Police Must Explain Failure To Follow Up

On Oct. 28, two Japanese students from Eastern Washington University are abducted in Spokane after accepting a ride from strangers.

When the women try to get away, they are shocked with stun guns.

Yet, they are able to wrestle with their captors and escape.

With a translator on the telephone, they tell their story to a Spokane police officer. But detectives do not follow up.

On Nov. 11, three Asian students from Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute are abducted after accepting a ride from a stranger. One of the women is freed. Two others are held in a house for nine hours and are then returned to the school. This time, police are all over the case. A dozen detectives are assigned, and on Saturday they arrest three people after receiving an anonymous tip.

So why were these cases treated so differently? Could the second incident have been prevented had the first incident been investigated and publicized? These are fair questions that may not be answered for a while.

Spokane Police Chief Roger Bragdon said an internal investigation has been launched to find out why police didn’t pursue the Oct. 28 case.

Initially, Bragdon surmised that a language barrier may have been the reason. Days later, police said that wasn’t an issue, because a translator was on hand. Then they said the delay was caused by missing paperwork.

The department is to be commended for aggressively pursuing the second incident. But once that investigation is over, the question of how the Spokane Police Department handles these types of cases needs a clear answer.

Some Japanese Americans have already complained about the lack of action in the first abduction. Parents of foreign students have concerns about whether Spokane is a safe place for their daughters.

The cultural equation is slowly changing in Spokane. We have thousands of foreign students and Russian immigrants who speak no English or don’t speak it well. They need assurances that they are getting the same protection as the rest of the populace.

We hope that after the internal investigation the chief will give a full accounting of why the first incident wasn’t pursued and what changes the department may undertake to improve matters.

The department and the schools involved are naturally worried about their reputations, but those worries should not override the public’s concern for the equitable treatment of all people.