Friday, May 18, 2007

Spokane Police: What are you thinking?

Writers Note: In writing limericks about social misbehavior it seems that a disproportionate amount of my effort is spent on the "Spokane" Police (i.e. SPD, Sheriff's Dept., & WSP). This is not due to a personal bias, but an unfortunate result of area law enforcement dominating recent news with suspicious - sometimes deadly - behavior. In fairness, I have supported both Ozzie Knezovich and Ann Kirkpatrick for their respective stances on police misconduct, as pieces from earlier this year(Anne, Ozzie) illustrate, and hope to continue doing so. Based on the information presently available about the latest police fatality however, this certainly looks like a "What are you thinking?" moment for both of them.
While I'm in favor of law enforcement, and would much rather ridicule dumb criminal behavior than dumb cop behavior, as one local blogger said, "Man...cops up here scare the crap out of me..."(Spokane County Police Tactics Claims 2nd Victim). It's my belief that the best support the public can give good police is to call "BS" on unacceptable behavior - and coverup attempts - until the internal culture that has allowed this type of conduct to thrive is eradicated, and the standing of area law enforcement is restored to one of "respect" versus "fear". In the meantime....

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