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Send Kirkpatrick packing

The Spokesman-Review

While reading the two headlines on April 15 concerning the state of our police force, A Russian saying came to mind: “The fish rots from the head down.”

After reading both stories again, I realized we have a chief who wants to make changes but plays Spokane, awaiting any big-city chief job opening. We have a mayor and City Council who play up an ugly building on the river and to the arts while the city burns. And the buck stops with us taxpayers and voters, who elect these politicians who place politics over civics while we taxpayers pay for illegal behavior from some cops.

Give Chief Kirkpatrick six months notice. An effective leader cannot run an efficient department with her mind focused elsewhere. The mild-mannered mayor and City Council should begin entertaining bids for a new police chief and assistants.

Richard A. Wickberg

Spokane

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