November 13, 2005
Above the law

I was disgusted to read this item the other day: "Officer who quit early to have sex gets suspension shortened"

SEATTLE -- A police officer was suspended for 30 days after quitting his shift early to have sex with a woman he met when he and his partner responded to a reported fight she was involved in at a restaurant.

But this week, he won an appeal before the Public Safety Civil Service Commission and his suspension was reduced from 30 days without pay to five days.

The reasoning behind what appear to be trivial consequences for serious police misconduct becomes clearer in light of today's article -- There's effectively no public scrutiny of police discipline actions as members of the citizens' panel that reviews such decisions hold their tongues for fear of being sued by the police union.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 13, 2005 11:04 AM | Email This
Comments
1. Put a fence around the zoo and call it "Survivor-Seattle."

Posted by: South County on November 13, 2005 11:53 AM
2. Put a fence around the zoo and call it "Survivor-Seattle."

Posted by: South County on November 13, 2005 11:53 AM
3. I'm glad someone is actually writing about police misconduct, and the "above the law" attitude that prevails.

Posted by: Elliott Johnson on November 13, 2005 12:41 PM
4. I think its fine if he wants to take half a day off to have sex. Lets not hold him to a higher standard like Bill Clinton

Posted by: holt on November 13, 2005 03:09 PM
5. Hey and okay that's a half-a-day with pay. Seattle is picking up the tab for consensual sex. Some would call that prostitution. Enumclaw farm sex and the penis costume caper, with a little luck Washington state might generate a little national exposure. Not that a corrupt governors race and a corrupt county would generate notice.

Posted by: Shmoe on November 13, 2005 05:28 PM
6. The so called Public Safety Commission (actual name, Public Safety Civil Service Commission) was castrated during the Schell administration. It now has little independent power, few staff or resources, and is mostly the tool of the unions who give a thumbs up or down on all prospective nominees/members. The citizens of Seattle deserve better, and this case is merely an indication of the problem. Don't expect the Seattle Times or PI to jump on the situation. They like writing stories that give them an excuse for a headline, while ignoring problems like the PSCS Commission on their editorial pages. If anyone knows different than the above, go ahead and make my day.

Posted by: Barry Nunn on November 13, 2005 06:20 PM
7. At least someone is enjoying getting screwed in Seattle.

Posted by: Huey on November 13, 2005 07:21 PM
8. Notice the absence of trolls on this topic? As long as nobody gets hurt, what's the big deal? I thought it was pretty funny that the woman's old man called the cops to file a complaint when she came back at 2:00 a.m. Wonder what he complained about? Don't answer that.

Posted by: Organization Man on November 13, 2005 08:11 PM
9. Barry:
Looks like the Schell administration castrated the wrong department.

Posted by: Organization Man on November 13, 2005 08:15 PM
10. Police misconduct should be investigated and the officers, if guilty, should be punished accordingly...That said - this Citizen review panel isn't about investigating *serious* Police misconduct..it's more about making the unsubstantiated and petty complaints of criminals into mountains of wasted time and investigation of good officers! This Citizen review panel is made up of members with a liberal bent. They lean more toward trying to make the day to day complaints from robbery suspects, rapists, and other low-life (ie; that officer hurt me when he handcuffed me) into something tangible.

They want to villainize law enforcement at any cost. You will never see this citizen review panel involved in any true police misconduct case...They like to nip the heels of your average beat cop....They want to break down the guild's role in these complaints and investigations.

This Citizen Review panel will take the side of a murderer..when he complains that he was roughed up by officers - (but he will neglect to mention that he was fighting them )...The Panel loves these cases! You know...because they were turning their lives around?...right after they killed another victim...

I know that the vast majority of officers on the Seattle Police department are honest, hardworking men and women. I'm sure there are a few officers who have engaged in misconduct..but only a few! The Citizen Review Panel is not interested in those few.

Posted by: Deborah on November 13, 2005 09:51 PM
11. And another one continues to put his life on the line for us everyday.
The law knows no law.

Posted by: Barcroft on November 13, 2005 09:56 PM
12. Deborah, you wrote: "I know that the vast majority of officers on the Seattle Police department are honest, hardworking men and women. I'm sure there are a few officers who have engaged in misconduct..but only a few!"

