SPD ‘officer’: “I have a job…to get these shit bags out of the park”

You may have read the Spokesman-Review article about the September 19, 2007 forum/chat with Spokane Police Chief Ann Kirkpatrick. The article referred to Carmen Jacoby, an outreach worker from the Community Health Association of Spokane (CHAS).

I was present at the forum when Jacoby told of being on a “bridge walk” with WSU nursing students at the 4th and Monroe Bridge Park. She described how a Spokane Police officer showed up.

Jacoby told Chief Kirkpatrick and the public how she attempted to ask the officer a question to which he responded, “Who are you?”

Jacoby answered the officer, at which point he told her, “I have a job to do. I have to get these shit bags out of the park”.

Offended by the officer’s remark, Jacoby asked the officer for his badge number. The officer then told her to move back or he would put her in the back of his patrol car.

The Spokesman-Review’s report on Jacoby’s statement to the Chief at the forum reads, “Jacoby said the officer used an obscenity to refer to the homeless”.

The obscenity used by the officer to refer to the homeless was “shit bags”.

Chief Kirkpatrick is known for promoting her “zero tolerance policy” on misconduct. Apparently it does not apply either to calling citizens “shit bags” (or “faggots” for that matter) nor does it extend to threatening to put community professionals in the back of your patrol car for asking for your badge number.

Would it be exaggerating to say that the Chief’s once impressive little PR line about “zero tolerance” and her other little ditty about ‘you lie, you die” are starting to sound a little hollow?

“What it’s like” by Everlast

…God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes, ’cause then you really might know what it’s like to sing the blues…

Lyrics

For a complete version of “What it’s like”, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L–IXGV797Y

Lies, damn lies, and…SPD Cpl. Lee and statistics differ on crime rate

Lies, damn lies, and statistics?

Or is that lies, damn lies, and Corporal Lee?

Yes, I know. That is harsh. But then how do you explain what these guys “believe”?

In this KXLY 4 report (see video below) entitled “Spokane Bucking National Trends”, Spokane Police Corporal Lee states on behalf of the Spokane Police Department that “we believe crime is up”.

Yet the statistics say crime in Spokane is down, and down very significantly in 4 out of seven categories with no change in two others.

The report compares 2004 Spokane crime statistics to 2007 statistics (as of June 5, 2007) projected over the entire year. And what do the numbers say?

……………………………………………..2004…………………. projected 2007 …………………. percent change

Murder………………………………….. .9………………………………. 9…………………………………….. none

Rape ……………………………………. 90……………………………… 78………………………………….. down 13%

Assault……………………………….. 799……………………………. 711 ………………………………….down 11%

Burglary…………………………….3368 …………………………..1980 ………………………………….down 41%

Theft……………………………… 12,763………………………….. 6426 ………………………………….down 50%

Robbery…………………………….. 310……………………………. 420……………………………………. up 35%

Car theft………………………….. 1830………………………….. 1835…………………………………… up 0.5%

An interesting corollary statistic has to do with the number of Spokane Police officers on staff each of these two years:

……………………………………………..2004 ………………………. 2007……………………………. ……. change

Total SPD Officers …………….. 298………………………….. 273…………………….. ……… 25 less officers

So how does one explain the contradictions evident in Corporal Lee’s math, statistical analysis, and beliefs?

In attempting to explain, one could take Chief Kirkpatrick’s approach at the September 19, 2007 Forum/Chat at City Hall. The Chief wagged her finger, lectured, and smirked her way through 2 hours of “dialog” with Spokanites as she roundly chastised speakers as being just plain wrong and needing to get their facts right before they stand up in public to offer their perspectives as John and Jane Q. Public.

However, a better approach here in this instance would be simply to lay forth the political realities evident in the disparities between the statistics and Cpl. Lee’s “beliefs”. (Note: The disparities between reality and ‘belief’ in politics are known as ’spin’). So, again how does one explain Cpl. Lee’s ’spin’ on Spokane crime statistics?

Answer: More crime (real or perceived) equals more officers, equals more money, equals more guns, equals more fire power, equals more control.

So let’s go back to the beginning and hear now from SPD Corporal Lee:

U.S. Gov’t Propagandists Who Created Iraq-fiasco Now Plan for Iran

Not only does former Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan and now the deputy United Nations representative to Kabul Chris Alexander contradict Bush administration claims about Iran, Afghan President Hamid Karzai praised Iran for assisting in combating the opium trade and accused US ally Pakistan of being the source of weapons to the Taliban. *********************** Monday » September 24, 2007 UN diplomat rejects claims that Iran is arming Taliban Pakistan border a bigger concern: envoy Mike Blanchfield CanWest News ServiceMonday, September 24, 2007 MONTREAL – A top United Nations diplomat is dismissing claims from the Bush administration that Iran is supplying weapons to the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The allegations of Iranian meddling in Afghanistan first surfaced in June, and gained momentum with senior U.S. intelligence and military officials accusing Iran of officially endorsing the shipment of armaments across its eastern border. If true, the implications for Canadian troops in Afghanistan would be serious, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said. Asked whether the UN has seen any evidence of Iranian weaponry reaching the Taliban insurgency, Chris Alexander, the deputy United Nations representative to Kabul, told CanWest News Service: “None. It’s the other border across which arms and weapons principally arrive.” Alexander was referring to Pakistan, Afghanistan’s eastern neighbour. A reconstituted Taliban and al-Qaeda insurgency is believed to be using Pakistan to mount a renewed guerrilla insurgency in the past year and a half that has severely challenged Canada and its NATO allies in southern Afghanistan. “We are, quite frankly, trying to encourage everyone to recommit to having a sense of proportion, to putting the reality of the insecurity of Afghanistan into proportion. That means not saying that Iran is the principle source of arms shipments to the Taliban. That’s simply not true,” said Alexander, previously Canada’s first ambassador to Afghanistan in 2003, after the fall of the Taliban two years earlier. Alexander noted that Iran actually opposes the Taliban and has signed on as an international development partner that is committed to rebuilding Afghanistan, contributing tens of millions of dollars of aid to the country. Some 70 Canadian soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan, more than half from roadside bombs. On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai praised Iran as an ally in the fight against the rampant opium trade that plagues his country. “It’s an important area between us and Iran,” Karzai said, noting that 3,000 Iranian security forces have lost their lives combating the drug trade. U.S. President George W. Bush tried to persuade Karzai during a visit to Washington last month that the Iranians are “not a force for good as far as we can see,” telling the Afghan president “they’re a destabilizing influence wherever they are.” Karzai said little in his appearance with Bush. But before arriving in Washington, he told CNN’s Late Edition in an interview, “we have had, very good, very close relations” with Iran and that “so far, Iran has been a helper and a solution.” Bush’s comments came as U.S. military and intelligence officials have begun building a case that Iran is backing insurgents inside Afghanistan. In Ottawa, the federal government has no additional corroboration beyond the initial reports of negative Iranian influence in Afghanistan, but if true, they would have serious implications for Canadians on the ground there, said Bernier, Canada’s new foreign minister. “We’re deeply concerned about that,” Bernier told CanWest News Service in an interview. “If it’s true, such support will directly endanger the lives of Canadians and international forces and aid workers.” Asked if he had any information to substantiate the allegation against Iran, Bernier said he “didn’t have any more detail on that.” Bernier added he was “surprised and concerned” about the reports because Iran is a signatory to last year’s Afghanistan Compact, the document that lays out the international community’s commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan. © The Calgary Herald 2007