WILDLIFE — A moose was freed from a strange backyard entanglement this summer thanks to a brave Utah deputy and a pair of cutters.

Maybe you read the story about the bold and unusual rescue.

But the video above offers a clearer image. 

Anyone who's tried to handle deer, elk or moose for research or whatever can tell you that one lightning-fast kick can cause serious damage.

Good work, officer. 

City sources confirm to KHQ's Dylan Wohlenhaus, the Spirit Lake police chief has resigned his position effective Wednesday, nearly 5 months after a sexual harassment tort claim was filed. KHQ reached out to Mayor Todd Clary who said Lawless has resigned his position for “personal reasons” and is no longer employed by the city.  KHQ also reached out to Patrick Lawless but calls were not returned. The former chief was also being investigated for child abuse allegations in Post Falls involving his girlfriends children. No charges were ever filed against Lawless/Dylan Wohlenhaus, KHQ. More here. (KHQ photo of Patrick Lawless)

Thoughts?

Many times when police encounter an armed person, that person is looking for a way to die – and want the cops to kill them. The phenomenon is so common it even has a name: suicide by cop. It happens in about 10-20 per cent of officer-involved shootings.

Police know this phenomenon and work to protect themselves while seeking ways to help the suicidal person. 

This weekend Spokane police were able to do exactly that.

(S-R archives photo: Interim Spokane police Chief Scott Stephens)

Mental illness plagues many of our homeless neighbors. Their behavior is often interpreted as threatening or at least confusing and bothersome. The Seattle Police Department now has a mental health expert who rides with them, often as the initial contact for a person deemed experiencing a mental health crisis. Perhaps other law enforcement groups will take a look at this model of community policing - and create a compassionate outreach program like it. We all know someone who suffers from mental health challenges; we know that resources are few.

 A trained caregiver out in our community can reduce anxiety - for the person on the street as well as officers who are trained and committed to protect their communities.  

This blog was a twittering and facebooking fool last night at City Hall's crime prevention summit. On stage were Mayor Mary Verner, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. Colleague Jonathan Brunt had this story in today's paper.

It was interesting that only a handful of people stood up in support of Ivan Bush, long-time civil rights leader, when he talked about how Spokane has a race problem.
The crowd was more supportive of speakers who talked about preventing domestic violence, not that the two issues can be compared.
Interesting statistic from Chief Kirkpatrick: the Spokane Police Department made contact with people 132,000 times last year, made 4,516 arrests and visited 2,649 people on warrants.

Also: The NAACP is hosting a community meeting at East Central Community Center (500 S. Stone) on Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. to continue the conversation about the bomb found prior to the Martin Luther King Day March, race relations and policing.

Mayor Mary Verner, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich are hosting a community conversation on how to prevent violence tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in the city council chambers, lower level at City Hall. The meeting will be moderated by Steve Becker, Eastern Washington representative for Governor Chris Gregoire's office. The audience may ask questions and share opinions on crime and violence related issues.
The event is co-sponsored by a long list of community organizations and expected to draw business and community leaders from all over town - this blog is going.

Mayor Mary Verner, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick and Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich are hosting a community conversation on how to prevent violence tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in the city council chambers, lower level at City Hall. The meeting will be moderated by Steve Becker, Eastern Washington representative for Governor Chris Gregoire's office. The audience may ask questions and share opinions on crime and violence related issues.
The event is co-sponsored by a long list of community organizations and expected to draw business and community leaders from all over town - this blog is going.

The meeting is wrapping up and Mayor Verner summarized it this way: “Rest assured that we recognize and value this little corner of the city. What I’m hearing is for you to report, report, report and then have faith that we are listening. It’s not CSI, it’s honest to goodness police work so it’s going to take a little while. Be patient. And report it again if it happens again.”

The Spokane Police Department’s Aim Report - which shows what the police department is aiming at - are available from the police department’s website www.spokanepolice.org

Several business owners are upset with how and when media refer to Hillyard. One person said that when something good happens in Hillyard, the area is referred to as “Northeast Hillyard” - but when something bad happens, like the recent shooting at the Special K Bar (on Garland and Market) it’s referred to as “Hillyard” - an argument could be made that the Special K is not in Hillyard.

