https://www.krem.com/article/news/investigations/spokane-public-schools-police-at-odds-mandatory-reporting-concerns/293-d7750ffb-12f7-4116-9802-d31e4f3e8886

Certainly there is a lot of speculation out there that the battle between Spokane Public Schools and the Spokane Police Department goes beyond just a concern about the kids in Spokane Public Schools and involves something deeper. As for me I agree with Council Member Michael Cathcart who states, “I don’t make wild assertions without evidence.”, and no one should. There are however a number of puzzling questions that need answers no matter how long it takes, and it is quite obvious that at this point Council Member Cathcart isn’t willing to share whatever information he may have, even to the point of not bothering to tell members of the Spokane City Council although he is Chair of the City’s Public Safety and Community Health Committee, CM Cathcart didn’t even bother to tell the Vice-Chair Council President Breean Beggs, for which there is no legitimate excuse, at least that I can think of.

Somehow on or about March 14, 2022, the local media got ahold of a letter written by Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl to Spokane Public Schools.

https://www.krem.com/article/news/investigations/fbi-city-council-get-involved-mandatory-reporting-dispute-between-spd-and-sps/293-6201f7b8-15e6-4a67-810b-378bc1531140

On March 15, 2022, at 7:50AM CM Cathcart posts on his City of Spokane Facebook page linking a SR story published earlier that morning and states,  “This has been a big concern by our officers for a while. So much so that it was brought to my attention several times, by several different officers over the past couple of months. In fact, some of the reports I was getting regarding violent criminal activity going unreported or that SPS staff members were being sanctioned in some way just for calling for a police response was so shocking that I decided several weeks ago to submit public records requests to both SPD and Spokane Public Schools to get to the bottom of it. Of course, it’s anyone’s guess as to when those records will be released.”

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/mar/14/spokane-school-district-denies-allegations-from-sp/

CM Cathcart’s March 15, 2022, post which begs some questions that need to be answered.

1) If it was a big concern to our officers what did they do about it and how long is “for a while”?

2) Did the officers report their concerns to supervisors, Chief Meidl, or just to CM Cathcart?

3) How did you look into the shocking allegation that “SPS staff members were being sanctioned in some way just for calling for a police response was so shocking” other than submitting a PRR to SPD, and SPS?

4) Did you discuss the shocking allegations with Chief Meidl or Superintendent Dr. Adam Swinyard?

5) Exactly what records did CM Cathcart request from SPD and SPS, and how did CM Cathcart know what records to request?

On March 15, 2022, the FBI sent an information inquiry email to the Spokane Principals Association and somehow, someway CM Cathcart got his hands on a copy of the FBI email which he posted on his Facebook page March 16, 2022, at 12:03PM, later on March 16, 2022, CM Cathcart was able to get his hands on an email sent to “Spokane area media” by the FBI to clarify what was going on after SA Parker’s email to the Spokane Principals Association was made public by CM Cathcart. CM Cathcart updated his original post with the FBI’s email to “Spokane area media”.

One of the interesting things to me is the copy of Agent Parker’s email posted by CM Cathcart is the way it was redacted. I’ve never seen the FBI utilize that type of redaction process nor have I seen the FBI’s redactions that were so poorly done, which makes me wonder who actually did the redactions, was it CM Cathcart or the person or persons who provided him with the email?

The other interesting aspect of CM Cathcart’s post is how he came into possession of the FBI’s response to his posting of SA Parker’s email, since according to the FBI it was just sent to Spokane media.

To me at least it appears CM Cathcart has a lot of information about this issue that he isn’t willing to share, at least with the City Council and me as this email string makes quite clear. Hopefully he will provide the FBI with all the information he has accumulated.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:ff22b02e-c696-3119-96ed-07b1d8296afa

One of the big puzzles for me is Chief Meidl’s leaked letter to Superintendent Dr. Adam Swinyard.

Chief Meidl certainly must know that RCW 26.44 deals with “any person under the age of eighteen years of age” and there is no requirement in RCW 26.44 that mandatory reporters contact SPD, there is however a requirement that mandatory reporters contact either CPS (“Child protective services section” means the child protective services section of the department) or Law Enforcement and there are requirements that both CPS and Law Enforcement interact.

