And delays can breed suspicion: Brian
Breen, the cantankerous former cop who settled with the city over the Straub
public records delays, still believes favoritism is at play.
“It entirely depends upon how
much embarrassment the document or documents might cause someone,” Breen
says in an email. “Those that don’t, I get quickly. Those that do, come at
a snail’s pace.”
“They got hammered with a series
of unfortunate events,” says Tony Dinaro, who worked as a temporary
employee in the clerk’s office this year before taking a job with Spokane
County. “The clerk’s office really did run into a unique set of
circumstances staffing-wise. It was hard to make people believe things were
really that bad.”
I can’t help but wonder how in the
heck the Inlander received copies of Audie’s IA Case so darn fast when it takes
me months get documents like IA Cases from both the County and the City. This
timeline is unheard-of around here.
As an example, tomorrow I have to go
down to the Spokane County Prosecutors Office and go through pages of documents
from a request I made in November involving a Spokane County internal issue. I
have to go down there to review the documents because my CFO of over 50 years
won’t pony up the $139.49 the County wants to charge for the 377 pages of
documents.
I also wonder how much the documents
the Inlander received cost them. It is one thing for the MSM to get a response
speed break, but if I find out they are also getting a cost break then I am
going to get “cantankerous”.
Something that also causes me some wonderment is whether or not former Deputy Shawn Audie received a “Third Party Notification” that the records were going to be released to the Media, the quick time frame of the Public Records Response would seem to indicate that Audie was never offered the opportunity to object to the release. In some cases, agencies will make a “Third Party Notification” to stave off civil litigation.
“Audie remained a deputy until summer of 2018, when he
retired in lieu of termination as the result of an internal investigation.
According to the investigation documents obtained by the Inlander via public
records request.”
With Shawn Audie currently on paid
leave, after the Ferris fight stories hit the media it seems there may be even
more odd nuances associated with the fight?
They all are on a mission advocating an end to US Border
Patrol and ICE actions with respect to US Immigration Laws, their stories and
public Facebook and Twitter postings should make that perfectly clear.
Mohanad Elshieky AKA Mohannad El-Shieky AKA Muhanad
Saleh and his Twitter posts sure have some folks including the media on a mission.
In the Chad Sokol story Mr. Sokol complains about Border
Patrol detentions being kept secret, but the question I have is if it is so
important to know the names of those arrested why not spend some of the great
financial resources of the Spokesman Review and submit a FOIA seeking the names
instead of just using Google to try and get the info? Even if the FOIA is
initially denied as most are the SR sure as heck could use the extensive assets
of the Cowles family to battle the denial, if there was one, all the way to
SCOTUS if need be and try and get the policy changed.
Another option the Spokesman Review has is to send longtime
SR Reporter and the SR Bureau Chief in Olympia Jim Camden on the 46-minute
drive to Tacoma to attend the Immigration Hearings at the Northwest Detention
Center (NWDC) so he can take notes and get names. It would also be a good place
to get some interviews with some of the folks that, present, defend, and hear the
Immigration Cases which might provide a balanced perspective.
One suggestion I would have for Jim Camden if the SR takes my advice is to take along a pair of boots if he decides to go into the vehicle seizure area… it can be a muddy mess sometimes.
Hector Quiroga a Spokesman
Review Correspondent who is also a local Immigration Lawyer and GU Law Grad as
well as kind of the go to guy for local and national media including Chad Sokol
gave an interesting quote in the Sokol story:
“In a federal (criminal) case, we can at least see the
indictment and who the person is and what the charges are,” said Hector
Quiroga, a local immigration attorney who has represented clients arrested at
the Intermodal Center.
No such records are publicly available in an immigration
case.
“We have to go through a huge process to get information,”
Quiroga said, describing a bureaucratic labyrinth where basic questions are
often ignored or deflected. “I feel like I’m talking to myself sometimes.”
