The following letter was hand-delivered late last week to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. The writer indicates it was also delivered to Port Townsend’s Chief of Police. We obtained this letter from a member of the law enforcement community.
Good morning,
I have written what has been on my mind. I have written it to get my thoughts out so | don’t have to dwell on them all the time. I wrote it as an anonymous person and give you full permission to share with whoever you feel could benefit from reading it. I don’t know if you or anyone else will agree with my writings but it makes me feel better to put it out there. Share it or shred it, it’s totally up to you. Please only share it if you think it will make a difference. It won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t. My hope is that if you do find it useful you can get it into the hands of those who make decisions for public safety. Commissioners, board members, whoever could benefit from hearing a different opinion. I have left one copy with the Sheriff and one with the Chief of Police in Port Townsend.
Thank you
To anyone who will listen,
During these last few weeks I have found myself heartbroken and frustrated. Doing a hard job that I worked so hard to get is now demonized and perceived by many as unnecessary. I get the impression that the loudest of people are fighting to be judged as individuals and not by class, color, sex, etc. I can agree with this however it seems that the narrative includes all but those who choose to serve and protect. It appears as though some people have forgotten that we too are people from communities just like theirs. Everyone deserves to be judged as an individual based on their character and their actions. Everyone.
As I hear about racism and brutality I think hard about examples that I have seen. I have worked for two departments and with dozens of different officers/deputies. I have seen so many different situations and seen the best and worst of people in our community. What I have not seen is what is being portrayed by the media. No evil cops. No racism, no brutality. Only men and woman in uniform dealing with situations that they have been called to handle. Why is it that all who wear the badge must be shamed and ridiculed for the acts of a few? Does the act of one bad officer outweigh the acts of those who are good at their job? And do people know what that job is? Do people think our job consists only of what they see in the news or in movies? Do people even care to know? How many have taken the opportunity to ride with an officer?
Defund the Police. Who will replace us? Who is going to check on Grandma when you haven’t heard from her in a few days and you live in another state? Who is going to summon aid when she is found alive and injured? Who is going to investigate when she is not? Who is going to take the photos and document? Who is going to live with those images of death and decay? Who is going to tell the loved ones that she has left this world? Who is going to give them comfort in that moment when their world has changed? Who is going to look for your toddler who wandered away? Who is going to search miles of roadway when you are entrapped in an upside-down vehicle? Who is going to stop the bleeding until aid arrives? Who is going to search for the drunk driver who put you there? Who is going to stop that drunk driver before he runs into you? Who is going to interview that child who has lost their innocence to true evil? Who is going to live with that child’s story playing over and over in their mind? Who is going to do have the courage to complete this task again and again? Who is going to search for the Alzheimer’s patient who went for a walk in a winter’s night? Who is going to come when there is a bump in the night? Who is going to light up the darkness when you fear what lurks in it? Who is always going to be ready to help you?
I often remind people when I respond to a certain house or neighborhood that I was called to be there. There is likely a million other things I would rather be doing but someone asked for help and it is my job to serve. And when I am on patrol and not responding to a specific call I find myself like many others, spending time in certain neighborhoods. It is not because I have a prejudice towards anyone. It is purely because the best part of my job is preventing a situation before it starts. When you have been called to the same house or the same neighborhood dozens of times you feel the need to give it more attention. It is not because of the bad people in that particular neighborhood. It is because of the good people in that neighborhood who deserve our attention and deserve to feel safe.
With the badge that some of us pin on in the morning comes an accepted risk. This risk is outweighed by the pride that comes with knowing you stand between what is right and what is wrong. Protecting those who cannot protect themselves. A criminal accepts a certain amount of risk as well. This risk is outweighed by the possible gains taken from others with the least amount of work. A selfish choice to take from others so that they need not work for it themselves. This choice can take property. This choice can cause physical pain. This choice can cause mental pain. This choice can take innocence. This choice can take lives. This choice can destroy communities. This choice can destroy futures.
