Seattle Police and King County Sheriffs: Not BFF
The incident between Critical Mass and the King County sheriff deputies last week (which Samantha talked about before) continues to bubble up through the local media. Today, the P-I had an above the fold story highlighting how the King County Sheriffs Department is increasingly trying to do the Seattle Police Department’s job in Seattle. The SPD ain’t all that happy:
Long-simmering tensions over jurisdictional issues between Seattle police officers and King County deputies are beginning to boil over in the aftermath of last week’s highly public and controversial arrests in Belltown of two bicyclists by undercover county deputies.
Simply put, Seattle Police Officers’ Guild President Rich O’Neill said Wednesday, King County deputies should “leave the city to Seattle police.”
“The argument is they’re county deputies and the city is in the county, so they have jurisdiction,” O’Neill said. “But there’s always been a gentlemen’s agreement.”
Even Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske — while saying that the King County Sheriff’s Office technically has law enforcement jurisdiction anywhere in the county, including in Seattle — said Wednesday the issue of how and by whom Seattle streets are most effectively policed “is one that deserves further discussion.”
Note that the P-I has been doing a series this year on bad, bad KingCo sheriffs. They are the baddest law enforcers in the whole damn town, you see. So, in a sense, this bizzare incident involving Critical Mass comes on the heels of endless stories about deputies whose actions range from hyperbolic to downright criminal.
You have to wonder if at some point the SPD is going to tell the deputies that their jurisdiction ends at the city limits.
(Disclosure: I’m blogging for the P-I right now.)
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Unfortunately, I’m not sure the SPD has the legal right to do that. However, it has invited KC deputies into Seattle to police Metro Transit routes (ironically, these goons were in town for that reason, though there’s no bus route where they were), and it could certainly stop doing that, which would reduce the number of deputy-hours spent on duty within city limits quite dramatically.
What irks me most about this particular story is what appears to be a complete and utter lack of even an attempt upholding the journalistic ideal of limiting bias in reporting. Depending on where you read the story, either the bicyclists are a bunch of thugs or the cops are. The story is either: “Those damn bike riders!” or “Those damn cops!”
Both KCPD and SPD have good and bad cops, both agencies could use a good cleaning up. Both agencies should be able to be grown up enough to work out a reasonable agreement on the policing of Seattle without having to resort to territorial pissing matches.
Also, while I don’t think that cops should be dispensing beat downs, I also don’t think cyclists should be blocking traffic, either. As a pedestrian who obeys traffic rules and is routinely threatened with severe injury by people in cars AND on bikes who can’t be bothered to stop for the person on foot with the legal right away, I have very limited sympathy for the claims of suffering by any vehicle driver, whether the vehicle is powered by fuel or foot. Trust me, there is PLENTY of stupidity to go around when it comes to Seattle roads.
Um, that was legal “right of way” I meant, of course.
I agree, Zee. There’s a range in SPD between good cops and a-holes. Ditto the KingCo Sheriff’s Office. It does seem interesting, though, that you have two organizations with diverging instincts — SPD’s “live and let live” attitude towards Critical Mass and KC’s hooliganism.
I do hope that Critical Mass gets wise and sits down with SPD and the city. They could work out a deal to allow the protests to continue with an SPD presence, just as they are now in a de facto state.