“We really don’t have a future if we try to remain status quo,” David Timmons, Acting Executive Director of the Fort Worden Public Development Authority told its Board of Directors at their December 9, 2020, special meeting. The PDA will run out of money in several weeks. It needs over $1.5 million to cover operating and capital costs over the next six to seven months, and then it will face over $1 million a year in maintenance costs while the hospitality industry, its major source of funds, recovers from COVID lockdowns.
Timmons recommended that to survive the PDA privatize its hospitality and facilities operations as two separate nonprofit corporations. The Board unanimously authorized him to proceed with preparing a more formalized plan that will be presented at its December 16 regular meeting.
Timmons so far has worked more than minor miracles with the PDA’s disastrous financial situation. He has succeeded in obtaining deferments of major loans with Kitsap Bank. Historic Tax Credits will be secured. A $200,000 donation is helping with operating costs, though it is not enough to stave off impending collapse on the the PDA’s current course. Maker’s Square is anticipated to be ready for occupancy within weeks. Washington State Parks is considering stepping in to take over major maintenance needs, at least for the short term. Centrum is considering partnering on Maker’s Square. The KPTZ lease is on track. Operations have been curtailed, buildings closed and staff furloughed to cut expenses.
“Things are starting to fall in place,” said Timmons, but “the big items” are still unresolved. The biggest item is the need for money just to stay afloat. Taking out a line of credit would be one solution. But that is not possible.
“We’re just not credit worthy,” Timmons told the Board. The PDA cannot realistically expect to secure more loans. At best, its millions in outstanding debt payments are being deferred. A completely new corporate entity is required if there is to be any chance of attracting investors who will provide desperately needed new funds.
“We don’t have a workable business plan in place right now,” he said. The COVID crisis destroyed the PDA’s hospitality business, which had already been struggling with huge maintenance and repair costs on the historic facility.
Timmons’s recommendation would create a new nonprofit corporation to run the hospitality side of the PDA’s activities. It would operate under a long term franchise agreement, with the PDA retaining control over the real estate, which, in turn, is leased State Parks property. Phase two would see a nonprofit corporation created to maintain and repair Fort Worden’s buildings.
“Bankruptcy would be easier,” said Treasurer Jeffrey Jackson, but this is the best hope for keeping the PDA alive.
Even with the privatization of hospitality and maintenance operations, the PDA’s future remains very shaky. It must find–very quickly, said Timmons–investors to extend $1.5 million in new loans. That’s going to be “a leap of faith,” according to Timmons.
The PDA has millions in debt and is facing an accountability audit by the State Auditor that will look closely at issues of fiscal malfeasance. Criminal investigators were called in after abuse of credit cards was discovered. Over a million dollars in dedicated loan funds were diverted to cover other expenses, while the Board appears to have been purposefully kept in the dark.
Timmons stepped in after CEO Dave Robison was stripped of responsibilities then retired.
The bridge loans will almost certainly require a guarantor. The City of Port Townsend has been approached to guarantee $900,000 of loans needed for capital projects. No commitment has been made. Mayor Michelle Sandoval was one of the on-line attendees at the special meeting but said nothing more than letting the BOD know she was listening.
The City created the PDA a decade ago. With 170 jobs at its peak, Fort Worden PDA became one of the area’s major employers. It grew rapidly from nothing in 2014 to $7 million in revenue in 2019.
The City is facing its own dire financial situation. It is over $17 million in debt and is experiencing reduced tax revenues. It has slashed its 2021 budget and projects continued depressed revenues. [At the same time, as we have reported, the City has ignored an offer of $1 million cash to bail it out of the failed Cherry Street Project. That sum would be more than enough to back up a loan guarantee to keep the PDA afloat during the coming critical months.]