I agree. But it is the "few" who are bringing the SPD down. When will the "many" start policing their force and finally take their union back?

Posted by: ERNurse on November 14, 2005 07:39 AM
13. So if he knocks her up are the taxpayers
responsible for child support? Seems like
taxpayers were in the Brame case.

Posted by: mark on November 14, 2005 08:33 AM
14. if this doesn't sum up seattle i don't know what does. i am starting a "bus tickets for bums" campaign down here in california because i just KNOW that seattle needs more of them.....heh heh heh

Posted by: christmasghost on November 14, 2005 11:59 AM
15. "When will the "many" start policing their force and finally take their union back?"

ERNurse,

They DO police their own. They may even call in the Feds or other PD's if they suspect a conflict of interest in an investigation. The problem isn't that the SPD is letting their *few* bad apples off the hook....It's that this liberal Citizen Review panel wants to castrate ALL officers for ANY reason in the media and the police guild and Kerlokoswki is telling them NO!.

Remember where you get your information about alleged police corruption.....(Your favorite liberal leftist MSM.) There appears to be an agenda among the liberals to villainize our front line against crime...Police have been under attack by the media for a while now.

There is a process within the department that handles complaints of officer misconduct. This process must be followed by law - otherwise the city can be sued. The police officers are represented by their guild (union) in complaint cases. This is why the chief can't just throw everything the way of this review panel. Serious complaints go to internal investigations. They are part of the process. They aren't going to protect a guilty officer. They also aren't going to leak vital information out about an ongoing case involving an officer..The panel want's them to - so they can leak it to the press and just like this article - they can create an atmosphere of anger toward the police. That's what they do. How does this help anything?

The Citizen Review Panel wants to have the authority to report any and all alleged misconduct to the media as soon as they have the information - whether or not the officer is guilty. That's what this story is about.

Posted by: Deborah on November 14, 2005 03:58 PM
16. I agree with Deborah, the review boards are left leaning and anti-police. The Police union is there to make sure the officers get a fair shake. Have we all forgot about the Deputy Mel Miller incident? An off-duty deputy shoots an armed felon pointing a Glock 40 cal at him. The felon has two prior convictions for shooting people one of which was an SPD officer. The medical examiner testifies that the felon was high on crack and legally drunk at 11 am on a Sunday morning when the shooting occurred. The media plays the race card and describes the felon as an "innocent motorist". Deputy Mel Miller was cleared by every court that reviewed that case. The Mel Miller incident is the extreme of what can happen when politics, politcal correctness and left leaning media conspire to persecute a cop.

Posted by: Sierradog on November 15, 2005 07:54 AM
17. Sorry to dissappoint y'all but you are wrong. The vast majority of officers are not honest and trustworthy. I am about to expose the truth. There is about to be a huge scandal involving the police, the lawyers, and the judges in Seattle. I have absolute proof.

Why don't y'all go down and talk to the homeless people and the poor people in the CD. Although your little world has not seen the truth that does not mean it does not exist. I will not stop until the world knows what happened to me in Seattle.

And for your info the review board will help me tell the truth. You guys do not know what you are talking about. I was falsely arrested, accused of a felony by the police, and my nursing baby brutally taken from me.

Then taken to the jail and brutalized by four guards for not answering a question. All of my clothes ripped off and the jail uniform dropped on my back while laying face down in filth. Left in a freezing cold room covered with feces and blood for 24 hours without food or a phone or socks with only a little blanket to that did not cover my body. I slept on a mat saturated with urine and vomit. The blinding light never turned down so I could sleep. I couldn't cover my eyes with the balnket as that caused the foul smell of the mat to infiltrate my nose.

At the hearing I find out I have been charged with a misdemeanor that I did not do nor is the charge even against the law. I was charged with something that is legal to do. Then my case was dismissed not for being innocent but for supposedly not being mentally capable of proving that I was being charged with something that is legal.

Through perjury at the hands of my abusive husband and his corrupt lawyer and the corrupt judges I never got my nursing infant back. They used the felony I was never charged with plus a meriad of lies that I can prove.

Until you go through 2 and half years of hell trying to get your baby back and prove your innocence at the hands of corrupt individuals then you have nothing to say!

Posted by: Nancy Sack on November 16, 2005 10:47 AM
Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember info?