An old saying goes something like this: If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make noise? The obvious answer is it surely does. The modern version of this is more relevant today: If a political body decides not to prosecute crime, does crime go down? The obvious answer is it does not … except in the minds of the fools that do this.
Or how about this one: If we stop incarcerating criminals for crimes, especially violent crimes, these criminals will behave.
That’s demonstrably proven to be false, too, unless you live in a bubble, a gated and secured neighborhood, or are assigned armed security, in which case you really have no clue.
It seems recently our current attorney general and (hopefully not) wants-to-be governor has even changed his tune, at least to get elected. But when he’s elected, he’ll be just like no new taxes Inslee and do what his liberal friends want.
So, as we’re fed all the “facts’’ telling us crime is down, you should be asking how they figure? But what they won’t consider is this: There are fewer cops in our state and nationwide, and policies making contacting suspicious behavior harder are popular with liberals these days. Why? To reduce the chances of contact with law enforcement, which might lead to conflict, and that’s of course caused by the cops. Not the behavior, even if bad by the person they contact.
Since the revelation being perpetuated by the hate cops crowd has been effective, there are not only fewer qualified applicants interested, but the same people blaming cops for years now seem unable to understand why that might be.
Recently, in Seattle, after several years of slow deliberation using the facts presented to a citizens review board, police policy review and other agencies, an officer was exonerated. After years of debating a decision he had seconds to make.
In 2020, a Seattle SWAT officer shot and killed a suspect who reportedly kidnapped a child, was armed, had committed an assault on the mother and already fired the hand gun he had.
According to the Seattle Times story reported in the Chronicle, “senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Marchesano, with the office’s Public Integrity Team, said that given what Zech likely knew when he confronted Fuhr, it was reasonable for him to fear for the safety of the child, his fellow officers and himself — and use deadly force to eliminate that threat, even though Fuhr was cradling the child.”
In addition they reported, “The city’s civilian-run Office of Police Accountability previously found Zech’s actions fell within the department’s policies. The office also dismissed complaints of biased policing — Zech is white and Fuhr was Black — and failure to de-escalate the situation before resorting to deadly force.”
So, after a number of reviews spanning years, at a cost of who knows how much, the officer was finally vindicated. I can’t imagine what he and his family went through during that time. But it’s still not over because he’s being sued in federal court, too. It’s clearly racial — the suspect was harmless; there was no need to react like this.
In other words, the suspect bears no responsibility for his actions, just the officer.
Of course, the incident caused an uproar, and despite all the clear violence the suspect was alleged to have committed, he was apparently, in reality, just a guy, and the officer should have realized that in the seconds he had to decide.
This guy was not a nice guy and had proven it before the police even were called. And that is important here. They were called and asked to deal with a very difficult, already violent individual who’d grabbed a child. His or not, that is not nice behavior in any normal society.
Back in 2020, I’m not sure our Legislature had stripped law enforcement of their limited immunity yet. But if they had, he may be personally facing all kinds of expenses and risk here.
The governor has immunity. Judges, court officers and politicians do, too. And they have something else too: years to examine debate and vilify officers with only seconds to decide.
Gee, I wonder if that is any part of the reason for the shortage of cops?
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can
