As an update to the story linked below I thought I would let you know what has been going on since my May 21st, 2017 Public Records Request to the City. That PRR if you recall was intended to obtain Public Records which I knew in advance would show poor and self-serving leadership of the Office of Police Ombudsman Commission as well as a lot of friction between the OPO staff and OPOC Chair Deb Conklin.
In stories besides the most recent one, linked above, I mentioned what has been widely known for some time regarding the management style of Conklin as well as the friction that continues to exist between her and Office of Police Ombudsman staff.
As anyone who follows me knows I have been very critical of the OPO Ordinance which was negotiated by Mayor Condon and the Police Guild and I have very little hopes of the Ordinance being improved during the Mayor’s current ongoing negotiations with the Guild, which leaves us with doing the best we can with the Ordinance as it stands. A dysfunctional OPOC WILL NOT help the oversight process and I believe the City Council is very aware of that fact. Several sources have told me that soon Deb Conklin will no longer be a part of the OPOC whether it is a matter of her resigning or simply not being reappointed. If my sources are correct, and I have no reason to believe they aren’t, then I’ll have to weigh my options on the direction I take with my May 21st, PRR which will contain responsive records that will embarrass a number of people and not just Deb Conklin. In other words, the best thing to do is to just go away quietly and learn from this lesson.
On August 31st, I received this email from City Clerk Pfister which outlines the City Clerks due diligence and efforts to obtain responsive records from Conklin, who has made public statements that she would not comply with the Washington State Public Records Act.
My response to Pfister.
Even more troubling is that within days of receiving training from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, regarding the Public Records Act, where she was warned about the legal ramifications of not protecting and preserving public records on private electronic devices, Conklin publicly reported that her cell phone which was used to conduct OPOC business went “DEAD”.
Previous relevant stories.
https://examplepro.me/2017/06/12/my-lawyer-is-seeing-dollar-signs-again/
https://examplepro.me/2017/05/22/keeping-up-with-dysfunction/
There will be more to come I’m sure as I weigh my options.
Buffalo Brian Breen 