Last May, William Wingate filed a lawsuit against the Seattle Police Department and the former officer who wrongly arrested him 10 months earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the policemen are good people\u201d he explained to reporters at a press conference, \u201cbut you\u2019ve got rotten apples in all professions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before following Wingate\u2019s instructive lead, I am going to focus on the profession he\u2019s suing. Two weeks ago, first-degree murder charges were filed against Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke. I won\u2019t repeat the details here \u2014 the video of him shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald says enough. But it took a lawsuit by a freelance news reporter for that evidence reach the public\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
In a much less serious case in Sitka, a teenager was repeatedly stun-gunned while handcuffed behind his back. The Sitka police chief reviewed the video evidence of the incident soon afterward and determined the officers\u2019 action followed established police procedures. More than a year later, a Southeast Alaska citizen posted the video online. Now it\u2019s become another question about police use of excessive force.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not my place to pass judgment on the officers in these cases. Van Dyke will get his day in court. And to his credit, the chief in Sitka responded to public concerns by requesting the Alaska State Patrol perform an independent review. <\/p>\n
Wingate\u2019s case can tell us a lot more.<\/p>\n
According to Seattle police records, the incident began when Officer Cynthia Whitlach thought she saw Wingate bang a stop sign with a golf club after she drove past him. She didn\u2019t see it happen, but she also wondered if he swung it at her vehicle. So she drove around the block with her dashcam recording and found him at a different intersection leaning on the club as if it was a cane. <\/p>\n
Whitlach told Wingate several times to put his golf club down without ever explaining why she wanted to talk to him. He seemed confused. After about 20 seconds, she told him that \u201cit\u2019s a weapon.\u201d He tried to explain that he\u2019d been walking with it for 20 years. Then after he told her he\u2019d done nothing wrong she had the audacity say, \u201cYou just swang that golf club at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Wingate was handcuffed and booked for harassment and obstruction. He spent the night in jail. The next day the police added a charge of unlawful use of a weapon. Six months after his arrest, the video evidence was made public and all charges were dismissed.<\/p>\n
For her part in the incident, police records show Whitlach \u201creceived counseling from her supervisor, a course of action that the department believes to be an appropriate resolution.\u201d I\u2019d agree if that was the first time she violated the department\u2019s rules of conduct. But she had several other violations. One occurred only eight months after she joined the force. <\/p>\n
How do officers like this remain on the street? The Seattle Police Officers\u2019 Guild represented Whitlach on this case and probably every past violation too. They represented her again when the department learned about racist posts she\u2019d made on Facebook. That\u2019s when she was finally fired. <\/p>\n
Van Dyke\u2019s past is checkered too. He\u2019s been the subject of 19 complaints of misconduct, at least eight for excessive use of force. After internal investigations, none were sustained. It\u2019s a good bet the Chicago\u2019s Fraternal Order of Police influenced those decisions. <\/p>\n
What about the Sitka case? Officers there are represented by the Public Safety Employees Association. What will be their role in that investigation?<\/p>\n
As I began, though, Wingate wasn\u2019t condemning all police officers. Likewise, my objective isn\u2019t to bash their unions. I want to follow his lead to other professions because they all have formal associations that regulate behavior and investigate complaints. And it\u2019s hard to imagine there aren\u2019t any lawyers, doctors, teachers and engineers still practicing despite having violated their code of conduct.<\/p>\n
To go one step further, blaming unions doesn\u2019t explain how the bad actors become professionals in the first place. So consider these few questions. How many of us were steered toward a profession by the promise of a good salary? Was attaining a position of authority important? Did identifying enjoyable job possibilities take precedent over our natural aptitude toward other lines of work? Is this how we\u2019re guiding our children? <\/p>\n
The carrots of money and individualism can easily draw anyone in the wrong direction. And choosing a career path for the reasons like those can plant a bad seed. To paraphrase Wingate, most professionals are good people. But by seeking to serve a purpose higher than ourselves each of us can become something better.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident. He writes a weekly opinion column for the Juneau Empire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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