If SPS isn’t contacting CPS or Law Enforcement when a child under eighteen years who is a victim of “sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or injury of a child by any person under circumstances which cause harm to the child’s health, welfare, or safety, excluding conduct permitted under RCW 9A.16.100; or the negligent treatment or maltreatment of a child by a person responsible for or providing care to the child.”, then that is a big problem, but we just don’t know what the problem actually is at this point so I guess we will have to wait until the joint FBI/SPD investigation is concluded.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=26.44

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=26.44.030

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=26.44.040

If Chief Meidl was trying to make a point to SPS by threatening misdemeanor charges against SPS employees who don’t report incidents of school yard bullying to CPS or Law Enforcement it would be a new way of handling issues between SPS and SPD.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=26.44.080

In the past when issues arose between SPS and SPD no threats were made and they were handled with increased training and interaction as well as face to face meetings with the Chief of Police and SPS Superintendents.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:0b6690e9-f550-3f47-be14-3e304b233755

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2005/feb/19/police-district-followed-state-law/

If you read the 2005 Spokesman Review article linked above you might be wondering here the heck is the Washington State Attorney Generals Office involvement in all this mess.

If Chief Meidl is concerned about the reporting of harassment, intimidation, or bullying to SPD I can’t find where there is a requirement in the State process to report those issues to Law Enforcement.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=28A.600.477

https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/health-safety/school-safety-center/school-safety-resource-library/harassment-intimidation-and-bullying-hib

https://www.oeo.wa.gov/en/safety-plans-hib

But if Chief Meidl actually wants all of the HIB reports, I don’t see any reason why SPS can’t provide them to SPD.

Just a guess of course but based on the entire context of Chief Meidl’s letter to SPS and his reference to RCW 74.34.020 and RCW 74.34.035.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=74.34.020

https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=74.34.035

It would appear that there is some kind of concern on his part that persons over the age of eighteen years suffering from developmental disabilities who are suspected victims of physical assault or fear of imminent harm who are provided services by SPS and received minor bodily injury which does not require more than basic first aid are not being reported to the “Department of Social and Health Services” (APS).

It goes without saying that when injuries appear on the back, face, head, neck, chest, breasts, groin, inner thigh, buttock, genital, or anal area, a fracture, or there is a pattern of physical assault to  vulnerable adults in the care of SPS it darn well better be reported to both Law Enforcement and DSHS and if that is the problem it better get resolved soon.

There is just one heck of a lot the Public doesn’t know at this point and apparently CM Cathcart isn’t talking so it will be interesting to see how this all ends up and it will be especially interesting to learn how it all got started.

Story Images:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:3a6a0d80-b755-3f51-8042-a089848aa90a

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!

It just happens to be Mayor Woodward’s day.

This SR story is funny for some reasons, and not so funny or other reasons the funny aspect is how could the Mayor not know who the heck Terry Parker AKA “eagleproducer” has been around for years commenting with his anti-establishment philosophy on Twitter and Facebook for years even back in the old Disqus days on the Spokesman Review website, even Soccermom Susie would remember him from the old days.

Terry is the type of poster you sometimes have to block when he is deeply off on one of his tangents, but like anyone else you have to gain an understanding of where he is coming from.

Terry still owes me two grand from a bet on the Otto Zehm case.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/mar/11/spokane-mayor-hurls-vulgarity-at-someone-in-twitte/

Now, here is the not so funny part of the story.

“I’m not going to apologize for that tweet,” Woodward said. “It wasn’t my finest moment, but I wanted to push back on a nameless coward who trolls me constantly and push back on men who degrade and belittle the talents and successes of women because of their gender.

“It’s time for more women to push back against misogynists like that.”

“I think I would like to encourage other women to push back on trolls and bullies and misogynists, because women have come a long way in a lot of respects,” Woodward said, “but in other ways we haven’t when we’re subjected to this type of behavior by men regularly, and I get it all of the time. And you know what? I’m just sick and tired of it.”

