When I’m provided with screenshots from Chud Wendle’s Spokane Business & Commercial Property Council Facebook page I kind of cringe because most of the time the screenshots show some real poor judgement on the part of a Spokane Police Officer or poor judgement on the part of the SPD Administration.
This one I recently received was a post made by retired SPD Detective Dennis T Snider (Ty Snider) who at least used his Facebook account and not a fake FB account like some Cops do on the Spokane Business & Commercial Property Council Facebook page. Detective Snider drew quite a bit of media attention when as a staunch supporter of Karl Thompson he attended nearly all of Thompson’s court hearings in the death of Otto Zehm case as the Spokane Police Guild Secretary. Detective Snider was said to have been a baseball player at the University of Washington, but this post sure doesn’t seem to knock it out of the park.
Retired SPD Detective Snider has expressed his displeasure with the OPO both publicly and privately, and everyone has a right to an opinion, though expressing opinions for Public Employees like Detective Snider are a bit more restrictive and sometimes Public Employees need at least a talking to about when and where they express their opinions.
Obviously, Ty Snider is suggesting the current OPO in Spokane is political and non-objective he goes on to further suggest elected offices should find one that is. I don’t have a problem that Snider has that opinion, but I do have a serious question about his judgement in expressing it publicly unless of course he can provide evidence that the OPO is political and non-objective and that that issue is a “matter of public concern” and consistent with the case law.
https://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/public_employees_private_speech
Retired Detective Snider’s second post is indicative of many posts on Spokane Business & Commercial Property Council Facebook page because it just is not factual, and it would seem to me that someone who has the rank of Detective would know that.
“I seriously don’t think Wilkerson gave an formal statement to SPD Internal Affairs.”
What retired Detective Snider neglects to mention is that when the evidence in the case began to point to Chief Meidl he put a stop to further investigation of the case and any further interviews.
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:036700f4-63f7-3d2d-9917-d2f54df01927
Retired Detective Snider, I’m sure you will read this so here is the OPO Intake Interview of CM Wilkerson which you can listen to at this link.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjPlZebSPc_fg7Inx8jwYN61JNvrLw?e=e4fX3v
“Other City Employees are not required to give statement to SPD Internal Affairs.”
Simply not true, under Garrity any City Employee can be compelled to give a statement to SPD Internal Affairs just like SPD Cops, are compelled under Garrity to give statements to HR…etc.
“Some witnesses are reluctant to give statements because SPD have charged them giving false statements.”
It appears that retired Detective Snider is trying to justify his friend Chud Wendle’s “not too enthused” response to the IA Investigation because Wendle was in fear of being charged with false statements. That is sure a stretch Detective Snider. Chud Wendle never received a lying under oath or false swearing admonishment and didn’t cooperate with the IA Investigation.
You can listen to Chud Wendle’s recorded interview at this link.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjPlZebSPc_fg7Ic31LOF10-UOqKsw?e=c6GzMR
Story Images:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:ac1ff1f9-cda4-3e81-94b3-e8580b5ad330
Buffalo Brian Breen 