Board member and past Chair Cindy Finnie questioned whether it was realistic to believe that State Parks would step in to cover the enormous maintenance cost of Fort Worden’s old buildings. “This is our Achilles heel,” she said. The hospitality side of the business depends on a facility that is attractive to visitors. She cautioned the Board to include in its forecasts added expenses when it came time to ramp up operations for the Summer season. Timmons has repeatedly informed the Board that the aging infrastructure is beyond repair stage, and frequently needs complete replacement.
Timmons’ effort to obtain a partner for the Maker’s Square project addresses what–to this author and a business consultant who has studied the project–may have been a fatal shortcoming in its business plan from the beginning. The comparative models of other makers enterprises that were used to evaluate Maker’s Square’s potential for success had major funding partners, including government entities, or other support systems. None operated as municipal corporations, which the PDA is. Those operations did not rely on significant income from food and hospitality. Maker’s Square’s business model requires that Maker’s Square itself–not Fort Worden’s other hospitality operations–generate over a quarter million dollars a year in profit from those sources. Lastly, Maker’s Square’s business model, which had always projected two years of losses followed by a future of just breaking even, did not depend on sizable gifts or outside funding.
With the added debt burden for Maker’s Square resulting from diversion of funds and the prolonged downturn in the hospitality industry, its original business model is no longer valid. Enlisting a major partner such as Centrum may be the only thing that keeps it from failing. Large gifts ang government help will be needed. Timmons has hopes that the area’s legislators will be able to bring state resources to the rescue.
Timmons has been working with a nightmarish situation. He impresses at every meeting with his firm grip on problems, his financial expertise, and his crisis management skills. The news has been very bad, but he has not exhibited panic or despair. His calm and always realistic approach is providing a desperately needed ray of hope. The highly accomplished Board he serves is also stepping up and giving him the support he needs. But, though many important pieces are falling in place and a path ahead has been mapped, as the pragmatic Timmons cautioned, “This is going to be a stretch.”
Mud and cold rain. Life in an always damp tent or unheated RV. Puddles for a front porch. No place to hide from the wind, or escape the sounds of fighting, incoherent muttering, screaming and partying in the growing squatters camp at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.
Drawn by a free place to camp with bathrooms and free food, and no hassles to move along, people from outside the county are coming. In three visits this week I saw newcomers every day. The camp has more than doubled since September. There is now a satellite camp to the Northeast of the main encampment.
Some of these shelters are improved tent sites, with rain tarps covering several smaller tents inside. Some tents have wooden entrances and sides fashioned from pallets or picnic tables. Some have wooden furniture inside. And some are just cheap pup tents sagging with rainwater or collapsed by wind in the boggy, rutted field.
The people living here share bathrooms and a SaniKan. The bathrooms are frequently trashed, with piles of human feces on the floor to be cleaned up by the woman who tends the facilities for the Fairgrounds Association. So to keep this from happening bathrooms get locked at night and people must use the SaniKan, which then gets smeared with feces. Camp staff say they’ve heard people laughing about this disgusting form of vandalism.
The Fairgrounds Association is providing these facilities so people don’t defecate in the fields or in buckets in their tents. Whoever is ruining the bathrooms is ruining them for everyone else and making life miserable for camp staff.
Neighbors have complained of people from the Fairgrounds defecating in their front yards and driveways. That has occurred despite the availability of the Fairgrounds’ facilities.
Yet, there are a couple people in the camp who are holding down jobs, who don’t suffer from mental illness, who are not chronic drinkers or addicts. I spoke with one of them on his way to the bathroom in the morning. “It’s hard,” he said, and wanted it known that not everyone here is causing problems.
Only two people out of maybe more than 100 are paying, though a significant number have incomes. They have decided to exploit the Governor’s COVID moratorium on evictions to get a free place to stay with hot water and bathrooms and garbage pickup. The Governor’s moratorium expires at the end of December. The chances that this camp will be empty after that are slim to none. These people are settling in and building a village of sorts. They will also likely receive support from politically connected non-profits who can be counted on to oppose any effort to evict them and restore the Fairgrounds to what it was.