Although Madam Mayor wants to “push back on trolls and bullies and misogynists” she absolutely refuses to push back on the ones in SPD, whether it is subjecting a would-be City employee from to inappropriate conduct by a polygraph operator and background investigator.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:c7b7e5cb-9c49-36ea-aac1-6b5aa191386b

How about a push back on male Cops who spend an inordinate amount of time on the job watching porn?

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:4bc273c1-f4c5-316d-92a5-1bebacac3c9c

Or how about a push back on the Cop who instead of responding to a female victim of a Kidnapping/Rape Case just decide to use SPD resources to surf the internet for fishing stuff.

Or how about some push back on how female recruits are treated by male Officers.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:fd0c6a95-b98a-3826-96c3-752346d94887

Or how about some push back on Brady Cop Detective Lydia Taylor being assigned up until recently to SPD’s Criminal Intelligence Unit after her crap about the female victim of former Sgt. Gordon Ennis.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:46946262-4fab-3a45-9e6c-ca4ade68bbc1

There of course are several other cases you obviously don’t care to push back on but if it is just all about you Madam Mayor being the victim of “trolls and bullies and misogynists” I completely understand how Terry Parker might get under your skin. On the other hand I want to be clear you can call me anything you want, if you would please…pretty please… just answer my legitimate questions.

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!! 

No, that isn’t a misspelling on my part.

One of the pains in doing this Investigative Reporting gig is finding the time to review video including reviewing City Council Meetings but it has to be done and sometimes even though it can be a pain I find some pretty hilarious things that surface relating to some of my previous stories.

The March 7, 2022, City Council Meeting was one of those reviews that allowed me to laugh and once again say to myself… “I told you so!” 😊

https://my.spokanecity.org/citycouncil/meetings/2022/03/07/legislative-meeting/

The meeting included testimony from OPO Bart Logue to the Council regarding the status of the OPO. One of the things Logue reported was his closing reports and how he is completely muzzled as a result of the Guild Contract.

PART ONE, MUZZLING A MARINE!!!

PART TWO, MUZZLING A MARINE!!!

FINAL , MUZZLING A MARINE!!!

I found it interesting when Logue talked about one of his heavily restricted “Closing Reports” where he documented why it is a liability for Mayor Woodward and Chief Meidl to allow an Officer with a take-home vehicle to take his family out shopping in a City owned vehicle, and it was timely given Chief Meidl’s presentation to Council about the importance of take-home vehicles for all SPD Cops.

Click to access closing-report-a20-038-c20-081.pdf

As the first SPD Cop other than the SPD Chiefs who was assigned a take home vehicle no one had to tell me running my family around in my assigned vehicle was strictly forbidden, but those were the good old days.

This 2019 list of SPD take-home vehicles prepared by SPD Sgt. John Gately is old and as I understand it the number has increased since 2019 but it gives you an idea of not only the scale of take-home vehicle assignments but should get people to thinking about who should get an electric take home vehicle. Seriously, does civilian IA Director MacConnell really need a take-home vehicle, and if so why not an electric vehicle? If the Citizens are paying for two SPD Chaplains to have a take-home vehicle why can’t it be a Tesla?

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:1467704f-eb3d-39bc-bed3-759fd4e898b1

More fun stuff from the CC Meeting was the discussion about the release of Public Records between CP Beggs, CM Cathcart, and CM Bingle. According to CP Beggs he and CM Cathcart are working on an Ordinance regarding Public Records and the City Attorney has invited Cathcart and Beggs “to another meeting on that”, which is silly since City Attorney Michael Ormsby has done everything he can to obstruct the release of Public Records.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:cc97bb78-6ced-3b39-a28c-c881e42b3a6e

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:96aa9d0e-c084-3115-a037-0570fb710e5d

The better option for Cathcart and Beggs is to obtain guidance from the Washington State Attorney General as the City Attorney will only make every effort to protect his Woodward appointed position.