Mr. Quiroga certainly with his immigration defense practice
can provide some insight from the defense perspective and it is his livelihood
after all , but I’m kind of confused by Mr. Quiroga’s statement? Yes, you are
supposed to be able to see what the government has in a federal criminal case
via Discovery, but I thought Dent v. Holder was still good law as far as
Immigration Cases are concerned?
Paul Dillon the vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood in Eastern Washington, is without question one of those local hard charging activists and Freelancer for the SR and Inlander who founded an environmental news site published by the Spokesman-Review called Down To Earth and is also a Board Member for the Center for Justice. Mr. Dillon I can say with an extremely high degree of certainty is quite a Liberal gent, and there is nothing wrong with that, at least in my view.
I think it would be pretty hard to dispute that Paul Dillon aside from not being a fan of President Donald Trump also isn’t a fan of the US Customs and Border Patrol.
Dianne Solis covers social justice issues and
specializes in immigration for The Dallas Morning News. She’s a former foreign
correspondent who was based in Mexico. She has journalism degrees from
Northwestern University, Cal State University, Fresno, and a Nieman fellowship
from Harvard.
If you read all of the Dianne Solis stories you might
conclude that she also isn’t a fan of US Customs and Border Patrol, or for that
matter President Trump…but that is up to you.
Fatma Marouf Professor of Law and Director of the
Immigrant Rights Clinic at Texas A&M University, certainly isn’t a fan of
CBP or it appears President Trump
I’m not quite understanding this
statement by reporter Sokol:
“The immigration courts are secretive, too. They are not
part of an independent judiciary, where openness and transparency are sacred
principles. They also lack various constitutional safeguards required in
criminal trials. Most immigrants appear in immigration court without an
attorney.”
At first I thought maybe DOJ had changed things since my experience back in the day, but I sure can’t find where they did?
I don’t think anything has changed since August 2, 2018?
“We’re a part of DHS,
so we’re beholden to DHS policy,” said Jason Givens, a Customs and Border
Protection spokesman.
Chad Sokol did get a predictable quote from CBP Agent Jason
Givens. I haven’t interviewed him, but I did interview his supervisor Bill
Kingsford regarding the unknown comic case and found him to be very open about
the local CBP’s bus boarding policy and how that policy was formulated based
upon the SCOTUS decision in United States v. Drayton and the various Officer
Safety Issues associated with boarding a bus, which may or may not be occupied
with someone who could be dangerous, like for example a former Mexican Cop who
had been arrested in Mexico in 2008 and 2009 on charges of homicide and drug
possession and might not want to go back to Mexico.
I am all for government transparency and sometimes it takes diligence to get it, and like Mr. Sokol I think story shaping should be exposed and is “important information for people to have”.
I’m confused because I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t
a little “grandstanding” going on here?
Anyone who watched the Ozzie/Buff Episodes knows how highly Ozzie touts his great hiring practices and his worldwide recognized training. I guess Ozzie feels he is more than competent to chastise other agencies for their hiring and retention practices, and probably will do just that with his private consulting business Delta Training and Consulting, LLC. Where I’m running into some confusion is Ozzie’s statements to the Spokesman Review.
___________________________
“They didn’t ask us any questions,” Knezovich said. “I don’t know if
they even did a background check.”
Knezovich also questioned the decision to hire Audie to work around
youths.
“Let’s just put it this way,” he said. “I’d recommend that the
school district do better background checks.”
___________________________
Ozzie’s first statement to the SR which I copied above
somewhat conflicts with Brian Coddington’s statement when he told the SR “We
never spoke to the sheriff. That’s correct,” he said. “We did speak to Shawn
Audie’s former supervisor. He gave a good recommendation.”
Of course, we don’t know who the former supervisor was but,
but it is SOP to contact current and former supervisors when doing a background
investigation, especially if the candidate has left that job. The “former
supervisor” would have been one of Ozzie’s former people and even without
LexisNexis and just using Google you could find documents indicating Audie was
a great Deputy for Ozzie. Don’t get me wrong I think the hiring of Audie was a
real dumb idea, but I can’t help but wonder what Ozzie would have said about
Audie if District 81 had contacted Ozzie directly. Since the highly publicized
Will Burger case is predominately mentioned in both the SR and Inlander
stories, I have to wonder what Ozzie would have told District 81 folks about
Audie if they contacted him. Ozzie’s public statements and his backing of Audie
and Paynter are all over the record, including Ozzie’s justification for
putting Audie back on the street even before the WSP Investigation was
concluded.