Two PTPD cruisers at squatters camp, 12/8/20
A few have left. A van was abandoned in the middle of the camp. One woman is now wandering the streets downtown. But more and more keep coming and the camp keeps growing.
Police are out there several times a week, sometimes multiple times each day. Neighbors report seeing ambulances coming and going frequently. There have been fights. At least one man was arrested. He’s back after spending only a night or two in jail.
Port Townsend Free Press has previously reported on the crimes and sense of insecurity spreading into the neighborhood. A persistent problem has been the theft of mail from mailboxes. Stolen mail has been found on the foot paths in the area. A woman who lives across the street who has had her mail stolen several times says she spent a couple hundred dollars to purchase and install a locked mailbox.
When I was there on a cold and rainy December 8, the Dove House drug and alcohol outreach worker was present. They have someone at the camp Tuesdays and Thursdays. OlyCap has two brothers who spend the night and someone during the day to provide some sort of security, though they have no authority over anyone, and there are no rules to be enforced. Bayside Housing is delivering one meal a day. Hot Thanksgiving dinners were delivered by the folks who do the holiday meals at the Tri-Area Community Center.
On this day a Port Townsend police officer and the Department’s navigator were dealing with a very drunk woman. Another police car had pulled up one of the muddy tracks and that officer was talking with other campers. The poor drunk woman couldn’t be helped. She collapsed several times on the ground as she staggered around the camp. I believe this woman was identified in a Peninsula Daily News story as also suffering bi-polar disorder. She appeared to be the same woman in the photograph.
There are people here who are getting no help, anywhere. Judson Haynes, the Port Townsend Police Navigator–their social worker–says most offers of help are refused.
As it is, we can’t do much to help them. Port Townsend does not have much in the way of in-patent mental health facilities. We don’t have any detox facilities that can handle the crushing need we already had before this camp started attracting people from outside the community. As this camp grows, and the problems mount, our community’s inadequacy to serve and help the mentally ill and addicts will inevitably generate more severe problems. Already there have been multiple overdoses at the camp. I saw heavy drinking in the middle of the day on one visit. The camp manager says he sees drug and alcohol use all the time. A neighbor reported to us a loud party over this past weekend in the large complex of tents that drew people who were not living in the camp. A Port Townsend Free Press contributor who knows a couple people in the camp believes drug dealing is being done out of at least one of the RVs and he has been offered stolen property in exchange for cash.
Neighbors have reported seeing discarded needles and that children have encountered people shooting up on the trails. Another neighbor reports to us that he has observed a drone hovering over the campground. Private drones are prohibited; this may be a police surveillance drone.
A man in a high quality RV is living here, and paying his way, while he works on his boat (his RV is next to police cars and between squatters’ RVs in the photo above). Another tent has people who fell through the cracks of the mental health system and have nowhere to go. I met a man who claimed he was a talented mechanic and was looking for work (he said had a retirement income, but also was squatting).
Port Townsend’s homeless are a diverse group. Most of them are suffering from mental health problems and/or addiction, with a lesser number being “Bohemians” who choose this lifestyle, criminals with open warrants and, last, those suffering economic catastrophe or escaping abuse. These latter two groups are not part of the chronically homeless, but the people most receptive to accepting help and getting back on their feet. See “Knowing ‘The Homeless'”, PTFP 8/24/2018.
As I was leaving, a third Port Townsend police car turned into the entrance as a cold, wet night fell on the sprawling squatters camp in the muddy fields of the Jefferson County Fairgrounds. Hours later, while finishing this story, a neighbor across the street reported seeing another ambulance heading for the tents.
We have all heard of Trickle Down Economics. But, there is another concept called “Trickle Up Poverty.” In Trickle Down Economics the concept is that the rich and/or the government basically spend or invest their money. That in turn allows development to occur where people get employed. Thus the money trickles down to others. But, what is Trickle Up Poverty? That is where there is no investment by the rich or the government and no jobs created. Poverty, which is a creation of the government, becomes more prevalent.