With respect to CM Bingle’s comments about my buddy Nicolette Ocheltree, his aide, being a Public Records Guru and getting her PRR responses in a timely fashion I’m going to be really mad if Mayor Woodward who is hiding from all of my PRRs regarding police misconduct gives Ms. Ocheltree responses before I get mine. 😊  

As far as the Mayor of Spokane is concerned she has both publicly and privately expressed her well document position on Police Oversight.

“The one issue I have with the ombudsman situation as it stands now, I think the disciplinary measures need to come from the police chief,” Woodward said. “I wish we didn’t have to have an ombudsman situation, to be honest with you. I want to be able to believe that the police chief can do his job and weed out any bad apples if there are any.”

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/jul/23/police-union-endorses-woodward-as-candidates-spar-/

https://www.inlander.com/spokane/nadine-woodward-won-now-comes-the-hard-part/Content?oid=18572856

Based upon Mayor Woodward’ true position on the Office of Police Ombudsman it should be pretty clear that to keep her endorsement by the Spokane Police Guild, she needs to make darn sure the OPO continues to have their power of oversight limited during the currently ongoing contract negotiations for the Guild’s new contract with the City.

In this 2019 story of mine I pointed out now Mayor Woodward’s position on the OPO.

Vote for mayor may impact police oversight, with role of ombudsman in flux!!!

I think it is important to reiterate her position in this story and point out how she tried to cover up her position when during the campaign she first responded to a Facebook question from lawyer Rick Eichstaedt with this.

Mayor Woodward quickly figured out her response to Eichstaedt was bogus so she deleted her public comment, aren’t screenshots great? 😊

The truth is with a Mayor completely adverse to Police Oversight, and a City Council unwilling to battle it out with the Guild the likelihood of legitimate oversight being a part of the next Guild Contract is slim to none.

Story Images:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:20beab7a-cbc5-3d77-b70b-6169d3d49daa

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!

I don’t think there is any question that Undersheriff John Nowels is the favorite candidate of both Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and Inspector Kevin Richey for the job of Spokane County Sheriff.

There have been some assertions being bantered around that the IA Case which was brought forward by Inspector Kevin Richey to Sheriff Knezovich a few days after Richey apparently overheard a November 5, 2021, conversation between Craig Chamberlin and SCSO Detectives at the Spokane Valley Precinct was politically motivated, certainly something that can be difficult to prove but looking at the timeline easily established from the IA Case it sure would make one wonder.

 After Inspector Richey informed Sheriff Knezovich of what Richey says he overheard on Thursday, November 11, 2021, 1:01 PM Sheriff Knezovich sent an email to Chamberlin in which Knezovich stated that it had been brought to his attention that Chamberlin had written a letter of reference to the court for an individual that had pled guilty to a crime and the individual was Chamberlin’s daughters soccer team coach, the email went on with Knezovich asking Chamberlin to provide him with copy of the letter and the name of the supervisor Chamberlin spoke with to gain authorization to write the letter.

On November 12, 2021, Inspector Richey submitted a report in which he stated that Deputy Chamberlin said he didn’t know what the crime was, and he didn’t do any research into the nature of the crime his friend was convicted of. Deputy Chamberlin did say he was concerned that is had something to do with “child pornography.”

On Wednesday, November 17, 2021, 1:22 PM IA Investigator Lt. Andrew Buell emailed Assistant US Attorney David Herzog stating Buell obtained Herzog’s from FBI agent Lee McEuen and wanted a call about some federal court procedural questions.

On Thursday, November 18, 2021, 2:12 PM AUSA Herzog responded in an email to Lt. Buell that indicating that they had a nice chat and the current status of Rick Wright’s case at that time was that it was set for trial on January 10, and Wright had not yet pleaded guilty, but since Wright was gathering information it was likely Wright would do so. Herzog also stated he did not yet have any of the docs they discussed apparently during a phone conversation, and Herzog would continue to monitor the Wright case with his conversation with Buell in mind.

Based upon Inspector Richey’s information a formal IA Case (# 2021-0053) was opened on or about November 18, 2021, with Deputy Craig Chamberlin as the investigation target.