The risk associated with both paths are accepted on both sides. It seems that those who see it from a distance can have a difficult time processing this. Does an officer need to be shot to shoot? Do we need to be bloodied to fight back? Are our lives valued less because we choose to wear the badge? Is it an acceptable loss for you because we signed up for it? What about the criminal who also signed up for it? Do our families deserve to have us come home any less than those whose family member chose a different calling?
De-escalation is in everything we do. An officer does not go a day without de-escalation. It’s pure and simple. A million officers and millions of contacts with the public. Rarely do people call when they are at their best. Whatever situation they have been dealing with has escalated to the point of calling 911. De-escalation works. We know it and we get trained to do it. But the unfortunate fact is that it doesn’t always work. People can’t always accept reason. Mental health and substance abuse can cause this disconnect. De-escalation works until it doesn’t.
Violence and instinct. I can only think of few professions that require as much violence and instinct as law enforcement. In a moment’s notice a calm situation can turn to chaos. I have had people try to bite me, spit on me, swing at me. How do I describe the feelings you get when a 6’6 man who is spun up on meth decides he wants to slam his head into yours? The same man who just left his victim bloodied moments before, and you were somehow able to sneak him into handcuffs before anyone else got hurt. A split second does not allow you to think about that man’s skin color, sexual orientation, or political views. It only allows you the time to protect yourself or receive what is coming. Violence has many levels. Violence exists and at times it must be met with violence. Violence is not pretty in any form. It is a cause for chaos and at times the only solution to that chaos. It is not a fact that feels good. A perfect world would not contain this violence but we do not live in a perfect world. Some people create violence. Others are called to handle it.
I want each person who has a strong opinion about our current situation to ask themselves if they have the information needed to have a strong opinion. Do you know an officer or deputy? Have you ridden with them? Have you seen what they see? Do you care to have an informed opinion? Please ask us why we do what we do. Please
don’t assume when you can actually see it for yourself. And please remember that these are people from your community. And please consider the fact that however you feel about them and however you treat them, if you need them they will come.
The KPTZ program called “The Reckoning,” was supposed to be a moderated conversation between Jefferson County Sheriff Joe Nole and a Native American woman, an organizer of Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County and an Hispanic man, with Port Townsend’s Mayor jumping in at the end. It was announced as “an open conversation about racial prejudice in policing, especially in our county.”
The show aired for two hours on Thursday, July 30, 2020. The moderators were far from impartial. One of them, KPTZ radio show host Paul Rice, has encouraged activists to pursue and harass a local law enforcement family and in the past has himself attempted to injure the reputation of at least one other law enforcement official. This program was created and sold as a kind of set-up of our Sheriff. It fell short. Instead of a set-up, it was pathetic
“The Reckoning” was hardly a conversation about prejudice in policing in Jefferson County because the panelists offered nothing on the subject that could be substantively discussed. They threw around vague, sometimes vicious allegations against no one in particular. They never offered proof or evidence for their wild claims.
Much of what the panelists said was irresponsible, intending to fan the flames of racial tensions rather than making it possible to achieve any sort of understanding and accord.
First some facts on the Sheriff’s office: The Jefferson County Sheriff has had no officer involved shootings since the 1930s. No complaints of racial prejudice have been filed against any Sheriff’s deputy in recent memory. There has been civil litigation over the years over everything from the death of a violent prisoner with a bad heart racing on meth to public records act disputes. As far as I know, though, the Sheriff’s Office has not had any court judgments against it nor settled any claims based on charges of racist behavior. It has not been the subject of any investigation for abuses of force or racial misconduct by the Washington State Attorney General or the U.S. Department of Justice.