Deputies Shawn Audie and Steve Paynter, who confronted
Berger when they arrived on scene, have returned to work, according to Sheriff
Ozzie Knezovich. He said he put the deputies back on patrol because he had not
seen anything to indicate they acted inappropriately. He declined further
comment until the WSP investigation is finished.
The public record is pretty clear
that the Spokane County Prosecutor wasn’t going to charge Audie or Paynter and
Ozzie supported both of them. Heck Audie even apologized to Ozzie
for the profanity he used during the Berger incident.
Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Audie came to him after the
incident and apologized for the profanity.
“He acknowledged that his language could have been better,”
Knezovich said. But the sheriff said while the profanity was not condoned, it
was understandable given the violence of the scuffle.
Knezovich declined Friday to comment on the use of force
pending the prosecutor’s review of the case.
Calls made to Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, who has supported the
actions of Paynter and Audie, as well as Jack Driscoll, the deputy prosecutor
who oversaw the charging decision, were not immediately returned Thursday
afternoon.
Ozzie was happy with the Jury verdict
in the Berger case and appreciated what the Jury did as far as Audie and
Paynter were concerned.
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich released a short
statement about the verdict Wednesday. “I appreciate the jury’s time and
deliberations,” he said. “This is exactly why I feel that cases like this
should go to trial, where a jury can see and hear all the facts before
rendering their decision.”
Needless to say, most folks don’t want to spend the money
for PACER which is costly but provides documents concerning federal cases which
an individual can download or just read and would probably be helpful when
doing background investigations, you might notice I use it all the time.
Previously I had been following the Berger case on PACER, but I had forgotten a
lot, so I spent some more money and once again reviewed some of the documents
including this one. Some folks might get a big kick out of what Ozzie says in
his deposition about his hand-picked Citizens Advisory Board…I know I did.
Sure, enough Ozzie and his Staff supported Audie to the hilt
including under oath so it is confusing to me what Ozzie would have said about
Audie had District 81 contacted him directly. Those of us that know about this
kind of stuff know that if Ozzie told District 81 Audie was a Dirty Rotten Scoundrel
contradicting his sworn testimony and without being able to provide clear and
convincing evidence that he was, the taxpayers of Spokane County could end up
paying some big bucks.
I’m also kind of confused about this portion of the Inlander
story:
“Audie remained a deputy until summer of 2018, when he retired in
lieu of termination as the result of an internal investigation. According to
the investigation documents obtained by the Inlander via public records
request, Audie was accused of using excessive force during an an arrest of a
man during a traffic stop.”
The confusing part for me is the hiring criteria for
District 81 Cops;
1. High school diploma or
equivalent required, two years of college in police science or allied
field or a minimum of five years of law enforcement experience as an
investigator, campus security
officer, or other related field preferred.
2. Must have successfully
completed a Police Academy and received a reserve or full police
commission. Preference will
be given if commissioned in Washington State.
Must be accepted for
special police officer commission by the Spokane Police Department.
3. Demonstrated aptitude and
ability for successful performance of the responsibilities listed.
Audie meets the above criteria but the question I have is
about whether or not SPD did a background check when they issued Audie’s
Special Police Commission? According to the criteria preference is given to
candidates who are “commissioned in Washington State”, the reason that is
interesting to me is if as the story states, “retired in lieu of termination”,
I’m wondering whether or not Ozzie sent the required paperwork to the
Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission? It would be pretty easy
to check with the CJTC to see if Audie’s State Commission had been revoked.
I know I’m a Deplorable DRS, but maybe Ozzie has an answer
for all this, other reporters would have to ask though…Ozzie doesn’t like my
questions! 😊
Buffalo Brian Breen 