My column today brings up even more serious questions I raised at the time Spokesman Review articles appeared about steroid use at SPD. There were two issues that concerned me at the time. First; Knowing what Straub and Condon knew at the time why wasn’t a thorough and complete administrative investigation done and Mel Taylor was simply allowed to retire. Second; Why did the Spokesman Review and other media not follow up on the obvious leads available to them for an in-depth investigative report.

 

In my analysis of the recent Public Records Dump I have come across what COULD BE answers to at least my first concern. One of the things I want to note early in this piece is the very positive position members of the Lieutenants and Captains Association took when Frank Straub refused to terminate Lydia Taylor when she was caught lying and became a “Brady Cop”, that FACT will be very important in understanding the dynamics of the Straub firing which I will continue to write about.

 

As far as my second concern, I doubt I’ll ever gain a full understanding of the WHY.

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

Here are some stories from the SR regarding the issue I suggest folks read them to add perspective.

 

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2014/oct/03/police-chief-embattled-detective-received-steroids/

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/oct/04/spokane-police-officers-investigated-for-steroids/comments/

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/apr/25/police-sergeant-demoted-2-ranks/comments/

 

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2015/may/20/shawn-vestal-questions-still-remain-about/

 

 

NITTY GRITTY

The link below is from an email attachment sent by Frank Straub to Nancy Isserlis.

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d4d302a3-e001-4b4e-a618-4d88b68e960a

 

The big question at least in my mind is just exactly what were the “representations and assurances” made to Mel Taylor and who were they made by? Given Straub and Condon’s decision NOT to terminate Taylor’s wife Lydia, over the objection of Lieutenants and Captains, did the “representations and assurances” have anything to do with Lydia and the decision to keep her? I should note that any legitimate Chief of Police would have known the ramifications of keeping a Brady Cop and would have terminated her. Another question that comes up is exactly what was the relationship between Frank Straub and the Taylors?

 

 

 

 

Regarding the issue of transparency and IA Cases:

I have been unable to locate any investigative files in the public domain regarding what led up to the “retirement” of Mel Taylor or the IA Investigation of Lydia Taylor. If you search this you will find that Mel Taylor’s case was “Administratively Suspended” because he retired, and that’s it. As far as Lydia Taylor’s IA Investigation being posted you are welcome to try to find it. I haven’t bothered for a while because this great transparency tool isn’t searchable and is a cumbersome joke.

https://my.spokanecity.org/police/accountability/reports/

OF INTEREST

 

I always find the consultants recommendations COPS/DOJ make in their reviews and follow-ups, based on some of my past experience, INTERESTING. Although Condon, and Straub over and over touted the great strides they made… the evidence is in, and for the amount of money we are paying Brian Coddington, can’t he come up with something better? I hope someone actually delves into what has really been or not been accomplished.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/dec/14/spokane-police-making-progress-on-justice-departme/

 

 

This Spokesman Review story is the beginning of Straub’s usual narrative when he gets fired that it was all the bad cops that did it to him and he was fighting them tooth and nail. Can’t he come up with something else it really is getting old.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/dec/15/former-police-chief-frank-straub-says-old-guard-in/comments/

 

I’m finding a lot of interesting FACTS in the documents I have, and at this point what they tend to show is that the “old guard” was actually trying to move forward but were hindered at every turn.

AND A TEASER

 

It looks like there was a beef between the “Old Guard” and the “Straub Guard” over the insane decision by Frank Straub to use Grant Fredericks, of Karl Thompson fame, as an SPD expert in the Ryan Holyk case…so stay tuned.

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2015/aug/07/shawn-vestal-video-expert-from-zehm-case-was/

 

 

 

 

Frank Straub may be an “In your face” type of guy but he also has a soft side. Every place he has been he has helped out his friends, as a matter of fact one of the big complaints when he was Director of Public Safety in Indianapolis was his propensity to arrange for contracts for his friends. Of course no one could have predicted the same thing would happen here in “The City of Choice”.

