July 14, 2011 in City

Clark: Omdudsman is where Police Guild wants him

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An arbitrator decided this week to revoke the law that attempted to turn our Spokane police omdudsman into something more ominous than a pony in a petting zoo.

Well, I can’t say that I’m shocked.

Just what the omdudsman can or can’t do has caused great heartburn right from the get-go.

Basically it all boils down to two diverse but equally passionate camps.

One camp is comprised of deluded and powerless citizens like you and me.

Sure, we support local law enforcement. But we also see the value in having an independent watchdog to keep a keen eye on the cops in case one of them gets drunk and shoots an unarmed civilian or, say, beats an innocent mentally ill janitor into mush inside a quickie mart.

You know, stuff like that.

The other camp is composed of Police Guild goons who – in all fairness – also think that an omdudsman is a terrific idea.

As long as he has the keen eyes of Stevie Wonder.

Ah, it’s no mystery as to which camp has the real juice here in Spocannabis.

I attended the public meeting a few years ago when the three omdudsman finalists gave their “hire me” spiels.

If we wanted the real deal we would have gone for the square-jawed ex-FBI agent who had this impressive background in investigating departmental corruption.

Instead we hired the guy with an impressive ponytail.

But everything was sailing smoothly until the City Council voted to strengthen the omdudsman’s powers to examine cases of police misconduct.

Police Guild dons understandably cried foul.

Allowing the omdudsman to actually earn his paycheck is at odds with our civic tradition of good ol’ boys in blue who might crack a few skulls from time to time.

But the arbitrator has ruled. The omdudsman must now abide by more sensible rules, which I’m happy to outline for those of you who might have forgotten.

RULE 1 – The Spokane police omdudsman has the right to show up at crime scenes and help hold the yellow “Caution, Do Not Cross” tape.

RULE 2 – The Spokane police omdudsman has full authority to investigate any citizen complaints about the Casey Anthony verdict.

RULE 3 – On weekends, the Spokane police omdudsman will wash and shine at least five police cars.

RULE 4 – From time to time, the Spokane police omdudsman may issue written public reports that outline his opinion on matters of officer wrongdoing.

RULE 5 – Any public reports issued by the Spokane police omdudsman must be written in Mandarin Chinese.

RULE 6 – The Spokane police omdudsman is welcome to attend all Police Guild parties and social functions – as kitchen help.

RULE 7 – The Spokane police omdudsman is entitled to examine sensitive SPD personnel and internal affairs files.

RULE 8 – From years 1923 to 1932.

RULE 9 – Although the Spokane police omdudsman cannot wear a badge, he may still keep his bus pass.

RULE 10 – The Spokane police omdudsman is entitled to a 15 percent discount at any Supercuts outlet.

Doug Clark is a columnist for The Spokesman-Review. He can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or by email at dougc@spokesman.com.

13 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  ChefGus/ John Olsen on July 14 at 6:17 a.m.

  Doug, somehow you managed to give me a smile and chortle, as you often do, over a situation that is increasingly seen as hopeless.

  The feckless government leaders that are fully cognizant of the charade that continues to play out are the one’s responsible.

  One simple but not easy solution as i understand these complications is to “Open Negotiations” mid contract and respond fully and in public at open meetings in re doing the police guild contracts.

  No guts, No glory…

  When Tim came to town there was a sense of relief and hope that there would be some change….. but it seems the Police Guild has us all by the proverbial.

  Thanks for the smiles this morning… John

• 

  gonefishin1 on July 14 at 7:40 a.m.

  I agree with Doug, if the city wanted change and police oversite, they would have hired the FBI agent who used to do that for the feds. Maybe the city was afraid of what he would have found?

• 

  Rick_Penn on July 14 at 7:47 a.m.

  Hey you dont see the Ombudsman complaining…. He has become just another city worker sucking tax revenue and doing NOTHING in return….

• 

  93bird on July 14 at 8:25 a.m.

  Keep the heat on boil, Doug. Lest we all succumb to the Spokane Brown Shirts. God save our city.

• 

  gonefishin1 on July 14 at 9:22 a.m.

  Rick is correct, just like many other city employees/ Fire Department Chief officers, the ombudsman is getting a sweet paycheck for doing SQWAT!!! Again, in the times of being budget concerned, shouldnt we be more responsible as to how the city spends its money? As citizens we should all look forward to more bad police officers, knightsticking good responsible citizens or running them down due to inatentive driving. Things will get wore with the gestapo…….er… Spokane police before the feds step in.