Of course, there is a glass ceiling to Trickle Up Poverty. Heaven forbid that the Elite should suffer in poverty. So, where is trickle up poverty practiced? Plenty of places–North Korea, Venezuela, and the United States of America. Socialism is a good example of Trickle Up Poverty. Everyone suffers together, except for the few at the top.
What? This could not happen in this country, no way we would do that!!! But it is happening right here in Jefferson County. Yes, right here.
Why would anyone want to promote poverty? Simple, it drives out the lower classes of people. Take any place here in Jefferson County and gentrify it. What do you get? Higher property values that translate to higher revenue for government and more income for the few that can afford to buy out the poor. It is happening right now. People with money are moving in and buying out those that either die, want out of the socialist mecca in process or are forced to leave due to no jobs and unaffordable taxes. The policies imposed on the county by the elite are having the intended effect of making Jefferson County the very sort of Carmel North, Aspen-by-the-Sea and Martha’s Vineyard West those same elites constantly doth protest too much.
Look at what they’ve done with the power they’ve had for two decades. That says it all.
Trickle Up Poverty is not new. It has been practiced in many parts of our country. Typically, the elite and the politicians they control create a dying economic model, usually by restricting property development. Once the local people have no jobs they are forced out and their property becomes available to gentrify. At one time, back as far as the 60s, Port Townsend was a working town where the working class stood a chance at upward mobility and better lives for their children. No longer. In fact, given enough time the last remaining larger employer, the pulp mill, will likely be forced out. Then the cycle will be complete.
[Editor’s Note: According to the Economic Research branch of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, the overall poverty rate in Jefferson County climbed more than 10% between 2016 and 2018, to 13.3%. That is 33% higher than Washington’s statewide poverty rate. The overall poverty rate hides an even uglier story. The census tract for Port Townsend has a poverty rate of 16.2%. The census tract for the southern and western county has a poverty rate of 16.5%. These figures come from the Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey The poverty rate for the areas immediately south and west of Port Townsend and around Discovery Bay stands at 14.3%. The considerable wealth of households on Marrowstone Island and in Port Ludlow pulled those census tracts down to 7.8% and 10.9%, respectively. The extreme poverty in Irondale and pockets of the Tri-Cities was masked by the extreme wealth a few miles west on Marrowstone Island. Likewise, the surprisingly high poverty rate within Port Townsend city limits, with its million dollar homes and exclusive neighborhoods on Morgan Hill and near Fort Worden, reveals the severe economic divide in our community. Lastly, the Census Bureau’s latest employment data shows the job base for Jefferson County shrinking, not growing while at the same time the cost of housing continues to increase.]
Violence ended the career of Port Townsend Police Officer Mark DuMond. After sustaining severe head injuries preventing an assault that could have killed a Jefferson Healthcare nurse he was never able to resume his full duties.
DuMond knew the man who injured him. All the police and Sheriff’s deputies know Jamie Beal. An Officer Safety Advisory is added to every dispatch when he is involved. In an altercation with around seven officers he dealt out punishment and lifted men, two at a time, with all their gear–well over 600 pounds in total–completely off their feet. He weighs about 250 pounds, is massively built, and likes to fight. He has mixed martial arts and jui jitsu training. He says he has been a cage fighter and combat veteran. He knows how to use his hands and his fantastic strength to hurt other people.
Before that incident he had attacked a person for no reason right in front of several Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies just outside the Sheriff’s Offices. It took a bunch of them to subdue him. A bunch of them were left seriously injured.
But this powerful, dangerous man can also be a sweet, caring person…when he’s medicated.
On the night of March 26, 2020 his meds weren’t working. He knew he needed help and walked to Jefferson Healthcare where he was well known. Police were called. The pills medical staff gave him didn’t work. Actually, it was Officer DuMond who handed them over because nurses were too scared to get close. Two hours of de-escalation didn’t work and the violence officers knew was coming erupted. It took Dumond and five other officers giving everything they had–including DuMond’s career and physical well-being–to stop the attack on a nurse and protect themselves from a man huffing and roaring like a charging grizzly bear and swearing he was going to kill them, “weak pieces of shit” that they were.
