It just continues to be HSS (Hilarious Spokane Stuff)!

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/mar/07/leader-of-spokane-police-advisory-group-resigns-sa/

 

The Police Leadership Advisory Committee was never intended to be anything other than a sound good, feel good attempt at placating the public after the Mayor Condon’s political decision to hire Frank Straub. If it takes a committee to figure out what qualities are necessary for a new Chief of the Spokane Police Department what does that really say about how are City is being run?

 

BACKGROUND:

 

It was this case that was the impetus for the Regional Center for Child Abuse & Neglect where Mary Ann Murphy got her start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial

 

The Regional Center for Child Abuse & Neglect eventually ended up as it is currently, its history and some facts are linked below.

http://www.partnerswithfamilies.org/historyfunding.html

http://www.partnerswithfamilies.org/forensic.html

http://www.partnerswithfamilies.org/partnersboard.html

http://www.partnerswithfamilies.org/partnersstaff.html

 

I had quite a bit of involvement back in my day with both Mary Ann Murphy and the gal that was from the beginning, and continues to be the forensic interviewer, Karen Winston. I respected both women and always believed their hearts were in the right place. We did of course have disagreements but they were the typical Cop vs CPS worker type of disagreements, the Cop wanting the kid’s placed and out of the home and the CPS workers disagreeing. Needless to say I didn’t really enjoy the “Staffing’s” involving some of my cases.

I think the biggest disagreement we had was when the Spokane County Prosecutor got beat really bad in a child abuse case because of a videotaped interview conducted by Karen Winston that was presented in court, so the prosecutor put pressure on Murphy and Winston to stop recording the Forensic Interviews. My position was of course BS; the video recordings offer the best evidence of what transpired in the Forensic Interview. At that time, and I don’t know if it is true today the RCCAN stopped recording the Forensic Interviews. I should add that the recording of the interview showed that Karen Winston actually did a very good job in the interview.

The idea of having an independent Forensic Interview of a child done was based primarily on the mistaken concept that Cops are too intimidating, and lousy child interviewers, which like everything else completely depends on the Cop. Don’t get me wrong I was all in favor of the RCCAN and gave them some strokes when I wrote SPD’s Investigation Manual. I always enjoyed giving Karen Winston a hard time about her growing up in comparison to mine. If she reads this she will know exactly what I’m talking about.

 

So there is some Background that will hopefully add some perspective.

 

 

Mary Ann Murphy is right on target regarding the appointment of James A. McDevitt, for a number of reasons. People should be asking just exactly what is McDevitt’s job, what is his job description, did civil service provide a waiver, can the City Council stop the appointment and are they willing to…and on, and on.

This Story ran in the SR back on February 12^th, 2016. Ever wonder where the follow-up story is?

 

“McDevitt’s appointment has also raised some more logistical questions from the City Council. Council president Ben Stuckart submitted a letter to Condon following a Public Safety Committee meeting Monday with seven questions about how the role will work.”

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/feb/12/mcdevitt-appointment-as-interim-spokane-police-lea/

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/4cbd2646-f9da-4378-b459-cb55b6a03c3a

 

This is about the extent of what we know at this point, which isn’t much and we need to hear from the City Council.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/sirens/2016/feb/19/condon-responds-questions-about-police-director-appointment/

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/6e75ea07-abe6-4f31-a383-2fe622a6fb1c

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/77f0b877-fdce-42f8-a5cf-21c58ecc548c

 

I’ll see what I can do;

 

Mary Ann Murphy was quite wrong about having Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich take over SPD, but that is attributable to a lack of understanding that many of the same problems SPD is facing also are being faced by the SCSO, and media popularity doesn’t a leader make.

 

This comment to the SR story is partially correct;

 

Mary Ann Murphy has been an asset to the Community, and she was/is totally out of this arena. There is wide spread speculation that Tim Schwering will be Condon’s choice for the new Police Chief, however I’m not so sure, since there is quite a bit of background available regarding Schwering including some that James McDevitt must have knowledge of from his time as the local US Attorney, and Schwering’s time at SPD as head of IA speaks for itself. I doubt Condon would take the risk but who knows.

 

Most people, like Mary Ann Murphy, are not familiar with the background of the idea of a Metro PD, well here are some facts for you:

 

“Condon acknowledges he is already moving forward with parts of his own consolidation plan. He told The Inlander that he has directed the police department to begin figuring out how to merge its dispatch services, training academies and drug units with the county.”

