By: RBT
Ron the Cop

As I just released to members of the local media, this blockage of emails by Spokane PD has a very chilling effect.

[Email sent to local media]

To All:

My email to Spokane City Clerk Terri Pfister is self-explanatory. As members of the press/media who are dependent on the transparency of government – re filing PDRs, I would think this would be of interest to you and your readers/viewers.

Here’s Ms. Pfister’s earlier email to me:

Mr. Wright:

Yes, we are receiving your emails. As to the systems breakdown, you’ll be getting a more formal response from the City’s Attorney’s Office.

Regards,

Terri L. Pfister, MMC
Spokane City Clerk
808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
Spokane, WA 99201-3342
(509) 625-6354
(509) 625-6217 (fax)
[email protected]

The emails that underlay KREM2’s “Cage Fight“ investigative report were very illuminating in decisions that were made by police administrators and the County Prosecutor’s Office in the Creach OIS. If the City is free to block emails at the whim of City administrators, this begs the question of whether other emails messages within the City have been compromised.

Ron Wright

read more…

Update: An email that just came in…

The below email record can be freely attributed to me with my links to references/sources.

As members of the press that have been following the Creach OIS investigation, I would think you would have an interest in these developments to inform your viewers and readers. In other media markets there would be a media feeding frenzy.

What is the reluctance to cover this story? Is it because you don’t won’t to offend the power elite in this town as I and others have alleged in fear of retribution/realization because of potential business and ad revenue losses? If so your shirking in your responsibility to the citizens of Spokane.

If what I’ve said is wrong or in error in anyway as Mr. Shook has said, please let me know and I will immediately correct/apologize for my mistake/error.

Further why is the local media so willing to give Steve Tucker a pass and wide birth on these issues. Perhaps as my sources tell me some investigative reporting is in order to see how he spends his day. I don’t think the citizens of the City and County of Spokane are getting their money’s worth.

Unfortunately Tucker was just returned to office as the local media has been reluctant to inform its readers/viewers of what I have alleged re his malfeasance in office. Either through incompetence or knowingly he rendered criminal assistance to a criminal enterprise as both Sheriff Bamonte and I have charged. Without an informed electorate how are they to hold Tucker accountable?

I’m anxiously waiting for some one to step up to the plate and cover these stories.

Ron Wright

———- Forwarded message ———-

December 22, 2010

Asst. Chief Jim Nicks
Spokane PD

Re: SPD blockage of incoming emails

Dear Chief Nicks:

Thank you ever so much for your quick response. I too as Mr. Shook await the City’s response to the issue of our emails being blocked by City officials. I would also like to know who briefed you and what they told you. As I said this is very chilling regarding the altering, manipulating, controlling and or deleting the official record of the City of Spokane.

My old guard sources of the SPD say you are a nice guy. Sometimes being a nice guy seeking to please everyone interferes with doing the right thing. In my view from the outside what SPD is lacking is strong and effective police leadership that will lead the rank and file to do the right thing. The Police Guild isn’t without fault either. Even though I believe the Guild has valid issues regarding Chief Kirkpatrick in following established rules/procedures in disciplinary actions against officers and OIS investigation procedures, the Guild has not handled this well. The Guild has retreated to a position of them vs. us which does no one any good. The Guild needs the support of the citizens to accomplish the much needed changes in police leadership, to secure adequate police resources and equitable wages/benefits.

The reason why in my opinion is our City leaders have failed to act to make these needed/necessary changes in police leadership and provision of resources is because of the systemic corruption in this town by an ongoing criminal enterprise that sucks the life’s blood out of this City for its own personal benefit. A police force that would work to excise this corruption from our midst can’t be tolerated by the power elite. This is the nature of organized crime and its continued existence. It must be destroyed.

Because of the good old boy nature of doing business in this town, there is a high cost of entry into this regional market that is a significant disincentive for clean businesses to locate here. Those business already here that benefit from this arrangement if they do speak out will be crushed. The fallout that affects all of us is a low prevailing wage base that unless you are a professional e.g., academician/educator, doctor/health professional and or attorney makes it very hard to earn a decent wage.

My biases and affection strongly lie with the police rank and file who are for the most part doing an excellent job with the limited resources that they are provided. I too am fully aware of what the consequences are when front line troops are starved of resources and understaffed. I was president of our police association when we experienced a very tragic shooting (Tyisha Miller) that in my opinion was the fundamental result of the then chief of police caving to the will of the city manager and implementing Community Oriented Policing on a dime without being honest with the citizens as to the true costs. This went well beyond the normal financial checks and balances of City government.