What happened that night should be a lesson to the Port Townsend City Council and everyone who thinks police officers can be replaced with social workers. With one less officer, the officers may not have been able to restrain this man before he caused more injuries. A single officer, even a pair of officers, would have needed to use their firearms to stop him. If it had been a social worker confronted with this situation, there likely would have been at least one murder in the Jefferson Healthcare ER that night.
Just last week a social worker was stabbed to death by a client in Seattle. Several years ago Marty Smith, a social worker who had worked in Port Townsend, was beaten senseless by a man he was trying to have committed. The client then got a knife and proceeded to stab Smith to death.
In its meetings as the Ad Hoc Committee on Law Enforcement and Public Safety, the City Council has considered only ideological and ivory tower stuff–statistics, tables of data, generalized reports, program reviews. It has not drilled down into what police officers face every day and night. It has not examined a single case study of any of the gross number of “mental health” incidents reported to it each week by the City Manager.
This incident is by no means an outlier. This man is exceptional for his fighting ability, but not unique. You don’t need to search the archives of the Port Townsend Leader or The Peninsula Daily News very long to find other incidents of police officers being attacked and injured. Every officer and deputy I have met, from leadership down, has suffered some injury. They don’t volunteer the information. They’re like Officer DuMond on the night of March 26, barely able to stand, slipping in and out of consciousness, blood pouring from his mouth and nose, assuring everyone he was alright.
There is something simplistic in way the City Council has been considering the work of police. An air of naivete hangs over their discussions as they presume to “reimagine” the work of law enforcement to suit a perfectly peaceful and crime-free community that does not exist, here or anywhere.
This case is an antidote to that naivete. The following narrative is compiled from police records and the sights and sounds captured by body recorders.
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Just Another Mental Health Incident
Jame Beal of Port Townsend, age 31, was anxious about his medications. He’d been in and out of Jefferson Healthcare that week with his concerns. He didn’t trust his meds. Were animals used to make them? Where were they made? Why wasn’t he feeling right? Maybe he was hurting his daughter by taking his meds.
He had been seen pacing downtown in an agitated state of mind, but had not yet reached the point of violence with which local law enforcement had become familiar. Family members and mental health professionals warned he was “cycling up” to violence. It was only a matter of time.
Around midnight on March 26 Beal walked into the ER. Immediately hospital security was alerted, and just as quickly a call went out to police. Beal pushed and shoved staff. The hospital needed law enforcement help. As soon as Beal was identified by name, law enforcement knew it would take a good number of officers to handle the situation. In addition to Port Townsend police, the Jefferson County Sheriff and Washington State Patrol responded. Five officers gathered outside the room where Officer DuMond was talking to Beal.
DuMond was worried. Beal was in a room that had not been cleared. He saw multiple items that could be used as weapons. Nurses would not enter the room. They were scared and spoke to Beal only over the shoulders of the officers who formed a protective cordon in the hallway. It was determined that injecting Beal was too dangerous. DuMond persuaded him to accept a pill or two (the exact dosage and medication was redacted from the records obtained by Port Townsend Free Press). Beal, once assured that the medicine was plant-based and made in North America, seemed to welcome the prospect of feeling better and spoke of hoping that meds started working. But DuMond remained worried about being in the room with Beal and asked JCSO Sergeant Shane Stevenson to stay close in case an attack came, an attack DuMond would have no hope of fending off alone.
The medication had no effect. For nearly two hours officers tried to calm Beal, but his body language and eye movements showed he was becoming increasingly agitated. He occasionally exploded with profanity then switched over to talking nicely with DuMond, who was filling the role of law enforcement officer, medical ombudsman, mental health counselor, family counselor, friend and social worker. They talked through all of Beal’s many problems and delusions, such as people in video games being real and actually being killed. DuMond was the go-between for Beal and his physician. The other officers helped when DuMond had to leave to talk to hospital personnel. He was trying to get a formal commitment order so Beal could be detained. That formal order never came, though hospital staff said Beal should be committed. Reportedly one doctor told police, “He’s going to kill someone.” But the officers never received the legal go-ahead required before they could formally detain Mr. Beal for his protection, and the protection of everyone nearby.
