There's talk about Chief of Police Gil Kerlikowske these days, born of public outrage over the internal review process of the Seattle Police Department.
A report by the City of Seattle Office of Professional Accountability, which Chief Kerlikowske had not seen, was leaked to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, fueling controversy. Two reports will soon be officially released.
At issue is the conduct of police on two occasions. The first is the January 2 arrest of George "Troy" Patterson by Officers Mike Tietjen and Greg Neubert, whose report of the drug bust was contradicted by video from a surveillance camera. Before the tape's evidence became known, Chief Kerlikowske publicly stated the internal review cleared the officers of misconduct. Afterward, the prosecuting attorney dropped charges against Troy Patterson.
What happened on January 2 remains murky. Reports of what happened on April 13, 2005, to Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, a 29-year-old African American artist - a man with no criminal record - are shocking.
That night, Alley and some friends left the War Room, a Capitol Hill bar. One of them threw some paper on the ground, in view of Sgt. Greg Sackman. Sgt. Sackman and members of Alley's party exchanged words. Sgt. Sackman called for backup. As events unfolded, several officers became involved in beating Alley.
A police video doesn't show the event, but its audio confirms Alley pleaded, "Please stop kicking me." When the city didn't submit the video to Alley's defense attorneys, charges were dropped. Alley-Barnes is now pursuing a federal lawsuit against Chief Kerlikowske.
There are calls to remove Kerlikowske, including by the Seattle chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Office of Professional Accountability's report on the incident involving Troy Patterson alleges Kerlikowske interfered with the internal investigation of officers Tietjen and Neubert. Mayor Greg Nickels has called on civic leaders to come to the defense of the chief.
My phone certainly did not ring off the hook, but I support Kerlikowske.
For four years, I have been involved with law enforcement to make Beacon Hill a safer place. Since 2003, our coalition of citizens, police, state and city workers have proven that a partnership can achieve common goals: we have gotten heroin and crack dealers arrested, made our parks public, and given our surrounding forests a chance to be a natural environment again. That partnership was made possible by the approach Kerlikowske takes to public safety.
In a June 28 interview on KUOW-FM with Steve Scher, Kerlikowske was asked about the leaked report to the P-I. He had one word: "Politics."
I suspect his analysis is correct.
I know what politics can do to public safety. From 2003 to 2005, a small clique of activists from another neighborhood tried to sabotage public safety efforts in my community, claiming to represent northwest Beacon Hill when they didn't live in the area. They disrupted meetings of a citizen steering committee, told people not to work with our community council - the Beacon Alliance of Neighbors - and set up conflicts between neighbors on the same block.
When one of them crashed a meeting at the South Precinct and claimed to represent the community, he was asked to identify his residence on a map of northwest Beacon Hill. He admitted he lived miles away. He never came back.
Ours is a social species, perhaps we can't avoid politics, no matter how stupid. Besides the cases involving Peterson and Alley-Barnes, there is politics driving controversy around the chief within the city bureaucracy. Some of it may be well intentioned, but some of it is foolish. Just as my neighbors learned not to listen to those who sought to tear them down, Seattle must now decide to keep their police chief.
The 11-member commission Mayor Nickels is putting together shows the city addressing police oversight. That commission - which includes former Governor Gary Locke, former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, and former Federal Prosecutor John McKay - needs to do its job. So does Chief Kerlikowske.
Before him, due to Mayor Paul Schell's politics over the WTO fiasco, Chief Norm Stamper was scapegoated. Seattle can ill afford another political firing of a capable police chief, one who's made a difference for us all.
Beacon Hill writer and community activist Craig Thompson may be reached via editor@sdistrictjournal.com.
[[In-content Ad]]