Unfortunately in City of Spokane because of the rampant fraud, waste and abuse, can’t provide the essential public services that WE THE PEOPLE are paying. I will name just a few the RPS Bond Frauds ($87 million dollar swindle of public funds), the AMR Billing Fraud, the Bank of Hein (AKA the Solid Waste Reserve Fund with $50 million in off budget funds), the cover up of the Savage manslaughter death in the RPS Parking Garage (See RPS Table of Evidence Item RW26), the Waste to Energy boondoggle where the City is raping rate payers esp. County residents to subsidize other City expenses, need I say it’s not an emergency event that it snows in Spokane and most recently the Council’s action to raise the fees for City utility services for the purpose of increasing the revenue from the City’s utility tax to balance the budget without regard to the cost of supplying those services.

The Creach family sought me out regarding the tragic death of their father. I am assisting them to gather information. Even though I do have a CA PI License, I’m doing this for free of charge except for fees I incur. I doing this as a public service because of my special skills and talents as a CITIZEN purely for academic reasons and to improve the quality of law enforcement in this community I’ve CHOSEN to retire in. Further as a taxpayer I will not walk in Downtown with a sign on my back saying, “SUCKER – ROB ME!” I will openly speak out. I will not go silently into that good night.

I’m preparing for Sheriff Knezovich and WSP Sgt. Ken Wade a report and analysis of the Creach OIS investigation. As I emailed Sheriff Knezovich after a recent phone call:

Yes it is correct, I was never the lead investigator in an OIS but I was involved in many assisting roles including as the police union president representing the legal rights of Riverside PD officers. Riverside PD is an agency of over 500 sworn/civilian personnel. It was during the service of one of my search warrant that our SWAT unit shot the suspect with gun in hand as he was approaching the front door. Fortunately because of my intel and tactical planning no officers were injured. My agency, the Riverside Police Department, has had several famous and/or infamous cases in it’s history – The Norco Bank Robbery, the Tyisha Miller shooting, and the hostage situation where members of our City Council were shot in a room adjacent to the City Council Chambers [Among many others].

During my career I’ve worked many very complex criminal investigations requiring a wide range of investigative skills. It was my skills that were directly responsible for the identification and subsequent arrest of a suspect that ran over a young woman with her own car that he was in the process of stealing. During my thirty-five year career we lost six officers to gun related murders. Four officer were lost in two separate ambush related shootings. We just lost another officer two months ago. See RPD Remembers and this YouTube. These deaths do not include the officers lost by surrounding law enforcement agencies in the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino. I am very aware and sensitive to the dangers that officer face re ambush related shootings. From my reading of the reports, SCSO has commendably begun ambush related training after the slaying of the four officers on the Westside.

As I wrote Sheriff Knezovich:

As I’ve said it’s my professional opinion that SPD’s work product as handed off to Tucker was incomplete, flawed and perhaps compromised:

My biases definitely lie with the police rank/file. Having said that I would like more information re the OIS involving the rock knife. Perhaps the officer was presented with a no win solution. As for the Creach OIS having read the 700 page redacted report, the ME Report, and viewed the autopsy photos/crime scene photos, in my professional opinion the report as handed off to the County Prosecutor was incomplete, flawed and perhaps compromised with many issues left unaddressed and or unanswered.

Based on Dep. Hirzel’s statements and the forensics I would want to do further investigation to close these gaps and to clarify/corroborate Dep. Hirzel’s statements before I handed of this case for a criminal review. And most assuredly during the IA review.

In no way do I wish to be dismissive of the Creach OIS investigators but perhaps because of lack of experience and especially political pressure, this investigation appears to have been rushed. The KREM2 Report of the “Cage Fight” ( http://tinyurl.com/2585xj4 ) suggests this rushing to hand off the Creach case had more to do with meeting the political agenda of Steve Tucker than actually seeking the truth in this OIS.

The importance of doing A+ level work in OIS investigation is not only for the criminal aspects but more importantly for the internal review and to mitigate subsequent/future civil damages. In short we are not perfect and will make mistakes and I have made many. It’s important that we recognized our mistakes and to change police policy, procedure, practice and training when necessary to lessen their occurrence in the future. If we don’t, we run the risk of significant civil damage awards. If we are not transparent and close ranks in these OIS/death investigations, we run the risk of what in my opinion is what happened in the Otto Zehm Case. Mistakes were made that should have been recognized, apologies given to the family, paid wrongful death damages and changed policy, procedure and training. Instead the City dug its heels and perhaps concealed certain information and said we did nothing wrong. I might add the US Attorney’s Office was not please with the legal actions/advice of Mr. Treppiedi your legal counsel. In my opinion in the end I will be surprised if a jury finds that Ofc. Thompson acted with such intent that he criminally violated the civil rights of Zehm. There appears however there was an active cover up in this case either from simply looking the other way or more deliberate with false statements to criminal investigators, that a jury may find grounds to convict.

Chief Nicks, this is all about securing and maintaining the public trust, transparency, and confidence of our local law enforcement. Whether these recent OIS/death investigations have been A+ level work or not, the public’s perception is that in some cases they have not been and that’s what matters. With my understanding of the federal investigation into the Zehm death case and my reading of the Creach OIS work product, I would have to somewhat agree. Our police are not a standing army and the rules of engagement are quite different. In order to police effectively we must have the trust and confidence of the citizens. After all in the end, We are the police and the police our us.

