{"id":13064,"date":"2014-02-25T09:52:15","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T16:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=13064"},"modified":"2014-02-25T18:17:27","modified_gmt":"2014-02-26T01:17:27","slug":"seattle-chief-mayor-equivocate-over-rogue-cop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/seattle-chief-mayor-equivocate-over-rogue-cop\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Chief & Mayor Equivocate Over Rogue Cop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Devil or Angel? Seattle officials can’t make up their mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, Seattle officials have double reversed themselves. Unlike Bertha, the only gear they seem to have is in reverse.<\/p>\n

\"spd_officer_john_marion.\"

Seattle police officer John Marion<\/p><\/div>\n

by Carlos Miller<\/em><\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve seen so many times in the past, the Seattle Police Department waited until all the media buzz died down before reducing the disciplinary action against a police officer for threatening a citizen for taking pictures of police in public.<\/p>\n

But unlike in\u00a0previous incidents<\/a>\u00a0where the local media ignores the decision, the citizen in question was none other than Dominic Holden, editor of the alternative weekly, The Stranger, who raised so much hell through his articles that he\u00a0got a King County Sheriff\u2019s deputy fired\u00a0<\/a>for also threatening him that day.<\/p>\n

\"Dominic

Dominic Holden<\/p><\/div>\n

So Holden did what he does best when he learned about the police chief\u2019s decision to discipline Seattle police officer John Marion with \u201ctraining,\u201d instead of a one-day suspension as was the original action against the officer.<\/p>\n

He wrote about it, then bitched about it on Facebook. And that got the attention of the local television and newspaper reporters who made inquiries, including to the mayor.<\/p>\n

At first, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray defended interim police chief Harry Bailey\u2019s decision, telling reporters that it was for the better because \u201ctraining\u201d leads to \u201cchanging behavior,\u201d not taking into account that perhaps they should train the officers before they hand them a badge and a gun.<\/p>\n

But Holden did not buy into the typical political rhetoric that so many other reporters seem to buy into these days, so he called the mayor out during a press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0NBC News:<\/a><\/p>\n

(Mayor) Murray is defending Interim Police Chief Harry Bailey, who reduced the penalty of Seattle Police Officer John Marion. Marion originally got a one-day suspension for threatening to harass Dominic Holden, who is a reporter and news editor for The Stranger newspaper. The punishment was changed to Marion being required to get more training.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this could be perceived as a lesser punishment under the current legal framework, Chief Bailey believes, and I support him, that the framework for this process is reflective of what is most constructive,\u201d said the mayor. \u201cTraining. Changing behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one-day suspension, Murray says, would not be as effective because Marion, or any other officer who is suspended, could use vacation pay to make up the hours and income he would\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n

Holden says Marion was let off too easy, and argues that the officer could have been ordered to go through more training, in addition to the one-day suspension.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraining is not a punishment,\u201d said Holden. \u201cTraining is what we should be doing no matter what. What police officers do is punish people who do wrong, and we need the same standards for them as they give us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holden also says the interim chief mis-led city officials, including the mayor, by trying to pretend he had not reduced the officer\u2019s punishment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u201cThe letter you sent to the mayor and city council says you concurred with the finding of misconduct,\u201d Holden challenged Bailey during Friday\u2019s press conference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Like many veteran politicians, Murray figured that by holding a press conference on Friday, the media would report on it and forget all about following up on it by Monday.<\/p>\n

But true to his style, Holden wouldn\u2019t let it go, hammering away at the mayor and the chief on\u00a0The Stranger:<\/a><\/p>\n

Seattle interim police chief\u00a0Harry Bailey<\/strong>\u00a0was clear yesterday when he announced that he reopened a case against an officer found guilty of misconduct: He simply\u00a0lightened the penalty<\/a>. Instead of a one-day suspension, which was imposed by the last chief, Bailey gave the cop additional training. Bailey insisted to the\u00a0Seattle Times<\/em>, mayor, city council, and me that while this\u00a0penalty<\/em>\u00a0was more gentle for Officer John Marion, he had\u00a0upheld the misconduct verdict itself<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

By keeping that misconduct decision in place, Marion\u2019s record would include a demerit to be considered for any future misconduct cases.<\/p>\n

But interviews today reveal that is not what Chief Bailey did\u2014and people at the\u00a0Seattle Times<\/em>, SPD, and City Hall suggest that\u00a0Bailey\u00a0knew<\/em>\u00a0he was misleading city officials<\/strong>. Bailey informed the SPD\u2019s discipline office on Tuesday that he actually eliminated the misconduct verdict, thereby leaving Officer Marion\u2019s record unblemished.<\/p>\n

Still, Chief Bailey went on to mislead the mayor and Seattle City Council in a letter last night, which has raised\u00a0questions about the chief\u2019s honesty<\/strong>\u00a0and integrity handling 25 other cases (which he is reopening to potentially scotch additional misconduct decisions against officers).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By Monday, the mayor called another press conference, admitting he had screwed up, saying it was all a big misunderstanding.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0KIRO Radio<\/a>\u00a0in Seattle:<\/p>\n

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Monday called it a mistake to reverse the finding of misconduct against a police officer who got into an argument with a newspaper editor last summer.<\/p>\n

The admission comes after days of back-and-forth about what an appropriate punishment for Officer John Marion should be.<\/p>\n

Officer Marion had been ordered to serve a one-day suspension for an incident involving\u00a0The Stranger\u2019s<\/i>\u00a0Dominic Holden, during which he was caught on tape telling Holden he would come to his place of work to bother him. The discipline came with a finding of misconduct that would have gone on Marion\u2019s personnel file.<\/p>\n

Last week, the department came under fire after it was reported that newly-appointed Interim Police Chief Harry Bailey had reversed the finding of misconduct against Marion, instead ordering him to undergo additional training to help change his behavior.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Holden summed up it nicely in\u00a0his piece\u00a0<\/a>Monday morning:<\/p>\n

This flip-flop sends a broader message. When Officer Marion and the police union first wanted this misconduct finding reversed last week, they got it. Yet when, in response, the public, politicians, and media kicked up dirt about this individual case, the officer got in trouble again. But the public doesn\u2019t hear about most cases, and in those instances, apparently the police union can steamroll the process, get the mayor and chief to cave, and reverse punishment. That\u2019s a backward precedent. It suggests that\u00a0political winds and subjective whims trump actual rules for misconduct<\/strong>. That leads victims to believe their complaints won\u2019t get a fair shake and for the public to believe, the in the mayor\u2019s own words, we have \u201cthe opposite of reform.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Without a doubt, the media played a huge role in this reversal but even more so, the people who not only read and commented on his columns, but shared them through social media sites to the point where it just became way too embarrassing for the mayor and chief.<\/p>\n

Good job, Dominic!<\/p>\n

Check out the initial press conference where he is more upset about the \u201cleak\u201d that allowed the media to know how they tried to mislead the people. And also note how the reporters made him squirm. Great stuff!<\/p>\n