 

http://www.inlander.com/spokane/one-super-agency/Content?oid=2138930

 

“Mielke added, “We are encouraged regarding Mr. Straub’s background in serving a community with a regional law enforcement effort. We believe his experience and perspective will be vital in our ongoing discussions about how best to provide law enforcement services to the citizens of this region.”

 

http://www.khq.com/story/19346043/city-of-spokane

 

Condon said that among the key elements he was looking for in a new chief was someone with a background in “metro policing models,” something that Straub implemented during his tenure as public safety director in Indianapolis.

 

http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-news/Embattled-Indianapolis-public-safety-director-considering-Spokane-Police-Chief-role/15376998

 

So where did the idea come from? Well not David Condon I assure you his comments were more of a justification rather than reality. The idea of a Regional/ Metro PD has been around for years. It really got hot and heavy in 1971 when we moved from the Downtown Police Station at 242 West Riverside to the Public Safety Building. It hasn’t happened and likely won’t in my lifetime primarily because of all the politics involved.

 

So there are some FACTS for you folks, there is considerably more of course!

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!

 

 

OR IS IT???

 

UPDATE!! UPDATE!! UPDATE!!

As it turns out not so “Odd”…as expected.

I figured at some point I would be updating this story, and was confident that the SR wouldn’t provide any background to their stories.

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2016/may/26/former-mayor-dennis-hession-leaves-law-firm-continues-work-city-hall-investigation/

 

I wonder if Kutak Rock LLP was worried about the insurance they were required to carry with the contract if Hession was involved. Whether they were or not chances are we will be on the hook if something goes down the toilet.

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d3ddcc40-4a32-45ad-87a2-3e82185c182e

You might notice that it was Roy J Koegen of River Park Square Case fame, who is now with Kutak Rock, signed the contract.

Since Hession is no longer with Kutak Rock that must mean a new contract directly with Hession, which will be interesting to read.

I gave a presentation to a nice group of folks recently who wanted to know why I started this news sight. This might help to explain why…someone has to get the truth and the facts to the people of Spokane.

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!

 

________________________________

 

 

 

As a true Spokanite who has lived here all my life, I have noticed that for some reason everything seems to evolve in a circular fashion with the same players always returning to involvement in controversy.

This short and sweet SR story announcing that former Mayor Dennis Hession will be the overseer of our defense against the Straub lawsuit makes me wonder.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/mar/01/former-spokane-mayor-dennis-hession-to-help-overse/

 

People from outside of Spokane I’m sure would think it is odd that Mayor Condon has chosen Dennis Hession to run our defense of the Straub lawsuit given his background as Mayor of the City of Spokane and everything that transpired during his term. In reality this is SOP for our City and few people understand.

 

I think we should take a look at some of the facts that would bring most people to the conclusion the choice was odd at best, keeping in mind that again this whole thing involves management of the Spokane Police Department. In defense of some of the young reporters that give you most of your news today, most were still in college learning how to be reporters when a lot of this went on, but the true background is and always has been easily available to them.

 

For people that don’t recall Dennis Hession was appointed by the City Council as our Mayor Pro Tem when Jim West was recalled, he was then officially appointed Mayor on January 3^rd, 2006 to complete West’s term. He ran for election as Spokane’s Mayor against Mary Verner who eventually won and was sworn in on November 9^th, 2007. Verner actually inherited the mess left by the Hession Administration during his short term, the least of which was the Otto Zehm case and cover-up which started on March 18^th, 2006.

 

This Inlander Article from July 19^th, 2006 to an extent sums things up, and I have to ask how many times since 2006 have we heard over and over the same thing in Hession’s quote from the story?

 

“When we have mistakes that call into question the credibility of the Police Department, we need to act,” Hession said at his news conference.

 

http://www.inlander.com/spokane/cop-watch/Content?oid=2128530

 

What I intend to do is just hit some of the highlights regarding Hession, and I’ll leave out most of the facts concerning Hession and Rocky Treppiedi who was handling the Zehm case for Hession.

Back in 2006 Tom Clouse along with Bill Morlin, Benjamin Shors and Jody Lawrence-Turner started to put together facts and a timeline which includes information regarding Hession. Tom Clouse who did all of the primary reporting on the Zehm case but was transferred to Sports after what I have heard was a tiff between Clouse and his bosses over the Zehm case coverage. Bill Morlin retired, Benjamin Shors is at WSU, and Jody Lawrence-Turner is still with the SR. All of them would be great resources for young reporters working today.

