Spokane7
53°
September 2, 2010 in Washington Voices
Police actions, system erode the public’s trust
Last week Spokane Valley Police Department demonstrated yet another reason why the local law enforcement community needs a gigantic enema.
While they are citing motorists not wearing their seat belts and gabbing on their cell phones we have gangbangers whizzing through our neighborhoods in hopped-up Hondas modified with stolen parts while they try to keep their pit bulls from sitting on their meth.
As if the local authorities didn’t get enough negative blow back for the deaths of Otto Zehm, Benites Sichiro, Trent Yohe and Jerome Alford, now they whack a preacher. Then comes the magic word we all knew we would hear: Investigation. That means we’ll never know what really happened.
All the local governments are chanting “budget cuts.” As problems with gang-related drug activity, burglary and theft continue to become more established, Spokane-area law enforcement agencies continue to play their fiddle while the embers of hard crime burn hotter. Their officers conduct affairs like uniform-wearing thugs more interested in raising revenue via traffic infractions than reducing property-damage crime, then go to sizeable effort to conceal situations where officers egregiously step over the line.
Granted, property crimes are extremely difficult to stop. It’s also understandable that the police cannot always be there. Investigation is expensive and time consuming. Police are supposed to follow the rules to catch the people that don’t. With drivers trying to break land speed records in our neighborhoods and theft running rampant, the police have their hands full. To further complicate things, most area law enforcement agencies are facing layoffs.
Things seemed to be improving when Spokane police Officer Jay Olsen resigned last year in lieu of termination for shooting Shonto Pete in 2007. More recently, Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Darin Schaum was arrested last April by the Washington State Patrol for suspicion of driving under the influence. These incidents seem miniscule compared to the growing criticism of the conduct of local agencies and the investigation of complaints against their departments.
The problem with police self-investigation is that it is generally ineffective. The Wayne Scott Creach case will no doubt be steered toward a laughably inept review committee. After an inadequate, half-hearted investigation, law enforcement officials will duck behind disclosure guidelines and privacy policies to avoid releasing any results to the public. Has history not taught anyone that these type of investigations produce only a small number of files that ever result in any kind of discipline?
The mafia never had loyalty like what the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, which provides officers to Spokane Valley through a contract with the city, is getting. No one in the agency is talking about the Creach incident. Their lips are zipped as tight as the skin on an onion. They didn’t identify the officer involved for days. If someone from the general public was in an identical situation the assailant’s name would be as available as the weather forecast and they would be left trials of public scrutiny.
This isn’t about bashing the police. This is about their hypocrisy, their secrecy and how nothing happens to officers who break the same laws they are sworn to enforce.
Whether this is a punishable incident is yet to be determined. It may be manslaughter, it may just be an unfortunate tragedy. When you have a “good buddy” system that tramples the rights of those they patrol, whose officers are above the laws they enforce, are not held accountable because of a deficient oversight system and have their “good buddy” Steve Tucker on hand to sweep their incidents under the carpet, tragedies like this will continue.
David Teller can be reached by e-mail at buggz1121@yahoo.com
Genesis Church finds new home 
Cheezwhiz on September 02 at 6:12 a.m.
Great story! It’s what we all wanted to say, but didn’t have the time or ability to do. Thanks! Ever wonder why the police always have time to investigate traffic accidents, but never have time to investigate thefts or vandalism?
lucs on September 02 at 6:31 a.m.
A sad epic, put rather succinctly.
Oz will be re-elected and there will be another cop killing every 3 months or so. On and on. The system is broken and in desperate need of repair.
I’ll sum it up: “Those who can, will not. Those who will. cannot.” A Spanish witticism.
liarsinnews on September 02 at 9:56 a.m.
If anybody wants to examine the crimes in any city of the country, Sterling company (the company furnishes statistics to a huge number of municipality’s that request them) compiles all of the categories and rates each city. Spokane, for years and years, has been above the national average in every category of crime. A few years ago, I testified before the Spokane city council and presented factual numbers to show the members the results. I even showed a comparison using a city (Garland, Tx) with approximately the same population as Spokane and furnished documentation to each member. As usual, a couple of council members were talking to one another during my dissertation and I doubt anybody bothered to look up the facts.
Cheezwhiz on September 02 at 12:49 p.m.
Well Dick, comparing Spokane to Garland is ignorant, at the very least. Garland might as well be called Dallas. It’s like Renton to Seattle, but without the illegal aliens. Here in Spokane, our burglaries are pretty much legal since they don’t get investigated. We are told to let our insurance company handle it, because the police are too busy. They did show up in Mr. Creach’s area, 7 hours after a call was made by a neighbor, but not to investigate. Apparently it was to instigate, infuriate, and intimidate.
Montauban on September 02 at 4:35 p.m.
There are a lot of civil-municipal departments nationwide in the United States who have unions. Exactly like law enforcement and civil departments, they are required by their town or city governments, and the unions, to also uphold certain rights given to their employees and union members respectively, when “investigations” of any type are being made/conducted, which includes sequestering under gag orders, prevention of any person therein to discuss, hear or speak about the “investigation” or situations until such hearings or other due process of the law has been made public.
Why do they mandate that jurists (in jury trials) NOT to watch television news, or read the local newspapers and to be sequestered at home or in hotel rooms until the decision of the jury or hearing officers or ombudsman is completed? Same reasons.
