Spokane7
53°
October 26, 2010 in Opinion
Editorial: Prosecutor’s office needs new leader: Malone
In the 2006 Spokane County prosecutor’s race, we lamented the paucity of good choices and issued a tepid endorsement for incumbent Steve Tucker. In this year’s primary, there were better candidates, and we recommended Chris Bugbee. The voters disagreed, so the general election pits Tucker against Frank Malone.
Tucker has more experience as a prosecutor, but it is his actions – or rather inactions – as a manager that have raised concerns in the criminal justice system and in the community at large. During the last race, the high-profile Otto Zehm case was grabbing headlines. This time it’s the fatal shooting of Wayne Scott Creach by a Spokane County sheriff’s deputy.
Before the Zehm case was taken over by federal prosecutors, Tucker’s handling of it was a portrait of indecisiveness and delay. The same appears to be happening with the case involving Creach, a Spokane Valley pastor who was investigating a prowler at his nursery business and ended up dead. Tucker initially said he wanted to make a charging decision before Election Day, but now he says that is unlikely.
Tucker says he is awaiting the results of an unspecified test. He seems to be forever waiting for something.
The lack of trust in law enforcement has become a serious issue in this community. It’s been fueled by the way officer-involved shootings have been handled. A key part of the job as an elected prosecutor is to get out in front of controversies to educate the public on process and procedures. Instead, Tucker has chosen to fade into the background and let speculation and cynicism fill the void. In other major areas, such as making criminal charging decisions in 72 hours and devising a better budgeting process, he has also chosen to hang back and let others take the lead.
We are concerned about Malone’s lack of experience with major crimes, but he does have a solid leadership background in managing a legal practice that focuses on criminal, family and civil law. He is more apt to correctly gauge the sensitive nature of officer-involved shootings and engage in a more active approach to managing the fallout. Malone has suggested that Tucker turn the Creach case over to an outside agency, and given the community’s general distrust with officer-related shootings, that might be the wise thing to do. He also isn’t wedded to the current policies and procedures that mark Tucker’s 12-year reign, so he is more likely to bring about needed changes.
We are endorsing Malone, because the community needs a clean break from the accumulated distrust, which has been abetted by the incumbent’s failure to lead.
Trudy Rubin: Egyptians say no to Islamists 
hawken on October 26 at 6:48 a.m.
Malone got my vote about a week ago….
hawken on October 26 at 6:51 a.m.
followup….
I urge other staunch conservatives like me… to vote for Malone, rather than Tucker.
Some offices clearly transcend party politics… Prosecutor is one of those offices in my opinion.
Ron_the_Cop on October 26 at 9:27 a.m.
Perhaps the S-R has been reading my past blog and comment posts:-)
The S-R Editorial Board for once has made the right decision. Steve Tucker with is management style of being largely MIA definitely needs to go. Tucker’s been MIA one to many times.
What is crucial in our community is the collective bar needs to be raised on how “officer involved shootings” (OIS) and/or critical incidents are investigated. The County Prosecutor is one of the key leaders in the law enforcement community that can advocate for this needed change and bring public transparency/accountability in these incidents. The public is loosing it’s trust and confidence in its law enforcement community.
It goes without saying that there are many fine law enforcement men and woman who are doing the job day in and day out under very difficult circumstances. What is lacking is competent/effective police leadership that has been unable or unwilling to bring about this necessary change.
While I’ve had my issues with Sheriff Knezovich, I was impressed that he quickly changed the critical incident protocol regarding when his deputies could be interviewed. This will turn out to be a critical issue/factor in the recent Creach shooting. The Sheriff has posted the critical incident protocol for all to see on the Sheriff’s website:
http://www.spokanecounty.org/Sheriff/content.aspx?c=2068
[Last item under “quick links” right side of page]
The S-R hasn’t given him credit for doing so.