Beal invited officers to fight–“to roll.” He talked of when it would be acceptable to kill someone. He cursed an officer for accepting a bottle of water from a nurse. He would not drink water unless one of the nurses shouted to him that she consented. He said “I’m here for the women,” and didn’t like it that the female nurses were attending to other patients.
Beal slowly worked his way into the hallway where the officers had been standing for nearly two hours. His thoughts turned dark. He spoke of serving Satan and how evil had a purpose and mocked deputies for worshipping “something dead.”
Officer DuMond communicated to Sgt. Stevenson his increasing concern. He hoped to get Beal seated again, perhaps laying back on a bed so he could be more easily restrained when they could make that move. Suddenly Beal pushed into the nurses working area. “Buddy, where are you going?” DuMond asked and all hell broke loose. “No, no, no!” DuMond shouted. And though they knew Beal’s power and his ability to kill any one of them with his bare hands, none of the officers now hesitated.
Beal grabbed a male nurse and swung to strike a blow, but thankfully did not connect as DuMond grabbed him. The next punch was for DuMond and it landed solidly on his face, snapping his head and upper body back violently. DuMond crumpled to his knees and may have lost consciousness (he had to watch video later to remember what happened after the blow to his head). Even then he held onto Beal as other officers brought Beal to the floor. Beal landed hard and the back of his head was cut. But nothing seemed to dampen his fury. Beal tried to break DuMond’s fingers then grabbed his face with his huge hand, while struggling to gouge out DuMond’s eyes. DuMond’s eyeglasses were broken but saved his eyes. Blood poured from his nose, mouth and open wounds all over his face. He wiped his blood on Sgt. Stevenson’s uniform so he could see as officers wrestled with Beal. Beal got his thumb and fingers inside DuMond’s mouth and was pulling at his cheek. DuMond’s blood must have been running down Beal’s arm.
Two officers, very large men, had Beal’s left arm as he was on his back. He lifted them both off the ground with that one arm. PT police officer Trevor Hansen, another large man, had a leg but Beal was able to buck him. In the audio Beal is screaming, “I’m killing you motherfuckers. I’m killing you.” Except for heavy breathing the officers are silent as it took all their energy to hang on. A nurse managed to inject something–probably ketamine, a powerful horse tranquilizer–into his left thigh. (The exact medication is redacted in the records obtained by Port Townsend Free Press). Whatever it was it had no discernible effect. (In prior incidents, dosages well above normal had been necessary to chemically restrain Beal). Beal continued to fight as DuMond bled on him and other officers, but hung on. The nurse gave him another shot, this time in his shoulder. Finally Beal quieted and the officers rolled away exhausted.
It must be said here that law enforcement has compassion for Beal, despite the injuries he has inflicted on them. Whatever mental health condition he has, that is what is responsible for his behavior. He does not act out of malice when he is in his right mind. During his two hours of talking with DuMond he spoke of his respect for law enforcement and how he did not wish to see them hurt. Even after taking blows and nearly losing his eyes, DuMond continues to speak with compassion for Beal and his hopes that he gets the treatment and care he needs.
Jefferson Healthcare failed Beal and the officers that night. They dumped a huge problem on six men in uniform. They did not promptly give officers the legal authorization they needed to act more decisively, before the situation exploded. The medication given Beal in pill form was insufficient. He paid the price, and so did DuMond.