No matter, I think, where a geographical location happens to be in comparison, every body (agency of law enforcement here) has additional issues they deal with simply because people have been more open to extreme avenues of opinion nowadays than ever before and try to impose their own viewpoints on what the law stipulates, and infuse their own suggestions of the crime to public domain. And, this is fine.
But it is apparent that Garland, Texas may have a difference of municipal guidance rules and statutes and charters to go by, rather than Spokane; comparing apples to apples sometimes don’t produce equal results.
I’m sure the Creach affair will be made public soon enough, and hopefully, too, is the complete, entire truth be known as to the reason/s why the policeman fired at Mr. Creach. Until then, speculation abounds.
westerly on September 02 at 5:33 p.m.
Spokane is going down hill in its fight with gang bangers, meth, knifings, robberies. It is not the nice little city ( Family Magazine 10 Best?) LOL. Prosecutors and judges are not doing their jobs, way too many felons on the loose..no punishment. Just a downward spiral in city defcits, morals, living conditions, poverty, crappy min wage jobs,homelessness, crime…Spokane seems to be at the head in these catagories compared to Puget Sound…with 3 million peole living there..and 2-300 k here… Seems poor cities always attract the low life…its cheaper to exist in poor cities with low rent,housing..Spokane fits it like a glove.
Cheezwhiz on September 02 at 6:08 p.m.
Funny…. I remember a story on KHQ, not too long ago that said we have the fifth highest cops per capita in the United States. Strange how we could have any problems at all. Our city doesn’t seem to be anything like L.A. or New York as far as thugs. For the most part, they seem like good honest people. So, from what I see, cops won’t respond to thefts or vandalism, but will respond to violent crimes and traffic accidents. Think if they responded to thefts and vandalism, those suspects might lead to bigger and more important crimes? With the huge population of cops, you’d think they could muster up the manpower, time, and effort. Maybe they would get better public relations too. It would also help if they would quit executing our citizens too. Just a thought.
Goose54 on September 02 at 6:41 p.m.
So I hear a lot off complaining and whining about the police and most of it is based on opinion and not fact. How about doing our part and volunteering to the local C.O.P.S. shop or the equivalent program in Spokane Vally? Neighborhood patrol programs? I don’t hear any ideas on how to change the system or help the system. Why not keep track of suspicious people and vehicles that are speeding through our neighborhoods and once a week or once a month turn in a report to the C.O.P.S. officers. Those of us that follow the laws outnumbers those that don’t by a wide margin and we all know what is going on in our neighborhoods and yet i would bet that most of us turn a blind eye to the problems. If we want change we need to do our part to let those that are going to commit crimes know that we are watching and are not going to tolerate it any more.
Montauban on September 02 at 11:50 p.m.
Added point: Ask the city manager or find out from the attorneys who try cases if the City of Spokane, as well as the County and State legal jurisdiction has, on the books, particular statutes under penalty codes which restrict the judges’ calls on certain levels of crimes to impose certain fines and penalties.
I know in most overseas countries, the penalties are levied on cases and times per incident a person receives a certain penalty or fine. This includes jail term length.
For instance, a judge hearing a case on murder, the first offense of a person judged as guilty, could receive 20 years, instead of what people “think or feel” the murderer should get life. If the judge is restricted in giving more than a 20-year sentence, this could well be the case in Washington, as it is all over the US.
Just hypothetical; but best look into the facts first.
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‘Goose54’, you are correct, however there is one item I have to question; the last sentence of your post.
How can a civil group or just a few or one person going to… “do their part to let those that are going to commit crimes know that we are watching and are not going to tolerate it any more.”
What would you do to correct this or do you have suggestions?
I’m sure you have “Neighborhood Watch” signs throughout Spokane, but do the neighbors really “watch”? What will happen if they report a car break-in, for instance, and it is then stolen? What about a street assault on a young girl? What is the response time for the police and will they respond? Does this affect the caller/reporter to the incident in court where there could be neighborhood retaliation or retaliation upon the witness? Crap happens, ya know!
fredjames on September 03 at 11:07 a.m.
If i shot a dog, I would not be allowed to go on vacation, the taxpayer pays for the investigation,and the wrongful death law suit. Real sorrow there, going on vacation after killing a 74 year old precher perp on his own property as you trespass without any permission late at night.
There was no gun fight , there was a killing of a man on his property, like a intruder came into this mans property so he got his gun to investigate and when he came upon the intruder, the intruder shot him.
The police perp was allowed to leave town, it would look bad to interview him right away even when he was willing to talk. That is a real good deal, if I shot someone, then I am going to say I have a sceduled vacation made sometime in December or January, yeah that’s the ticket, I will be right back after I visit ahh my friend in a country that does not extridite killers, yea that is the ticket. I will use the Spokane Police department defense.
You don’t know what I am subjected to day after day, gang bangers, meth makers, rude people driveing on the street with cell phones stuck to their ear, I get paid 100,000 K per year to drive around in my car and that is with retirement and medical and paid leave and when I kill someone, it will be investigated but remember I was stressed out all the dangerouse criminals that rob my house and threaten me , make me shoot first, that precher could have killed me, after all I was on his property. But he did not kill the police man decided to kill, good shot too center of the body, in case his aim at close distance was off!