 

One of the many outrages expressed in Indianapolis was when Straub arranged a contract for his buddy Bill Bratton, who had recommended Straub for the Indianapolis job. Bratton was at the time head of the big consulting firm Alterity. Bratton is now the Police Commissioner for the City of New York, so it will be interesting to see if Straub ends up in some capacity with NYPD. Another big complaint about Straub in Indy was that he didn’t disclose his relationships, including being a past paid consultant for some of consulting firms he hired. Straub who has been a paid consultant a number of times, including with his friend Bernie Kerik, knows how the business works and how important it is when you are in that business to have friends who will help you get contracts. Aside from all of the news media in Indianapolis, a few retired SPD Cops, and the Spokesman Review who would have ever known about this kind of stuff?

 

During my analysis of the PRR Documents I ran across this information I thought might be of interest to my readers. 

 

Dr. Lorie Fridell is a longtime associate Frank Straub’s through a number of different organizations including COPS/DOJ. So I thought the email string I linked below was interesting. Even more interesting to me was this suggestion Straub made regarding how to pay his friend. 

_____________________________________ 

“My thought is to engage Lorie using Jag Byrne funds to conduct the training for SPD exec staff, precinct commanders, academy staff, OPO and OPO Commission (hopefully all will be in place by the Fall) as well as community of color leaders to demonstrate our commitment to this important topic.”

_____________________________________ 

 

I might have to look at those Jag Byrne fund expenditures a little more closely if someone else doesn’t.  🙂 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/07beb2a9-1d9a-4ad1-be1a-

0e64d62a0b99 http://www.fairimpartialpolicing.com/people/ 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/6eabee2f-68f3-4708-8b35-530d3b0ec24a 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/f502e31f-91b5-418f-8f28-ea1ac70ea0e7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned previously when you receive documents in response to your PRR be sure to study them carefully as you will inevitably find information that directly relates to your PRR as well as other interesting cases in need of future PRR follow-up.

 

As you may be aware Ms. Terri Pfister offered me the opportunity to purchase a Disc containing emails and other information which she indicated were responsive to my PRR. I went ahead and purchased the Disc, a copy of which was also provided to other local media outlets. The information on the Disc is of course only partially responsive to my PRR, and I continue to fight that battle.

 

The Disc does however contain a lot of information for follow-up on a number of issues concerning the Cotton/Straub case as well as other high profile cases and issues involving SPD, Frank Straub, and several others. I’m in the process of analyzing the information contained on the Disc and will write articles concerning my findings later.

 

One item I found relates directly to my PRR as well as other PRRs that have been submitted to the City. It also provides some insight as to the nonsensical defense Mayor Condon is using for not releasing the Cotton/Straub information until after the election. It is pretty easy for me to predict what one of the findings will be of the City Council “Independent Investigation”. My prediction is that the findings will include a long explanation of how Ms. Pfister’s office is understaffed, SPD Records is understaffed, the Enterprise Vault System sucks, and the Public Records Act is too hard to understand. Some of that will be true, but not all.

 

FIRST SOME BACKGROUND

 

As many of you know, including the SR staff whom I have emailed a number of times about the issue, I have continually pointed out that SPD and the City has released to the media personal information about individuals contained in police reports and other documents. For example; in the much publicized Rachael Dolezal case the SR in a story linked a police report made by Dolezal that had not been redacted by SPD and contained her personal information including address, phone numbers, date of birth, etc. all of which could have easily been used for Identity Theft or in the case of Dolezal locate her and do bad things. Release of that type of information is in direct violation of Washington States Public Records Act and could easily result in an expensive lawsuit against the City of Spokane (That’s us folks!).

 

Here is just one of the many times I mentioned the issue in hopes the media or someone would get after it. No one did.

 

 

 

http://m.spokesman.com/stories/2015/feb/20/handling-of-spokane-transgender-attack-detailed/

 

NOW TO THE NITTY GRITTY

 

The pieces of information below, copied from the Disc I received, point out some obvious problems when it comes to PRRs, as well as SPD and City Management.

 

The link below is a letter to Tim Schwering from Union Local 270 trying to resolve an issue brought forth by an SPD Records Clerk. The issues the Records Clerk brings up are very, very legitimate concerns, not only for the Records Clerk but also for the Citizens of Spokane. If you read the letter you will find it points out my concerns and it also has to make one wonder if the standard wait for your records time frame is two years as Ms. Pfister told me, it would take to fulfill my PRR. Another question that arises is that SPD spent a lot of our money on some fancy report redaction software that anyone can tell in reviewing public records releases…DOES NOT WORK. The thing is, SPD and the City know darn good and well it doesn’t work.