End of Service for Officer Mark DuMond
As he held onto Beal, a nurse wiped blood from his eyes and nose. After the fight DuMond had to spit repeatedly into a waste basket to clear the blood from his throat so he could breathe. He said he was okay, though officers could see he was badly injured. He had sustained lacerations over his forehead, jaw and cheeks. His entire face began to swell immediately. DuMond had difficulty with his balance when he tried to stand up. He complained of dizziness and blurred vision, but he somehow assisted in lifting Beal onto a gurney. Then his mind starting failing him. He realized later he may have been blacking out at times after the blow to his head. He soon suffered problems with verbal communication. He was in pain. He was admitted to the emergency room for evaluation and treatment of his injuries.
The ER doctor opined he may have a broken nose. No MRI was done. He was sent home with no further treatment. WSP Trooper J.T. Hodgson drove him. DuMond was incapable of driving himself.
DuMond continued to have problems with communication and cognition. He was dizzy and had headaches. His personal physician told him he had likely suffered a concussion and neck and back injuries, along with the facial lacerations that would leave him with permanent scars. He was not able to return to work in any capacity until April 5. His closed head injuries continued to plague him and adversely impacted his memory and cognitive abilities.
DuMond was never able to return to full active patrol duties and was eventually sent home after struggling for a few weeks. He remained on disabled status until his last day as a Port Townsend police officer on September 11, 2020.
DuMond had always dreamed of being a police officer. He served with the Marines and later in life he and his wife, Kris, bought Autoworks and turned it into one of Port Townsend’s most successful businesses. At age 47 he told Kris that it was now or never if he was going to realize his dream. He turned 48 in the Police Academy, decades older than the men and women in his class. The physical demands were especially challenging for a middle-aged man. But once a Marine….
In August 2015 he became a Port Townsend Police Officer.
He was the department’s liaison with our town’s transients and knew many of them on a first name basis. He was at the scene when a vehicle hit a bicyclist on 19th Street. Life-saving efforts failed that time. But he saved other lives and was awarded two life-saving recognitions by PTPD.
Mark DuMond was also an author. He had self-published one novel and had hopes about doing more writing in his retirement. The head injuries he suffered may make that a difficult dream to achieve. I’m not counting him out. He has a regular column here if he ever wants it.
Lessons for Port Townsend City Council
Reducing our police force any more will get people hurt and killed. Already officers patrol the city alone. That is extremely dangerous for them and the community. It makes it more likely they will have to use the weapons at their waist to defend themselves and others. A single officer could never have handled Mr. Beal. If four officers from other agencies had not been available to join the two from PTPD, Officer Dumond would likely not have been the only officer whose career came to an early end. (JCSO Deputy Brian Peterson was also injured but recovered. This article initially incorrectly identified WSP Trooper Hodgson as the other injured officer.).
A social worker cannot deal with these situations. A social worker would have been quickly killed. PTPD recognizes the limitations of its social worker–the navigator–who frequently requests police presence when he contacts individuals in homeless camps or those who may pose a danger to him or others.
The circumstances of every “mental health incident” need to be examined. They are not just nervous breakdowns or anxiety attacks. It is frequently individuals with a mental health issue who are responsible for some of the most horrific and senseless acts of violence. The focus must first be on the primary obligation of government: protection of the public’s safety and well-being, and that of first responders. If first responders are not safe, no one is.
The solution is not to reduce public safety resources by replacing trained officers with social workers with a badge. The solution is to supplement our law enforcement agencies with resources to keep these events from happening. Sheriff Joe Nole has it right on this point. He has resisted the quiet, behind-the-scenes talk of filling an open deputy position with a social worker. Instead, he is seeking a grant to hire JCSO’s own navigator. Most of law enforcement’s interactions with the public are with the same troubled individuals, over and over. Whether it is mental health or addiction, they consume law enforcement time and resources. Nole hopes that a navigator can work with these individuals to avoid repeat encounters. That is realistic. The notion that a social worker can handle these people when they’ve crossed their personal double-yellow line is beyond foolish.
De-escalation models have their place, but first responders must have wide discretion to decide when to use them, or when use of force is necessary. Decisionmakers must address the fact that de-escalation models may likely result in more frequent and greater physical injury to first responders. That is because they must often use their bodies in place of other tools to control a situation.