 

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=20061005&id=zsRYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X_MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6710,4519397&hl=en

 

Here are some more links that provide some background:

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/jul/18/mayor-looks-outside/

http://www.spokesman.com/topics/otto-zehm/

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/oct/05/new-evidence-delays-zehm-decision/

http://www.spokesman.com/topics/otto-zehm/?page=16

 

 

Dennis Hession’s start at looking into SPD didn’t get off to a good start:

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/jul/28/expert-quits-police-probes/

 

The failed attempt to hire Don Pierce ended with Hession’s hiring of another consultant Mike Worley.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/oct/27/big-changes-urged-for-police-review/

 

“The review brings closure to this case,” Kirkpatrick said.

 

The statement by Kirkpatrick in the story above could not have been further from the truth as history has proven.

 

I’m pretty sure I’m one of the very few people who at the time actually studied the Worley report which did offer some solid points most of which were for the most part ignored by SPD. I have mentioned the Worley report a number of times in the past so here it is for you folks to review.

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/c3af23ed-4817-4001-8881-cd640ab1602c

 

I have always wondered what ever happened to the money that was left over:

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/25/consultant-poised-for-zehm-case-review/

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/25/consultant-poised-for-zehm-case-review/comments/

 

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

 

 

THE TRANSPARENCY ISSUE:

 

During Hession’s time as Mayor many folks, including myself, did not care for his administrations lack of transparency. One of the things that chapped me were his efforts to keep “The Matrix Report” from public scrutiny. We even paid a PR firm to guide Hession through the inevitable roll-out as he knew that at some point he would have to deal with the report which reflected very negatively on his administration. Back in the day when the SR actually did some investigative reporting and the Matrix Report was leaked, now long in the tooth reporter,  Mike Prager did some good reporting on the lack of transparency.

 

 

 

City documents obtained Thursday by the newspaper showed that Hession had been carefully planning an “efficiency study roll-out,” and was provided with elusive responses to politically sensitive questions.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2007/jan/30/act-on-reforms-council-says/

 

 

When the newspaper published a draft of the Matrix study on its Web site at midday on Jan. 17, Hession called a news conference for 3 p.m. where he defended the decision not to release the study because, he said, it had errors that needed to be corrected first.

During the news conference, Hession repeated a major talking point by saying, “We looked at this issue as a way to benefit the public interest, and to find a way to better deliver service and also to return better value to our citizens for the dollars they give us.”

Hession’s legal department rejected a Jan. 3 open records request from the newspaper seeking a copy of the Matrix report because, an assistant city attorney said, it was a “preliminary draft” exempt from disclosure under state law.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2007/jan/26/mayor-took-pr-firms-cues/

 

As far as The Matrix Report is concerned it only really came up once as far as our current Mayor is concerned and that was in the story below by Johnathan Brunt who had the perfect opportunity to question Condon about a lot of other aspects concerning the report that have an impact on what we are dealing with today. In fairness it would have been hard for Brunt to realize the significance.

 

22. A consultant hired by the city to review city services in 2006 said that the city was not investing enough in its urban forest. Should the city do more to plant and maintain street trees? If so, how?

The City should optimize current budget for urban forestry. The Matrix report had many recommendations that have been largely ignored by the current administration. City development guidelines currently require tree placement for most new development or significant changes to existing buildings. The city should use those guidelines to partner with citizens to improve the City’s urban forest.

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jul/14/q-david-condon-running-spokane-mayor/

 

As most folks know I have continually tried to point to The Matrix Report and its importance as it relates to what we have today. I hope Rachel Alexander reads this story of mine.

 

The SPD seems to be having a great deal of difficulty fulfilling Recommendation 10.5 of the COPS/DOJ Report. You can make your own guess as to why they are having difficulties, but you should keep this in mind, having an independent staffing analysis done on a law enforcement agency is done all the time is nothing new. It is obvious, to me at least, that when the consultants from COPS/DOJ did their thing the obvious hit them right in the face… “There is something wrong here!”.

___________________________________

 Finding 10.5

In progress

Interviewees from both the community and the SPD noted that a lack of adequate staffing directly impacts the SPD’s ability to conduct community outreach and improve police-community relationships.

Recommendation

SPD should conduct a staffing analysis to determine if the department is meeting its operational needs and has an adequate amount of staff to ensure its continued mission, objectives and community policing principles.

Status:

The Office of Justice Program’s Diagnostic Center will provide technical assistance to SPD to analyze its workload. The panel studying this met on June 12, 2015 and held additional meetings in July.

View the full report »

 __________________________________

 

 

The Facts Are That HESSION’S Matrix Report DID EXACTLY WHAT COPS/DOJ Recommended!