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/42b71aee-bcac-47ad-83cf-c3dd9d525039

 

This is a copy of an email Tim Schwering sent to the various players in the management game with the above letter from 270 attached. His email shows, IMO, just how seriously Schwering and apparently others like to make light of serious issues, complaints, and the possibility the City might have to spread more of OUR money around. You can draw your own conclusions about his email.

 

 

 

 

A LITTLE TEASER

If one were to study the information in the Disc released by Terri Pfister they would find a lot of good information regarding the Cotton/Straub case but beyond that case others as well including what appears to be a deal made by Frank Straub in a very high profile SPD case that had many people shaking their heads. I am going to wait and see what other local media outlets will do with the information, if anything, but I will report on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The story below written by Nick Deshais appeared in the Spokesman Review yesterday and dealt with a letter David Condon submitted to the City Council in answer to questions regarding the Cotton/Straub issue and the withholding of public records. The story left out some import facts but did provide a picture on how government always reacts to Public Records Requests so I thought it would be a good idea to provide two general rules on how to submit a Public Records Request without giving away any of my trade secrets.

Condon’s letter was at best comical and it makes me wonder which lawyer helped him prepare it, but I am primarily going to deal with the PRR issue at this point.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/dec/11/mayor-david-condon-apologizes-for-confusion-says-h/

 

Here is one important quote from Deshais’s story regarding how government deals with PRRs:

Cotton’s refusal to lodge a formal complaint almost stopped any information from coming out of City Hall about the reasons for her transfer, Condon wrote in his answers.

While discussing the delay in the release of records, Condon said the city nearly didn’t make public the records that were released Nov. 24, which detailed and shed light on what happened at City Hall leading to Straub’s ouster.

The records “were not initially determined to be responsive” because the request used the word “complaint,” Condon wrote.

“Neither the Human Resources Department nor the Spokane Police Division had any record of ‘complaints’ by Ms. Cotton or against Mr. Straub,” Condon wrote. “To the best of our knowledge, no ‘complaint’ was ever filed by Ms. Cotton or against Mr. Straub.”

 

RULE NUMBER ONE

If you are going to submit a PRR (FOIA) to any government agency you must understand that that agency will use every legal means, and at times illegal means, available to prevent you from having access to the records when those records might reflect in ANY negative way towards the agency. The above quote from Deshais’s story is an example of just ONE method government utilizes, the good ole “Your request was very specific as to the records you wanted and we had/have no responsive records.”

This defense tactic creates a dilemma for the requestor in that a certain amount of specificity is required in any PRR but you have to be very careful that you are not specific to the point it provides for the limited search scope defense Condon falsely asserts in his letter. Deshais did in his August 18^th PRR cover the all-inclusive PRR necessity but IMO went too far after that in his request by using the term “complaints” standing alone in items 2 and 3.

1. Any and all records, documents or emails related to or discussing the transfer of Monique Cotton from the Spokane Police Department to the city’s Parks and Recreation Division.

Deshais August 18^th PRR.

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/a5578304-d4d0-4ac8-bef2-483378495b4d

 

One thing to always remember about allegations of misconduct by government employees is that there are several different ways allegations are handled internally and if you limit yourself government will take advantage of your self-limiting request anyway they can. Using the term “complaints” is okay as long as it is followed with an open qualifier that forces government to give you everything you are looking for.

I prefer this type of terminology when I seek government employee misconduct records because it opens the door for nearly everything:

___________________________________

“Any and all documents to include emails and text messages sent or received on any and all public or private cell phones computers utilized in any way to conduct any public business of the City of Spokane relating to any and all complaints or allegations, sustained, not sustained, or catorgorized as inquires made against Frank G. Straub, or Monique Cotton”

___________________________________

 

But make sure you spell check! (categorized) 🙂 🙂

 