Part of the business owners’ frustration is that they say they have worked hard on changing Hillyard’s reputation and as long as crime continues to be a problem, they say, it is really hard to keep the good PR going.

Major Stevens explains that SPD has a ‘repeat offender program’ and for the people who end up on that list “It’s kind’a like being on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. We notice that these people pop up and pop up and pop up - and we make an effort to catch those people.” You want to catch them, you don’t want to move them to another spot (this is repeated by several SPD officers).

Someone suggests a citizens police academy similar to one in King County. The Spokane citizens police academy was eliminated due to budget cuts about two years ago. The academy in Spokane was more informational, where the one in King County gives citizens an opportunity to ride along with officers and be more hands on.

One business owner talks about confronting two intruders on his property, cutting up steel and trying to steal his “stuff” out of a yard. This happened last night. He says he “kicked the guy’s” behind, because he ended up in a wrestling match with the intruders. He says he has a right to bear arms and confront people on his property, but he is tired of getting ripped off. (This business owner did eventually call 911 and file a report).

SPD response: a burglary in progress is “nirvana” for cops because they want to come and help people - so call in and report it to 911 on the spot. It’s important to call in and let police come out and do their job. If a burglar gets run off someone’s property, the burglar is likely to go somewhere else and break in again.

Mayor Verner: what I’m hearing is that people don’t report incidents because they don’t think anything is going to happen? (correct, business owners say) Verner explains that she gets “Aim Reports” from the SPD that show what the police department is focusing on. “We need a feedback loop, we need to find a way to get that information back to the community, so people don’t think their reports go into a black hole.”

They are labor intensive, someone has to watch them all the time. The business owners in Hillyard have purchased ISP addresses so their camera feeds can be viewed at the COPS shop.

SPD needs license plate numbers, times and dates. Descriptions of the people who show up frequently, but be careful while you are doing it so you don’t get into a confrontation with drug dealers or other criminals.
Report incidents even if you don’t think police is going to come out - it helps the police department build a pattern of activity, if there is one. Some of this information may be useful in court.

COPS suggests Business Watch - a plan like Block Watch, just for businesses. This effort has been very successful in the International District on East Sprague.

Note: These are essentially my notes, the way I take them at any meeting I cover - experimenting with live blogging.

SPD: patrol officers in general run from disaster to disaster. The drug unit is not well equipped to deal with drug problems like the one in Hillyard. SPD says that you can’t just throw a couple of officers out there in plain clothes and take care of it. Some smaller drug units will be formed in January.

SPD Major Stevens: one thing we are trying to do is coodinate with the community and the police department - sometimes we don’t communicate real well and coordinate our efforts - we are working on that. He says they are going to sustain the drug effort. One thing people in Hillyard can do is notice and report drug houses - it will help SPD pick people up. “The more information we have the better we can respond,” Stevens said.
He adds that they have a high level of technology that can help them sustain what they are doing - they want to keep the pressure up - especially with people that are identified as repeat offenders. “We are trying to get the judges on board to boost their bail up, so they don’t get out of jail so easily,” Stevens said.

Marv Peterson: “There is so much drug dealing and vandalism going on here. I was broken into. We know the people who did it but we can’t do anything about it.”

Richard Burris: “We sometimes go out at night to keep an eye on things. There was a lot of traffic and people were getting in your face. We are not asking for more protection, we know that you don’t have enough resources. What we are asking for is more undercover patrols - everybody can recognize a black and white patrol car from a mile away. It doesn’t work.” The community groups are hoping that the SPD will be able to switch some resources to undercover patrols instead of regular street patrols.

Luke Tolley: “The response to the letter we sent has been awesome. Where we are at now is how do we continue on and work with the city.”

In response to a letter sent to City Hall and the Spokane Police Department in November, there’s a community meeting going on right now at the Outlaw Cafe on Market Street. About 30 people are here - including council member Amber Waldreff, Mayor Mary Verner and many representatives from the Spokane Police Department.