Chief Nicks I know your nearing the end of your active law enforcement career. I would not want your years of service tarnished by the actions of others that may act to scapegoat you. Further while you say you rely on the advice of the City Attorney’s Office, I would strongly caution to seek additional legal advice elsewhere. As both Sheriff Bamonte and I discovered in our RICO investigation, the City Attorney’s Office is and continues to be complicit in the RPS Bond Frauds et al to the point of being a chargeable entity in a future civil RICO complaint.

In closing as a professional law enforcement colleague, I would expect you to do the right thing as we all are sworn to serve and protect the citizen – as we are all sheepdogs that protect the flock of sheep from predators that would prey on them. In Spokane I’m sorry to report the wolves have been left to guard the flock that will rape and pillage at will.

Sincerely yours,

Det. Ron Wright (Retired)

PS MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Larry Shook
Date: Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 12:06 AM
Subject: Re: Asst. Chief Nicks – UPDATE – Re emails being blocked by Spokane PD
To: “Nicks, Jim”

Mr. Nicks: Please tell me what specific information you are referring to and who provided it to you. I am concerned that you may have intentionally been provided with misleading information about a matter touching on serious allegations of official misconduct made by highly credentialed law enforcement veterans. Again, these allegations concern the failure of your and other law enforcement agencies to properly investigate criminal complaints concerning first-degree manslaughter and fraud. Further, with this message you appear to acknowledge that you presented inaccurate information at a public proceeding. I believe it is now incumbent upon you to provide a detailed public correction of this misinformation. Please also provide me with a record of your doing so. Thank you. Sincerely, Larry Shook

On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 10:55 PM, Nicks, Jim wrote:

Mr. Wright,

The information that I provided during the Monday Public Safety Committee meeting was consistent with the information that had recently been provided to me. Any clarification that may need to occur will be done through the Mayor’s Office or by the City Attorney.

Jim Nicks

——————

December 21, 2010

Asst. Chief Jim Nicks
Spokane PD

Re: SPD blockage of incoming emails

Dear Chief Nicks,

I didn’t take the opportunity to introduce myself at the Public Safety Committee meeting yesterday. It was my emails that were intercepted by the MIS’s Baracuda email server firewall program that Mr. Apple was discussing.

I’m sorry that I was so blunt in my email below to Ms. Pfister and Mr. Burns that I cc’d the Mayor and Council in which I characterized your comments re this issue as being very disingenuous. I have in my possession conclusive forensic evidence that Chief Kirkpatrick previously did contact MIS Chief Garv Brakel to block emails from Larry Shook, an award winning investigative reporter. I’m suspicious that my emails to PD specific email addresses were blocked at the same time.

I discussed my knowledge of this previous incident in my first email to Mayor Verner, City Council and Ms. Pfister that your were not a recipient. This is why I thought your reply was disingenuous.

In all fairness you may have had no knowledge of this previous incident. Or of the fact that former Sheriff Tony Bamonte and I have pending complaints with OPO Tim Burns alleging malfeasance in office by Chief Kirkpatrick. The blockage of emails into PD specific internal IP/email addresses generally requires root level access to the email server by a SysOP with administrative privileges. This is what happened in the prior incident when Mr. Shook’s email were blocked.

For further on Mr. Shook’s incident see the email trail below and read his explanation here. As I wrote Mayor Verner and Council demanding an immediate investigation by an outside computer forensic expert since high level MIS are involved:

This is very chilling as I addressed in my email to Ms. Pfister. The effect is that the official record is being distorted, manipulated and or concealed from elected representatives and citizens.

As I wrote Ms. Quick [sic Pfister] earlier today:

Further I would expect no harm will come to Ms. Quick re her frankness in her emails to me as she was just doing her job as I would expect her to do.

I’m currently preparing a letter to the Mayor and City Council on this chilling revelation.

For the record to all recipients of this email, both former Sheriff Bamonte and I have separate pending complaints with SPD OPO Tim Burns alleging malfeasance in office by Chief Kirkpatrick. Sheriff Bamonte and I are both continuing to compile an evidenciary record to substantiate our complaints. The interference/manipulation/quarantining of our emails could be construed as specific intent to alter the official record to conceal evidence of our charges.

I suggest, Chief Nicks, that you meet and discuss this with Chief Kirkpatrick so you’re fully informed on this issue. Further your testimony before the Public Safety Committee had the effect of misleading Councilmembers and that you act to correct your testimony re emails being blocked by SPD.

For the record I should inform you that Sheriff Bamonte and I are jointly preparing a civil RICO action re activities of City elected/appointed officials that were complicit in the collective RPS Bond Frauds that now total some $87 million dollars in taxpayer money. See my RICO Report attached.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Sincerely,

Det. Ron Wright (Retired)