This is the guy who is an unbiased and NONATTRIBUTIONAL representative for ALL city agencies; Police, Fire, Utilities, etc.
I stand ready to do this for the City of Spokane, of which I am a fourth-generation native.
Ron_the_Cop on April 29 at 9:06 a.m.
Hammer Six,
Don’t count out Tim Burns just yet. I’ve met with him several times and had him in to speak to my college class on “Community Oriented Policing.” Both former Sheriff Bamonte and I are filing complaints about Spokane PD. Time will tell what the true colors of Mr. Burns are. For now I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
In the meantime here’s an alternative view that I posted in the other thread on the vote of no confidence. There are much larger issues that the citizens of Spokane must acknowledge and deal with before there can be a meaningful change within the Spokane PD.
I will post it in another comment.
Ron_the_Cop on April 29 at 9:07 a.m.
My comment in the other thread:
*****
Ron_the_Cop on April 28 at 11:48 a.m.
Another_Perspective,
I agree with many of your points and I agree with many others too regarding their anger with the Guild. The Guild has shot itself in its foot numerous times. To take a vote of no confidence and expect the vote tally to remain private is a little naive. The Guild’s credibility with the public is in the toilet. I’m sure there are many fine men and women rank and file members who serve honorably in the police department. These people who put their lives on the line each and every day deserve competent and fair leadership from police management and City administration.
As a former police union president this tempest in a teapot over the manner and form of this vote is a distraction from the real issues. The Guild president was wrong if he said the vote represented a vote of a majority of Guild members. I don’t think this is a fair complaint and this article’s headline is misleading. The vote by the command staff is self-serving. OK a number of folks chose not to mark their ballot. The simple fact is that a majority of those who voted, voted no confidence. Do we run regular elections this way? If we did the EMS levy probably wouldn’t have passed.
With that said I believe the Guild does have some valid issues with the police administration as I’ve said all along in other threads on this topic (Just click on my AKA for posts above). With what I’ve read I would have fired Asst. Chief Nicks for his handling of the Zehm media releases and for his lack of meaningful discipline of the detectives that destroyed evidence in the firehouse “rape” case. While this may have been consensual and perhaps a lingering question of a 16 year-old misrepresenting herself as 18, the fact remains once her age was determined these digital photos were child porn.
What many are missing in this most recent debate, is Spokane has a much bigger, deeper, and darker little secret. The issues with the police department are merely symptomatic of a dysfunctional government that is powerless to act because of endemic corruption due to organized crime. Until this issue is squarely addressed, the police department as well as other departments will not function as they should.
I would suggest this anger while righteous in nature could be directed to where real change in our government can take place. I would encourage all who are interested in real change in Spokane to join in this debate. For too long the people of Spokane have been shortchanged. For too long these are topics that have been hushed up. People willing to discuss them in the open have been retaliated against or marginalized by the Cowles Co. or by their minions. These are issues that must be addressed. These issues can’t continue to be swept under the rug. These stories will eventually break.
See award winning investigative reporter Larry Shook’s recent commentary:
American Serbia
http://larryshook.com/2010/04/17/american-serbia/
In a recent S-R article thread on the death of Otto Zehm I posted a “punch list” ( http://tinyurl.com/25pbh7t )of things that Mayor Verner has the authority/power to do immediately or can use her bully pulpit to lobby for that would be helpful.
If this is upsetting to you, you can help by emailing Mayor Verner and the City Council and demanding they take immediate action on a “punch list” Until the citizens of Spokane speak out, they will continue to be victimized by their own government and the criminal enterprise that has so thoroughly corrupted it.
Mayor Verner – mary@spokanecity.org
City Council – CityCouncil@spokanecity.org
Det. Ron Wright (Retired)
Past two-term President of the Riverside Police Officers’ Assn.
Riverside PD, CA
Ed Byrnes on April 29 at 9:46 a.m.
I agree with Ron about the need to identify, expose and remove root level corruption in Spokane.
I believe that Mayor Verner can live up to the promise of change she campaigned on by taking a visible and vocal lead in confronting clear abuses of their authority and the public trust by some members of the SPD, and to set an example of transparency, to take on other issues of abuse of power and corruption within the entire Spokane City government.
As a union steward myself I encourage the rank and file of the SPD to actively de-certify the Guild as their bargaining unit and establish a different collective bargaining organization. The Guild indeed does the job of any union when protecting the procedural rights of it’s members who are facing disciplinary action, but the guild, and by unfortunate extension all SPD officers, have lost far to much credibility with the public because of duplicitous behavior on the part of Guild leadership.
I believe that us Spokane citizens can encourage improved behavior by the SPD as a whole by gaining a greater understanding of the overall municipal government problems as they pertain to relations between the SPD and the City of Spokane administration. Such an effort on the part of us citizens can encourage the best officers of the SPD to be more active in ridding their department of unprofessional colleagues.
We need to move toward healing our whole community.
lewis8457 on April 29 at 1:16 p.m.
It is all so sorted. The Mayor signs the guilds contract knowing they are crooked. it was in the paper so she knows. but she signed any way.
Kirkpatrick should get the hell out of Spokane. While her resume still holds water.
The idea of a City Inspector General came up but the problem with that is the guild would neuter that office just like they did with the ombudsman.
Our leaders in the city are so crooked I don’t know how we can get our city back. They have the city attorney, SPD, Sheriffs, etc all on their side.
If the feds don’t hand down some serious hurt on the SPD and city over the Otto case I think we are sunk.
Dazzeetrader11 on April 30 at 12:59 a.m.
The power of the VOTE Lewis. That’s about all anyone can do.
Ron_the_Cop on April 30 at 9:10 a.m.
Daisy,
You are quite correct VOTE! Before that though if you’re concerned about Spokane PD and the problems of our dysfunctional government, first you must spread the word among your friends and contacts. You must then encourage them to become informed and become involved in the process.
It’s the sunlight that will kill the parasitic insidious organized crime that has infected our government. Spokane is such a fine place for all of its wonderful attributes. Spokane is set to grow economically once the yoke of this corruption is removed.
Please share Larry Shook’s latest commentary as a primer of what is wrong with Spokane:
American Serbia
http://larryshook.com/2010/04/17/american-serbia/