• 

  The_Seer on July 14 at 9:31 a.m.

  At this rate it will be the F.B.I. that eventually performs the Ombudsman duties anyway. It’s not like they have anything better to do, like investigate area white supremacists or mortgage lenders.

  gone: “U” after “Q” always….

  93Bird: The “brown shirts” are the downtown “ambassadors.” The SPD is full on gestapo!

• 

  Ed Byrnes on July 14 at 10:33 a.m.

  Doug I am with John in being grateful for a rare chance to laugh at what is a deplorable situation in our city.

  I have one question for the Guild leadership: If you aren’t doing anything wrong why not let us take a look?

  Ed

• 

  zelda on July 14 at 11:52 a.m.

  This column is bringing neither heat nor light. While I appreciate that it’s Doug’s job to be amusing, he has in the past tackled serious issues with more finesse and less farce.

  I’m afraid he’s satirizing and spoofing himself out of his objective. The neutering of the ombudsman role is extremely alarming and cannot be effectively addressed with quips.

  I will consider, however, that flippancy is a symptom of futility and a feeling of utter powerlessness in the face of corruption. If that’s the case, no column written by Doug Clark or Shawn Vestal is going to make a bit of difference.

• 

  Ed Byrnes on July 14 at 12:34 p.m.

  Zelda, I agree that flippancy won’t make a difference, and I appreciate your giving voice to the feeling of powerlessness so many of share. I had a colleague teach me about a political analysis tool that actually made me drop the idea of a local ballot initiative to mandate a citizen review board since although it could get on the ballot it probably would not pass in this community.

  It appears that our two most viable alternatives to the lack of LLE transparency and accountability are to pressure the county commission to institute an independent inquest system or pressure the city council to refuse approval of a new contract with the guild that does not include a strengthened ombudsman position or citizen review. If the guild members walk off the job that will be very telling about how they view their service to our community.

  It seems very futile yet I am open to ideas about how to increase our LLE transparency and accountability and will help as I can.

  Ed

• 

  MrNatural on July 14 at 1:39 p.m.

  Can anyone answer as to why there is a police guild?…what a police guild is?…and why it seems that this guild is so powerfully contentious with local government and local citizenry?

  Heck…I sometimes wonder if we are dealing with some kind of mutant alien life form within a black hole fortress…

• 

  zelda on July 14 at 2:23 p.m.

  Ed — Certain people have a strong vested interest in keeping it this way. With the current makeup of the county commissioners, I can’t see that they can be pressured into changing what works for them.

  I would support expanding the number of county commissioner seats. Having only three does not square with the size of this community now and is so small a number that they’re easily influenced or bought by moneyed interests. From what I can tell right now, the sole industry in Spokane is pouring cement and paving stuff on the West Plains.

  Maybe some governance/pol. science/lawyers out there know what the process is to expand the number of commissioner seats.

• 

  misjustice on July 14 at 8:04 p.m.

  Awww, the SPD will “police” themselves…and it only takes them TWENTY FIVE years to do it…this just in:

  “SPOKANE — A decades long pattern of misconduct ends in the firing of a Spokane Police Officer.

  A letter written to Detective Jeff Harvey concerning his termination shows nearly 25 years of misconduct and disciplinary action.”

  continues…

  http://www.krem.com/news/local/Spokane-Detective-terminated-after-decades-long-misconduct-125595823.html

  And he didn’t even kill anyone!

• 

  Thayne on July 14 at 9:15 p.m.

  Come on folks simmer down. The mayor and other local government leaders have more important issues to deal with. Err, I’m not sure what they are but I’m sure there are some. The safety of taxpayer citizens and integrity of LLE are not high priorities. Mr. Natural, when I looked up the word guild in Dictionary.com this is what I found
  1.
  an organization of persons with related interests, goals, etc., especially one formed for mutual aid or protection.
  2.
  any of various medieval associations, as of merchants or artisans, organized to maintain standards and to protect the interests of its members, and that sometimes constituted a local governing body.
  3.
  Botany . a group of plants, as parasites, having a similar habit of growth and nutrition.

  I thought number 3 was quite accurate.