On 12/7/2015 I received copies of Nick Deshais’s Public Records Requests regarding Cotton/Straub pursuant to my on-going PRR War with the City. When I opened the records the very first document was his request on Oct 21^st, 2015. I had to chuckle because I knew what he was doing, and it was a good move because it gives an investigative reporter some insight on what other media outlets are doing like for example my Twitter and my Blog. Nick’s Aug. 20^th and 21^st PRRs are okay but he again limits himself to specific individuals without an open qualifier, which can come in handy during your PRR Battle because once you receive your first document dump it inevitably leads to more people and you can always claim non-responsiveness when you run across a name that is obviously involved but no records were supplied…in this case Bob Dunn comes to mind as do others. What Deshais’s Aug 20^th, 21^st PRRs do demonstrate however is that Condon’s statements to the City Council regarding the reason records were withheld until after the election are BUNK. After reviewing all of the records made public so far there are NONE that were not easily accessible to Terri Pfister unless they were being hidden from her as is sometimes the case. There is no reason the records obtained to date could not have been released prior to the election. Part of the defense game is always stall as long as you can in the hopes people will forget or get busy with something else. Just refer to my previous stories about my war.

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/f8370d72-69cd-4f4b-847b-64b767dbd0cf

 

Now let me return to explaining some of the facts Nick Deshais left out of his story. The fact is I have been investigating the Cotton/Straub story since before September 5^th, 2015 when I filed my PRR. My first stories regarding the Cotton/Straub case were published well prior to the election beginning on September 26^th, 2015. I made available to the public some of what I had received via my PRR so the public and other media would gain a better understanding of the situation and start carrying the ball. I offered what I had to the SR but they never bothered to contact me or use any of the information I had in their stories. The SR could easily have contacted me, obtained what I had which included text messages between Monique Cotton and Angie Napolitano which show a lot of what was going on. They could have written one hell of a story based on the public documents I had and they didn’t. Some of my documents corroborated some of their sources (yes I know Nick). I know folks at the SR read my stories because I made sure they had them via Twitter and in some cases they even responded negatively. A good lesson for any Investigator or Investigative Journalist to learn is, NEVER EVER DISMISS A SOURCE, even if you think the source is a “confused Jeremiah”, because you may learn Jeremiah isn’t as confused as you think. THE BIG QUESTION IS WHY THE SR HELD BACK A MULTI-SOURCED AND CORROBORATED STORY WITH SUPPORTING PUBLIC RECORDS??

 

These are just a few:

https://twitter.com/MCUBuff/status/653575785387704320

https://twitter.com/MCUBuff/status/653572859999051776

https://twitter.com/MCUBuff/status/653563032111439873

https://twitter.com/MCUBuff/status/649212270866595841

https://twitter.com/MCUBuff/status/647909570925342720

https://twitter.com/MCUBuff/status/647912535149047808

 

Nick Deshais story also links Condon’s letter which for any investigation opens avenues for inquiry not only from what it says, but from what it doesn’t say. Any legitimate investigation of the Cotton/Straub case requires that David Condon and every other players’ statements or testimony is taken under oath, if that isn’t done the investigation is a sham. “Hold Backs”…for those that know what I’m referring to! J J

 

That aside I want to mention some of the comical aspects of Condon’s letter as it pertains to me.

 

______________________________________ 

September 5, 2015

• Brian Breen files public records request for any and all documents to include emails and text messages relating to any and all complaints or allegations made against Frank Straub or Monique Cotton as well as any and all documents from third parties related to transfer of Monique Cotton between January 1, 2015 and September 5, 2015

______________________________________

Yes, David I sure as hell did, and I can tell it has you squirming. You can take two approaches to my PRR. The HIGH road or the LOW road…so far it has been the LOW road, it is entirely up to you.

 

_______________________________________

September 16, 2015

• Jon Snyder files public records request seeking records released to Brian Breen.

_______________________________________

 

Jon you are one of the Council Members from my District all you had to do was ask and I would have given them to you or anyone else interested. Jon, buddy, why does my City Council Member have to do a Public Records Request to get PUBLIC RECORDS?

 

 

RULE NUMBER TWO

 

All Public Records Requests involving government misconduct are battles that have to be conducted tactically and strategically by the requestor. Never forget that!

 

 

 

As Journalists sometimes do, I gave Nick Deshais a heads up that this story was coming and he is welcome to respond to the story in any way he sees fit, including an email to me (he has my email address), in the comments section of my blog, or a story in the SR. If he does write a story for the SR I would hope, he shows me the same curtesy I am giving him despite my SR persona-non-grate status with them.

 

 

BE SURE AND TIP YOUR NEWSPAPER CARRIER THIS CHRISTMAS!