Now, on to the panelists:
Cameron Jones, one of the leaders of Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County, claimed that 30% of Jefferson County’s Black citizens have been imprisoned in the county jail in a single year. Where in the world did he get that from? Jefferson County in the 2010 census had about 30,000 people, 1% of whom were Black. That would mean that 100 Black residents of Jefferson County (1/3 of 300) were in our county jail that year. There would be a list of those 100 Black inmates–if those alleged prisoners existed. Jones did not offer or claim to have such a list. He never explained the source of the information for his wild allegation.
Sheriff Nole told Jones he was absolutely wrong. Jones might be confusing our small jail with the STATE correctional facility at Clearwater on the west side. That large facility holds people from all over Washington. And there’s that little problem of size: our county jail cannot hold 100 people.
Later Jones challenged Sheriff Nole to explain what he was doing about the “white supremacy and vigilante groups operating” in Jefferson County. He also suggested that somebody had lynched five Blacks in Jefferson County. Yes, Sheriff Nole said, over a number of years there have been five Blacks who died by hanging in different areas of the county. Nole said each sad, tragic case had been investigated and no evidence of any malicious activity had been found. These were suicides. We do have a serious problem with suicide that we don’t like to acknowledge. We have also had several White people who have hung themselves in recent years.
Jones said “someone in our group” had been researching the cases and found suggestions of foul play. He didn’t say what that evidence was, who was doing this research or offer to share it with the Sheriff so the cases could get another look, if warranted.
Jones also didn’t offer any evidence–not a single specific instance–of any activity by “white supremacist and vigilante groups operating in Jefferson County.” Who are these groups? I emailed Jones to ask what information he had on them and what they had been doing. This is something law enforcement, city, local, state and federal should know about. He did not answer my questions. It is not unreasonable to conclude he is just making this up in an effort to paint Jefferson County as some sort of Klan infested, deep South backwater from last century. That misperception helps his group’s political activities and fundraising but disserves a county of good, decent people who would not tolerate such organizations in their midst.
Jones also said “people of color are afraid to move here “because we don’t have a multi-cultural community center” and Port Townsend has Victorian architecture. Seriously, he said this.
Jones leveled hearsay allegations by an anonymous source that ten years ago a former school resource officer–now Port Townsend’s Interim Police Chief–had “acted with petulance toward youth of color,” whatever that means. And he complained about an ongoing case in which a Black man called law enforcement to report his truck stolen. It was located by deputies and found to have been burned. The complaint by this man is that police “questioned him aggressively” and “showed up in excessive force.” Not that they used excessive force. He just believes too many police responded to the call and he is upset they did not immediately believe him. No allegation of deputies using racially pejorative terms has been raised.
On his Facebook page the owner of the burned truck alleges that, though he does not know who allegedly stole and burned his vehicle, he believes he was the target of racial animosity. BLM of Jefferson County says of this incident, “The escalation continues,” though they don’t know what happened. A Go Fund Me campaign has attracted over $8,000 to help this man buy another vehicle. This is an active, unsolved case for which I am trying to obtain records. From what I can gather at this point, the question of whether a theft really occurred remains unanswered.
Jones read a statement by Paris Jade, a Black woman. She had three incidents to report. She said that in the first three to four months she moved here she was followed by the same officer “almost every day on my way home, and out and about and especially at night.”
This officer must have been working a double shift for 3-4 months, and not doing anything else but following Ms. Jade. One also must wonder how could she know it was the same officer behind her…at night?
She was never stopped, never arrested. She was never questioned. She never filed a complaint. But suddenly and without explanation it all stopped and she’s still here. She mentioned no other contacts with law enforcement in the past three years.
From my ride-alongs with police, I know they are in almost constant contact one way or another with a network of law enforcement resources. Officers and deputies can see on their computer where other units in service are and know generally what they are doing. I might be overstating that a bit, but officers are not free without explanation to follow a car for any signficant length of time, over and over, day and night, for more than 120 consecutive days. It might be possible that what Jade claims happened happened. It is highly improbable.