On November 23, 2021, one of the Detectives Chamberlin was talking to directly submitted a report contradicting information in Richey’s report by stating that because the person in question was a girls’ volleyball coach, the Detective immediately thought of a child sex crime and the Detective voiced his concern about writing a letter of reference for someone that may have been convicted of child sex crime or child pornography, further stating that Chamberlin reiterated that he didn’t know what the coach was charged with. The Detective went on to say that during the conversation Inspector Richey entered the room and that the conversation briefly continued until Deputy Chamberlin left the room. The Detective went on to state in his report that Inspector Richey, only heard a fraction of the conversation and asked the Detective if he (Richey)  heard what he thought he heard. The Detective’s report goes on to state that because of Inspector Richey’s probative questioning and smile on his face, the Detective believed Inspector Richey would research the incident for political gain and it was the Detective’s understanding that Inspector Richey would be running against Deputy Chamberlin in an upcoming election for Sheriff.

*** In the SCSO Summary of Evidence report it points out that the two Detectives involved in the conversation with Chamberlin both corroborated Insp. Richey’s  recollection of the conversation REGARDING THAT IT TOOK PLACE and that Chamberlin mentioned he wrote a reference letter for a friend, daughter’s volleyball coach, and that it involved  in a criminal matter.  The summary further points out that one of the Detectives was able to recall IT WAS NOT Chamberlin but the Detective who brought up the possibility of it being child porn and Chamberlin did not know what the charges were.

On Wednesday, November 24, 2021, 11:14 AM Lt. Buell contacted AUSA Herzog requesting that Herzog provide him with the name of the lawyer defending Richard Wright and Herzog did provide Buell with the lawyer’s name and phone number.

On January 31, 2022, Undersheriff John Nowels files his candidacy with the Washington State PDC.

On February 12, 2022, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich announces his endorsement of Undersheriff John Nowels to replace him as Sheriff of Spokane County.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2022/feb/12/spokane-county-sheriff-ozzie-knezovich-endorses-un/

On or about February 19, 2022, the media gets wind that Deputy Chamberlin was terminated by Ozzie Knezovich.

https://www.khq.com/news/craig-chamberlin-terminated-from-spokane-county-sheriff-s-office/article_736216c0-91bf-11ec-98dc-bb6f443a1727.html

Deputy Craig Chamberlin terminated from Spokane County Sheriff’s Office

On February 21, 2022, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich calls a press conference to justify his termination of Chamberlin.

On February 22, 2022, Sheriff Knezovich gives his close friend Kent Adams of Spokane Talks an exclusive interview where he again tries to justify his termination of Chamberlin.  

On February 22, 2022, Deputy Chamberlin files his candidacy with the Washington State PDC.

At this point the timeline brings us to another the interesting aspect of the Chamberlin case.

On March 1, 2022, I posted a redacted Public Record on my Facebook page which was a report made by one of the Detectives that was having the conversation with Chamberlin when Inspector Richey walked into the room.

Interestingly the first person to comment on my post was Inspector Kevin Richey, who publicly stated that, “Inspector Richey was “not planning on running for sheriff” a lot of people, including the person who wrote this made a lot of assumptions. Must be cool to read peoples minds based on a “smile.”, and later commented he was not running for sheriff, nor have I made any such announcement.

When I asked Richey if the individual who wrote the report was seasoned, Richey’s response was that “This investigator is a very seasoned and exceptional investigator.” Whom Richey had a ton of respect for.

I thought it was interesting that even though Inspector Richey described the writer as seasoned and exceptional and that he had a ton of respect for the writer apparently Inspector Richey didn’t think much of the investigators IA Report regarding Chamberlin. I also thought it was interesting that Inspector Richey admitted that he had said in the past that he had “considered running” which is consistent with information I had received previously about people considering a run for sheriff.

As sometimes happens with Facebook comments can disappear, especially when the comments might provide people with a better perspective about what the truth actually is. Such was the case with Inspector Richey’s comments on my FB Post and somehow he must have deleted his pertinent comments when he was trying to correct a misspelling, however I was unable to find a misspelling in the screenshots of his comments, but then again I’m not a very good speller.

It is indeed an interesting timeline!

Story Images:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:c684608d-225b-3513-9258-a55268f6254a

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!