On the other hand Chief Kirkpatrick and her police command staff have not impressed me. I’m on the record as telling Mayor Verner that she should fire Chief Kirkpatrick and cause Asst. Chief Nicks to be terminated.
Both the officers involved and the public deserve an “A game” or top flight investigation of these incidents both for criminal and administrative reasons. I’m not saying the filling of criminal charges is warranted in any of the recent shootings but lessons can be learned through the administrative review of these incident and police policy, procedure and training can be changed accordingly to improve the police response/action e.g., dash cameras and audio recorders for the officers’ own protection to reduce the incidents of “he said - she said.” Sheriff Knezovich acted immediately to correct the critical incident protocol when it became apparent this had a detrimental affect on these critical investigations.
I have met Frank Malone. While Frank may be lacking hands on experience in a prosecutor’s office, he is very smart and does have the leadership skills/ability/experience to recognize where change is necessary and bring about those changes.
For more read my post:
Steve Tucker for Spokane County Prosecutor - A mockery of justice
http://tinyurl.com/25kd3we
Det. Ron Wright (Retired) - Now residing in Spokane
Riverside PD, CA
College instructor in:
Forensics and crime scene investigation
Controversial issues in law enforcement
Community oriented policing
saveyourtatas on October 26 at 10:17 a.m.
Good riddance to Tucker. Frank Malone will now win by a wide margin. Tucker ignores his murderous cops and prosecutors…while he spends massive taxpayer funds going after a “Gadfly” like David Elton. What a waste of tax money, which should have spent elsewhere. After 612 days of chasing down Elton, Tucker caved and dropped all charges on October 15. I happen to know Elton’s family very well and Tucker very nearly destroyed Elton’s marriage when he threatened legal action against Elton’s wife for her 500 dollar donation to Dave Stevens, who, BTW, was wrongfully terminated by Tucker.
The message from the prosecutors office seems to be “let cops kill without question, but destroy political activists at all costs if they insult your drinking and golfing habits”. I sincerely hope Elton will sue Tucker for Tort/Malicious Prosecution/Wrongful Litigation/Prosecutorial Misconduct and anything else he can think of. No matter what. Win or lose, Tucker has failed this community in various and sundry ways.
VOTE FRANK MALONE!
bszottlinger on October 26 at 11:25 a.m.
Ron_the_Cop:
It is nice to see the SR endorsement of Mr. Malone. Let us hope he wins and lives up to our expectations. Although the interview change to the “Critical Incident Protocol” is a step forward, I hope Mr. Malone takes the lead in the very necessary total rewrite.
Should he win I would also hope that Mr. Malone will have considerable interaction with Mayor Verner, who endorsed him, regarding Chief Kirkpatrick.
Mr. Malone will have to deal with some very politically conservative staff and although I don’t feel that will be a significant problem for him I hope he develops policy prohibiting staff from blogging (even under an assumed name or persona) regarding cases they are prosecuting. I don’t mind them blogging in a general sense off duty but It is not appropriate to blog on duty with case specifics.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on October 26 at 11:47 a.m.
Thank you for your editorial judgment on this race. Much has been said, and most all of it by his own party and people that work for him and most all of it has sadly been very negative.
I have worked for Mr Malone since he threw his hat in the ring, and have tried to make the point that the broken pivot in the legal system here in our county has been the Prosecutor’s office…. not the diligent hard working deputy prosecutors but rather their leader. When one of your own staff breaks rank and runs against you with loud reasons… and then is fired by “the boss”… you might feel something is up.
Mr Malone has a fine Military record retiring as a Lt Col, and so any concerns about his “decisions when under fire”….. can take a look at his service for our country in Viet Nam, and in Desert Storm. You do not make Lt Col in any branch of the service without some serious hard work.
I am proud to have Frank as a friend, and to have worked hard waving signs and campaigning for him. Thank you for this Editorial. Gus
PlanB on October 26 at 12:16 p.m.
Good call, S-R!