Her misperception, overreaction, whatever you want to call it, to the two other incidents she brings up undermine her crediblity on this claim of being followed almost every day and “especially at night” for up to four months. In the first, she saw someone wearing a MAGA hat and, in the second, she saw another person wearing traditional clothes of a culture not their own. This is being exposed to racism, she claims.
If this is all the “racism” she has experienced in PT in more than three years of living here, it is a pretty solid acquittal of our community.
Though other panelists poured out subjective feelings and spouted political theory, including calling for the destruction of capitalism and insisting that “the people” can police themselves (good luck with those midnight domestic violence calls, robberies, burglaries, car chases, rapes, agg assaults, and murders), they cited not a single instance of racially prejudiced police misconduct.
At the end of the discussion, Port Townsend Mayor Michele Sandoval weighed in. She had powerful evidence of racism to offer. Here it is: she lost by 150 votes when she ran for county commissioner twenty some years ago. She emoted for several minutes, but never mentioned a single instance of racism by police or another member of a community that has kept her in office as Mayor or City Councilor for the past two decades. (Was the fact she was not elected unanimously in each of those elections evidence of racism? Is it racism if someone simply disagrees with her?)
Sandoval ended in tears and the broadcast was promptly wrapped up. Listeners were left at a loss to understand what she was crying about because in all the time given her she did not describe a single experience where someone hurt or discriminated against her or anyone else because of race or ethnicity–except maybe those 150 people twenty years ago who voted for someone else.
One could say that this was an unproductive waste of time and a cynical attempt by some to widen racial divisions with rumor and innuendo. But it did show that we don’t have a racism problem with law enforcement in this community. On the other hand, we do have a problem with people who desperately want to believe they are surrounded by racism when they are not.
It is time for us to say, “Thank you!” We started this modest effort at citizen journalism a little over two years ago. We were forced to take last year off to deal with personal and professional business matters, and just resumed active publishing in January of this year. Nonetheless, we passed the 100,000 page-view milestone several thousand page-views back.
Our daily numbers on our WordPress and Facebook platforms are way up. We had to upgrade the website this month because the additional traffic was slowing things down (especially on our end when it came to editing). Where we once were pleased with getting a hundred readers per article, we are now regularly seeing readership for major articles in the thousands.
This is all thanks to you. You stuck with us through an effort in 2018 to drive us off the Internet. You backed us up when we were getting personal threats. You waited out our dormant year until we returned. You have shared our articles and spread the word.
People are reading our work regularly even though they won’t show up on our pages for fear of retaliation in a community that too often punishes diversity instead of celebrating it. I have spoken with public officials who tell me, “I read you stuff, but don’t tell anyone. They’ll get mad.” At a restaurant, where I had met with one of our new copy editors, after my credit card was run the owners came out from the kitchen to thank us for our work with the words,”No one else is speaking up for us.” We are getting more and more direct communications from people wanting us to write their stories–stories the Leader ignores or distorts. We wish we had more contributors so we could do a better job of stepping up to the challenge.
I want to thank our contributors so far in this adventure. They make it possible to say “we” and “us” and they have brought the very sort of diverse voices missing from our local newspapers. That was our goal from the beginning:
Brett Nunn
Mike Howard
Scott Hogenson
Sky Hardesty
Ravyn
Gene Farr
Jim McEntire
Craig Durgan
Tod Brundage
Kara Kellogg
And a new contributor, Z Cerveny, who has been documenting the sad state of Port Townsend’s streets. Her work will begin appearing next week as we sort through the mass of images she sent us.
A special note of appreciation goes to two people who had something to say, and no place to say it except here. While we prefer to publish contributors under their real names, we understand why in such a small, insular, politically unbalanced community it may be necessary to use a nome de plume to say something that needs to be said. Thank you, therefore, to the city employee who contributed years of knowledge and experience on identifying and understanding who the homeless in our community really are. And thank you to “A Concerned Citizen of Port Townsend” who, curious about just what the Black Lives Matter organization is, took the time to do research and share the results with our readers. When she sent us her article she probably did not expect it would go viral and be read across the nation.