Apologies for typos in the following posts - it’s the first time I’m doing live blogging - fun, yet demanding!

There needs to be a reckoning in law enforcement in Spokane County. The image is tarnished and they need to get back to being a public servant, rather than a brute bully who is above the law. True, it’s a few bad apples that are tainting the whole crop. It’s well past time to get in there and weed out the bad apples and the weeder needs to be someone other than the Chief or the Mayor.

An ombudsman is only going to be a bandaid. There needs to be an overhauling. How can cops who are supposed to be upholding the law, disregard it for themselves and then when they break the law, prosecuting attorneys “cut them a break.”

Well, give me a break. How about you?

Jeanie

Image is sullied, in Our View.

City reopens Bunch case.

Internal review suggests prosecutorial double standard.

Thoughts?

Last night, Mayor Mary Verner and Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick attended a prayer circle held  by the Native American community in the aftermath of the Pete-Olsen verdict. Tim Connor wrote this account for the Center For Justice

Reactions?

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Boise seems generally happy to have had ombudsman Pierce Murphy for the past decade.  Murphy was brought to Spokane to discuss his job as the city was formulating how to create its position.

One key difference in Spokane’s set-up is that the longest the ombudsman can serve is six years. He/she would be appointed to a three-year term with the possibility of a second term. If that were the case in Boise, Murphy would’ve already been replaced with a less experienced person.

I’d imagine it takes a few years just to get the lay of the land and get comfortable in the job. I wonder if it limits the quality of the candidates if the city can only guarantee three years of employment.

Do you think the ombudsman job should have term limits?

I always wake up to my radio - usually the news, sometimes music - some song that will rattle around in my head over and over and over - but it beats the shrill siren of the buzzer. This morning, however, I think I’d prefer the buzzing. First words from the news caster: “A teen died Sunday after police in Michigan used the stun gun on him.” That nasty taser stuff again. I think tasers should be banned. I think they should be outlawed. Police are not being trained sufficiently to use them appropriately. They should be used instead of (in place of) a gun - and only in situations where the use of a gun is the only recourse.

I was watching The Mentalist last week, where the character Chief Theresa Lisbon is confronted by a bad guy who just punched one of her colleagues, when he stands in front of her and says, “you want some, too?” And she says, “no thank you” and tases him. In real life, I would call that misuse of a taser - that she was not in a life and death situation and didn’t need to use a gun.

Tasers just add fuel to the gang-in-uniform good-ol’-boys-club we’re-so-much-better-than-you “police” platform. There needs to be an overhauling done.

For more, see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29865217/ “Amnesty International critical of Taser death.”

Jeanie

That’s what the jury said.

Because the jury determined the shooting was in self-defense, Olsen’s attorney is entitled to seek payment for his legal fees, and Olsen can seek back payment of his police wages.

Discuss.

On Tuesday it was reported that a man from Taiwan asked cops to send him back to prison (seemingly out of desperation). He was unemployed, and had been released from prison only two years back.

When police found the 45-year-old convicted arsonist lying on a street in a popular Taipei shopping district, he requested a return to life behind bars, nostalgic for the 10 years he had already served, the China Post newspaper reported.

Wang had also contacted police separately with his request, a spokesman said. Officers who found him bought him a boxed lunch but declined to send him back to prison, the police spokesman said.

“We advised him to keep looking for work,” he said. “I don’t know why he can’t find a job. Maybe employers think he’s not suitable or that he’s too old.”

Frankly, I can’t blame the guy. I mean, in prison, they get three square meals a-day. They have food, clothing, a bed, usually a room to themselves or maybe they have a cell mate. They even get time for exercise and recreation, including watching TV. In prison, life is pretty much worry-free as far as day to day living goes.

Keep in mind, this occurred in Taiwan and their economy is fairing poorly. But the US is just as bad off. Do you think we might start to see more instances of this? Will unemployed, ex-convicts request to return to prison? What about those who are just everyday civilians who are unemployed? What/where/who do you think they’ll turn to?