 

IMO, not much has changed since the Matrix Report and as a matter of fact things have gotten worse starting in 2012 when all kinds of fluff programs came into existence with Mayor Condon and Frank Straub. I am getting tired of repeating it, but I’ll do it again. SPD’s COMPSTAT DATA IS BUNK! The only real data that was helpful from the standpoint of oversight and evaluating how SPD was doing was the AIM (Accountability Information Management System), which we paid for, and was quickly eliminated once Frank Straub hit town.

The Inlander in this story is just starting to get to the bottom of the BUNK STUFF.

 

http://www.inlander.com/spokane/stealing-washington/Content?oid=2706900

 

 

Here is a copy of the SPD portion of Hession’s Matrix Report for you to review.

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d5ab5c1b-99c9-46a0-885a-bf1d7c7591a0

 

 

 

If you were to compare the AIM Data to the Matrix Report, as I have, you would find that nothing changed…but that is for another day.

 

 

 

With all the controversy surrounding the Condon Administration I thought it real odd that he would choose the local office of Omaha based Kutak Rock LLP to handle this job, a job which just adds more lawyers and more expense, especially with Hession’s background and the involvement of another lawyer in that firm Roy J Koegen who was the bond attorney during the River Park Square Case.

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/a9a24654-a669-444c-b1f9-17e8246a02a5

 

But in retrospect…maybe not so odd!

 

I’ll stop here for today…lots to digest.

 

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!

 

I am beginning to feel at least a bit of accomplishment as far as pushing SPD and the Condon Administration into real transparency, however it is still a struggle, and may require me going deep into my Plan Book, but we will keep at it.

 

Both Laurie Farnsworth and Terri Pfister have been going beyond regular work hours to take care of not only my PRRs but also that of many other media and private citizens. The cause of course for those efforts is the lack of transparency on the part of the Condon Administration and SPD.

At 6:45 PM last evening I received a fairly responsive email from Laurie Farnsworth regarding my PRR request for the IA Cases regarding Mell and Lydia Taylor. Note from the images below that SPD IA has now changed the estimate of when I will receive the documents from July 15^th to March 7^th.

Notice from the email exchange below the link Ms. Farnsworth provides to IA Report 13-101 on the SPD IA Website. That same link was provided to reporters back in April 2015.

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d9aeb65a-4b8c-4cc7-99c6-fcb16c9555f4

 

This is the IA Report Ms. Farnsworth linked:

 

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/fb5d3042-6ade-4798-bce0-33258b6d543d

 

Obviously the improper redaction of the two Detectives names saved them and SPD some embarrassment regarding the escape of Ryan Bronowski and what transpired after his escape.

 

Here is a little bit of background regarding the Bronowski escape:

 

 

“When detectives left the room where Bronowski was questioned last week, the 24-year-old broke free of his handcuffs and fled the building where he was being held, according to court records. Bronowski was picked up and booked into jail late Saturday on charges of car theft, robbery, burglary and escaping police custody, according to jail records.”

 

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/nov/06/in-brief-driver-flees-after-crashing-car-onto/

 

 

 

 

At this point Officer Teresa Fuller continues to ignore me…BUT I have learned that I’m not the only one she is ignoring. When people start asking the tough questions she seems to kind of disappear, since she reports directly to the Chief of Police, and in this case Interim, Chief of Police Meidl one has to wonder what the cause of the disappearing act actually is.

 

After many years of doing investigations some Investigators and Investigative Reporters develop an intuition, or since of smell if you will for when something is not Kosher. I think my readers realize that sense of smell kicked in with me long ago regarding the relationship between Frank Straub, the Taylors, and some aspects of current events at SPD. When you get that smell, whether you end up being right or wrong you have to follow-up on it.

 

 

 

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!

 THIS JUST IN!!

So as you all know I have NOT received all of the Nissen Affidavits I am entitled to on the both the Condon/Straub case, but also the Lynden Smithson case. I have previously explained their importance and I just received this email from Terri Pfister explaining, aside from in inadequate PRR systems, the City thinks they have to fight it out with the Unions.

 

You might remember that Lynden Smithson, and Justin Bingham refused to provide Nissen Affidavits, and I’ve never received their text messages…so here is the scoop below!

I have to tell you I honestly feel sorry for Terri Pfister…the poor gal is getting it from both sides!

 

 

 

 

 

Keep in mind that violating established law is not a good idea for lawyers.

 

 

I REPORT YOU DECIDE…OR LAUGH…OR CRY…OR SWEAR!