Last, thanks to the unseen people behind the scenes: Dynamic Graphics of Sequim, which moved us from our old BlogSpot home, designed a new website, and manages our technical matters; and our volunteer copy editors–man, do we need and appreciate your help.
We are always open to new contributions. You know your community better than the itinerant reporters who come and go quickly from The Leader. You know how to reach us.
More than one violent incident a day. Reading The Leader’s cutesy police blotter feature you wouldn’t know it. But statistics released by the Port Townsend Police Department in a presentation to City Council show our city has more violence–and more crime–than many people believe.
The “We Don’t Have A Lot of Violent Crime Here” narrative is one of the driving forces behind talk about defunding, even disarming our police officers. That narrative is delusional and uninformed. We may not be what Seattle has become. We don’t have criminal gangs and armed robberies here are not common. But we have our share of violence and crime. According to several websites, discussed below, Port Townsend actually has a higher than average crime rate.
The following discussion is based on a document prepared by the police department entitled, “21st Century Policing.” It is being discussed at the first meeting of the city council’ ad hoc committee on public safety and law enforcement.
At times during every day Port Townsend has only one police officer on patrol to combat violent crime, while also responding to calls about nuisances, suspicious persons, welfare checks, thefts and burglaries, drug and alcohol investigations, traffic stops and assisting other agencies.
Port Townsend police have not had an officer involved shooting since 1995, when officers had to defend themselves against a man who had just shot a woman. He shot at officers, they returned fire and the assailant was killed.
The report does not separately address assaults or attempted assaults against officers. Those incidents are presumably subsumed in the total numbers of violent crimes.
We will publish a separate article on other aspects of PTPD’s “21st Century Policing” presentation. It is worth reading in its entirety.
Violence
Violence is part of Port Townsend’s history and reality. In the days of tall ships, Port Townsend was known as “Bloody Townsend” for its culture of crime and violence. Things are much better now, but this is not Andy Griffith’s Mayberry.
In the period of time covering 2017 to mid-way through 2020, Port Townsend police handled 1,374 violent incidents. That covers attempted murders to fist fights. It works out to more than one violent incident per day requiring police intervention.
One of the more notable violent incidents included the attempted murder at Memorial Field by a homeless man who had come to the city looking for someone to kill. He hunted and stabbed another homeless man. Not long after that there was another attempted murder a block away at night in front of the Bishop Hotel. That case remains unsolved.
This period of time saw 2 murders within the city. The report does not include a greater number of murders just outside city limits during the same period of time. Neighboring Clallam County has seen a significant surge in homicides–and multiple homicides–in the past couple years.
75 sex crimes were handled by Port Townsend police during this time, or more than one per month. That number includes sex crimes against children, attempted rape and rapes.
The featured image at the top of this article shows a steady rate of violent crime in Port Townsend of forty-plus incidents of murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, rape and robbery annually. After dropping in 2015 and 2016, that number has been climbing.
Property Crime
Police handled more than one report of burglary, auto theft, auto burglary, theft and shoplifting daily, for a total of 1,568 incidents.
Trespassing/Unwanted Subjects
This category includes incidents of vagrants who have caused trouble and been issued a citation to stay off a property, including violations of that order. Police handled 1,298 of these incidents.
Reports of Suspicious Activity
1,729 incidents.
Parking and Traffic Complaints
1,847 incidents
Animal, Noise and Nuisance
This covers everything from deer tangled in fences to loud parties: 2,010 incidents
The media is reporting “More virus cases”, “Cases surge”, and raising other terrifying alarms. Or as Chicken Little would say: “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” But emphasizing just the number of “cases” is very deceptive.