Decisionmakers should also not do anything to make first responders hesitate when they must act quickly and decisively to prevent injury and loss of life. Worry about being run through a gauntlet of investigation, second-guessing. litigation, and public excoriation when they use force to save life can make an officer pause, or decide it is not worth the risk to him or her to act. The threat of prosecution and jail time for making a wrong split-second decision–or just the risk that their actions will be unfairly judged–would freeze anyone in their tracks. Yet officers continue to step up whenever they are called upon to act.
Every member of City Council should do two things before their next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Law Enforcement and Public Safety. They need to get out of their ivory tower and into a patrol car to learn the job of the police, and what is out there on our streets and in our dark woods. One or two have done this, but that is all. The remainder continue to cling to their ignorance as though that is a more comfortable place from which to make difficult decisions. And they need to do these rides more than once. My first ride with a PT officer was an almost comical night, the sort of caricature you get in the selectively reported police and sheriff’s logs The Leader chooses to publish. You know, the angry man shouting at racoons in the woods scenarios. On my second ride, I saw an officer assaulted and threatened with harm to his family, and a man in Kah Tai Park who was almost dead until Officer DuMond brought him around.
Every member of City Council should review the file on this incident and study the body cam recordings. The images are artificially blurred because events transpired inside a health care facility. But one can sense the size of Mr. Beal and feel the ferocity of his violence when it erupted. And one can hear the extreme professionalism of every officer, especially lead officer Mark DuMond. And with that will come an appreciation of what Port Townsend lost when it lost the services of a remarkable public servant.
Epilogue
Mr. Beal served about four months in jail on a sentencing deal recommended by the Jefferson County Prosecutor. He is back in the community.
The Port Townsend Police Department held a ceremony to recognize Officer DuMond’s contributions and sacrifice. He received the first purple heart medal awarded by the Department in decades. The City Council did nothing to recognize his service. The next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on Law Enforcement and Public Safety is set for December 28, 2020.
The homeless/transient camp at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds has doubled in size since this summer. I am adding the descriptor “squatters camp” because that is what this is. The occupants of the tents and RVs, whatever the reasons for their circumstances, are squatting. They are taking and using camping spaces, bathrooms, water and sewer utilities and trash collection services without paying for what they are getting.
But almost all of them, maybe all of them, are capable of paying for all or some part of their way. Starting this summer a collective decision was made and word passed through the camp that Governor’s eviction moratorium to address fallout from the COVID crisis meant they could stay without paying. Nobody could could tell them to go.
During my first visit three months ago, the spokesman for the largest faction was cooking steaks for everyone and boasted how he and others had plenty of money to pay but were not going to pay a cent since they could not be evicted. (A female camper complained to the Board of County Commissioners that this man was using his power over the camp’s food supply to punish people who displeased him and was also involved in drug dealing. She requested anonymity. The Commissioners spoke her name out loud in public meeting and she had to flee to the camp in fear of reprisal. Yes, these people watch the BOCC’s Zoom meetings and cruise the Internet where they see stories published here.)
The occupants of the camp are mostly those who will not live in organized shelters. They will not observe rules against drug and alcohol use. Some of them have been thrown out of shelters for their aggressive behavior. They want to keep their pets instead of accepting the charity of a warm, dry bed. They don’t want the accountability that comes with supervised communal living. Some are just criminals. Those “bad apples,” as one of the occupants of the camp called them on my latest visit, “are smearing the rest of us.”
But “the rest of us” are also squatters escaping accountability on various levels.
They have their many problems, many of which are deserving of sympathy. But they also bring big problems with them, problems that get dumped on other people.
Please see our earlier stories for the costs this sprawling camp is imposing on the surrounding neighborhood, the Fairgrounds Association and the camp manager who never signed on for anything like this. He and another helper are caring for, picking up after and cleaning bathrooms for this constantly expanding encampment that has rendered the Fairgrounds unusable and undesirable for anything else.
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