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PATCH: Regarding the deadly 2020 Redmond police shooting of Andrea Churna:
"The Police chief said he had no reason to believe criminal charges would be filed in the shooting." -- Patch
The chief concludes:
"It is the Prosecutor's Office who will determine if any criminal charges will be filed against any of the officers involved. Based on what limited information I know now, I have no reason to believe this will happen. Therefore, the officers involved were returned to duty after a period of administrative leave which is protocol in these types of incidents. My heart is with Ms. Churna's family and loved ones, as well as my officers and dispatchers involved in this incident. It is a tragedy this incident had to end with a loss of life. I will continue to share updates with our community as more details become available."
According to Police Chief Darrell Lowe, a poll on the issue is one of the most successful community polls the city has had with more than 1,400 people having taken it so far. A total of 94% of respondents voted "no" to fund cameras. "One of the most successful community polls?" Hardly. The population of Redmond is ~ 65,000. 1378 votes is not statistically significant in our city. In the final poll the worm turned and ~ 87% of the respondents voted "yes" to not fund cameras.
Council should weigh the cost and define the necessity of body cameras vs. the city budget and community benefits derived without cameras. A few benefits our community could garner without the $635,000 annual expense of cameras are: Enhanced mental health training and patrols, enhanced bias training, social workers, community education forums, improved homeless care, meaningful mental health care on the street; drug intervention, sheltering outreach; upgraded SRO resources, fewer levies. As the city grows, council will have the funds to add safety FTEs. Mitigated overtime costs. I'm sure our Council could identify other benefits.
Redmond is a mostly sleepy town, compared to most other cities. Our police should feel blessed to have a beat here; Chief Lowe has the funds to hire the finest. Apparently, the most common crime in Redmond is "smash and dash" vehicular break-ins. Package and mail theft and vandalism are also common. "The Police chief said he had no reason to believe criminal charges would be filed in the Churna shooting." I hope Council has the strength to rise above politics and shepherd our city safety funds objectively.
-- Bob Yoder, opinion, 5/20/2021
Nothing in the proposal says we cannot have both the cameras Redmond citizens overwhelmingly want AND the better training many officers need, better handling of mental health and domestic violence issues, and the other factors that lower the number of lawsuits faced by the city when citizens sue the city for issues caused by city employees including the police.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Beta V. How does a poll of 1400 people voting "yes" become something Redmond citizens OVERWELMINGLY want? (On 5/21 the Redmond Reporter reported the poll showed over 80% didn't want body cameras.) I especially want more funds going into mental health care too. The average maintenance cost for an officer's camera is over $7,000 annually. Let's put our "safety" funds where we need them the most. Finally, I found the following FB post looking at body cameras from a different perspective:
ReplyDelete"Police body cams have done little to mitigate problems in policing, and unsurprisingly, when such a tool is handed to a bad police department, have been misused to target and identify protesters." Best wishes, Bob
Seattle's ex-police chief is now working for Channel 5, promoting body cams. This is why we hear biased reporting for body cams on this channel.
ReplyDeleteCities have been known to approve body cams (at a very high price) only to pay triple the cost of maintenance in three-four years.
And there will be other technology the Chief Lowe may "need" next. https://youtu.be/8b-tMTg1kpY (Bola Wrap.) [Channel 5 is promoting it.] All these devices will stress the city budget when, for several years, Fire and Police have been lobbying for a Safety levy.
If there had been body cams we would have had SOME evidence besides the police statements, as to why Andrea Churna was killed. She is the perfect example of why we need body cams in WA. Half of the police departments in the US have them; there's no reason Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Issaquah, and other suburbs here can't afford them. As to that poll, it was pulled because it was botted. When my son cast a vote, already more than 30,000 "votes" had been "cast" -- almost as many as there are registered voters in Redmond. It wasn't a legit poll.
ReplyDelete