There are key questions that should be asked and reported: “Are our hospitals reaching their capacity limits?” and, “Is the death rate due to the corona virus increasing?” For the USA overall, and in Washington state, the answers are NO and NO!
Some states and counties in the USA are seeing an increase in death rates and hospitals being stressed. However, even in states such as AZ, FL and TX where the death rate has increased, the deaths per capita are 5 to 14 times lower than New York State and below the USA overall deaths per capita.
Washington State virus deaths per capita is about 1/2 the USA overall value.
All this data indicates that the increase in cases reported recently is most likely due to more testing rather than the epidemic getting worse. We are over the hump.
From the data, we now know that children are not likely at all to be seriously affected by this virus and their parents are mostly in an age group that is minimally affected by this virus.
Of course, specialists in viruses call for measures to control the spread of this virus, but we also need to listen to other specialists who point out the bad effects of the shutdowns. The depression and desperation caused by the shutdowns and the media alarmism is causing more suicides, drug overdoses, spousal abuse, child abuse and deferred medical attention.
Since WA is over the hump, there is no reason to continue the severe restrictions on school kids, workers and our general population.
Senior citizens and those with health problems should continue to be very careful, as these are the people shown by the data to be most at risk. WA state and our county should concentrate on protecting these people.
Our state and county should move on to Phase 3 and 4 quickly.
This article by Gene Farr was originally a letter submitted to, but not published by the Port Townsend and Jefferson County Leader. At our request, Mr. Farr expanded upon his original submission.
[For an examination of how Washington’s hospital capacity has never been close to being overwhelmed, please see our article on this point.]
Where does the money go? Who gets it? How is it used?
Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County won’t answer these questions. The group has been soliciting and accepting donations through a Venmo account and other avenues. One local business donated a day’s worth of revenue. It is unknown how much Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County has raised or spent, and the people behind the group are not saying.
Is it even an organization or is it one or two people taking in and spending money? Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County is not any kind of legal entity with formal leadership, such as officers and a board of directors. Having no enforceable structure skips a lot of bother with legalities and paperwork. It is also one way to evade accountability.
Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County is not a registered charity with the Washington Secretary of State. The national Black Lives Matter organization is also not a charity–a 501(c)(3) IRS organization that permits donors to claim a tax deduction on their federal returns. Yet it has raked in tens of millions of dollars and done so without any revealing how the donations are spent. (See our recent article, “Wondering About Black Lives Matter,” submitted by a concerned citizen of Port Townsend). This national–make that international organization–is legally known as Black Lives Matter, Inc. because it is an actual corporation with officers, directors and official local chapters. However, Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County is not one of those BLM, Inc. chapters.
In light of what our concerned citizen of Port Townsend found in her research into BLM, Inc., we wondered what BLM of Jefferson County would disclose about its finances.
We asked Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County if it will be accountable for the donations it is soliciting and spending. If it were a registered charity it would be required to report its finances in annual public filings. Further, because it has not qualified as a not-for-profit corporation, donations are taxable income to someone.
Nobody disagrees with the statement that Black lives matter. This site believes the statement should be “all Black life matters.” Unfortunately, too many people in our community do not agree that Black life matters without exception (see the first installment in our series on Black genocide and systemic racism in Jefferson County government).
Taking as one’s name an indisputable declaration of human dignity does not relieve one from the legal and ethical duty to observe basic principles of transparency and accountability.
A group that demands accountability of others should itself be accountable.
Our email with questions about the group’s financial transparency and accountability has not been answered.
Funding for the mural on Port Townsend’s Water Street came from taxpayers as a disbursement through the Arts Commission approved by City Council. Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County did not buy the paint. They have no office, no post office box, no telephone number. They do have a Venmo account that takes in gifts of money.
The receipt and use of donations is reported publicly to some extent by every charity, political organization and not-for-profit corporation. But not Black Lives Matter of Jefferson County. They’re asking for and accepting money, but not saying how that money is being spent and who’s getting it.