Seattle City Council member Nick Licata has committed to drafting legislation that would make it easier to prosecute cops for killing civilians. Licata says that he wants to remove the stipulation that "malice"—otherwise known as "evil intent"—from the state's current deadly use-of-force laws because, as some people have noted, it's a nearly impossible bar to prove.

"You basically have to prove that a police officer was intentionally out to kill someone," says Licata. "I think the general public

Way back in Feb 2009, The Stranger published a story about the how Catholic Church—and, specifically, the Northwest Jesuits—knowingly sent predatory priests up to remote Native Alaskan villages where they could molest and rape with impunity and not get caught.

A few horror-refreshing blockquotes from the story are beneath the jump.

But the good news today:

SEATTLE — In one of the largest settlements in the Roman Catholic church's sweeping sex abuse scandal, an order of priests agreed Friday to pay

On Wednesday, 61-year-old Covington resident Tyrone Wudtee was arrested after an east-coast man, known only by the initials M.L.S., filed a criminal complaint alleging that Wudtee had stolen his identity more than 30 years ago and had been collecting benefits in his name ever since.

According to a release sent out by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Western Washington, Wudtee encountered the real M.L.S. during a bar fight in Baltimore in 1977—during which Wudtee allegedly took off with M.L.S.'s wallet.

Today, the King County Prosecutor's office filed robbery, burglary, and illegal firearm possession charges in Superior Court against three defendants, ranging in age from 15 to 24, for allegedly robbing a West Seattle medical marijuana dispensary at gunpoint on March 19.

According to charging documents, Donshae D. Sims, 24, a 16-year-old male, and a 15-year-old male were loitering in front of the G.A.M.E. Collective dispensary on California Avenue SW at 6:00 p.m. when dispensary owner Brionne Corbray

If former Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk is still looking for a job, he might want to send his resume to Utah...

SALT LAKE CITY (CN) - Police officers responded to a family's complaint that their diabetic son may have been in danger from driving without taking his medicine by running him off the road into an interstate highway median and shooting him to death, the family says.

"Oh no! Oh shit!" Trooper Lawrence Hopper was heard exclaiming on the dash cam, after Officer Louis "Law" Jones fired three

New charges have been filed in the Capitol Hill speakeasy case against seven people for crimes ranging from cocaine dealing to "professional gambling." One of those seven is artist dk pan (gambling charges), who helped head up the Free Sheep Foundation, profiled by Jen Graves here.

Blogs around town are parroting the SPD's allegations that the Free Sheep Foundation was, in the words of Detective Sgt. Ryan Long, "created only to generate plausible deniability to law enforcement, should suspicion arise.

Remember Michael Gershowitz? The Seattle actor/producer/director of minor theater productions—many of them having to do with the Wizard of Oz—who was arrested after police found him walking along a Bellevue freeway with a 14 year-old, who told officers that the man had tried to touch him inappropriately?

He pleaded guilty and has received a one-year suspended sentence, will have to register as a sex offender, and is barred from unsupervised contact with children.

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...by having a violent freakout backstage at Good Morning America, after Robin Roberts asked him about his criminal beating of Rihanna. Here's what went down on camera:

Report on what happened after from TMZ:

We're told after the interview, Brown freaked out, storming into his dressing room and screaming so loud, the people in hair and makeup became alarmed and called security. We're told Brown was out of control, and one source present tells us he smashed a window in his dressing room and the glass

On March 22nd, at approximately 2:40 AM, an East Precinct officer was driving in the 1900 Block of East Madison Street when he observed smoke coming from the second floor of a building and heard the fire alarm ringing.  He called for a response from Seattle Fire and requested other units to assist with traffic control.

After the fire scene was stabilized by SFD, investigators informed officers that they had discovered burglary tools and signs of arson inside the building.  They also noted that it appeared that several safes inside the building had been forced opened.  Detectives from the Arson/Bomb Squad responded to the scene.  It does not appear that there was significant damage to the structure, and the building was closed at the time of the fire.  ABS detectives will continue the investigation.

Click on the link to view a video version of today’s statement.

http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=5003

The Seattle Police Department is conducting an internal review of its DUI squad after discovering "supervisory inconsistencies" (read: laziness and mismanagement) that could affect dozens of current and past DUI arrests, reports the Seattle Times.

via the Seattle Times:

The investigation is focused on accusations that arrest reports weren't properly screened and approved by a sergeant in the department's DUI squad, sources familiar with the matter told The Seattle Times. Seattle police confirmed the

Seattle Police officers respond to hundreds of thousands of calls each year, the overwhelming majority of which are handled professionally and in accordance to department policy.  From time to time, issues surface that require review to ensure best practices are being followed. 

The Seattle Police Department is releasing this statement publicly in direct response to a media inquiry. 

In mid-February 2011, Traffic Captain Belshay began to review some supervisory inconsistencies within the Traffic Section’s DUI squad.  Upon closer examination, it was determined that administrative policy violations were in fact occurring.  

Seattle Police Chief Diaz was briefed and Assistant Chief McDonagh of Special Operations, which oversees Traffic, forwarded this information to the Office of Professional Accountability.  On March 8

Less than a week after being shotdown by both Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes and King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, the lawyers for the Williams family are lobbying King County Superior Court judges to convene a grand jury to decide if criminal charges should be brought against former Seattle police officer Ian Birk for killing John T. Williams last summer.

Via the Seattle Times:

"In the circumstances here, Petitioners submit the public interest demands convening of a grand jury," the attorneys

ST:

Eye surgeon Michael Mockovak faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced Thursday in Seattle in a murder-for-hire plot to kill his partner in the Clearly Lasik eye center business.

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Homicide detectives are interested in speaking with anyone who may have seen or interacted with the victim  in the early morning hours (after 1 AM )  of March 6th, 2011, around the Broadway area.  Anyone with information is asked to contact the Seattle Police Homicide Unit at (206) 684-5550.

The Obama administration just released a PDF calling for more stringent protection of intellectual property on the internet. If you don't speak legal, here's a roundup:

The Obama administration wants to make sure that the illegal streaming of music and movies over the Internet is a felony, and it also wants to give the federal government wiretap authority in copyright cases.

Victoria Espinel, the Obama administration's IP Enforcement Coordinator, today released her long-awaited wish list (PDF) of

I’m torn about posting the latest edition of the Guardian, the union newspaper by and for the Seattle Police Department's 1,350 sworn officers, for the third month in a row. Why should Slog give that Super Soaker of vitriol any added firepower? But hey, Slog is its own Super Soaker of vitriol, so who are we to judge? And ultimately, folks deserve to see what the leading voices of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) are telling cops on the street.

“We the rank and file of SPOG are under siege

On March 14th, a resident in South Seattle called 911 to report a suspicious unoccupied vehicle. This car turned out to be a stolen car out of Kent. Evidence at the scene, plus a review of the in-car video determined that this was the suspect vehicle from the incident on Lake Washington Boulevard South.  The stolen car was impounded.

See it here.

On March 14th, just after 4:00 AM, an East Precinct patrol officer noticed an older model, dark colored 4 door Toyota or Honda driving with a damaged tail light. This was near Lake Washington Boulevard South and South Charles Street. The officer attempted to catch up with the vehicle, and then activated his emergency equipment in an attempt to conduct a traffic stop. The suspect vehicle failed to yield and then took off at a high rate of speed. Another officer was in the area on an unrelated call. The speeding suspect vehicle came towards the second patrol car at a high rate of speed. The officer attempted to get out of the way, but the suspect vehicle side swiped the patrol car, striking the patrol car on the passenger side, causing damage to the wheel and rear side. The officer sustained minor injuries due to the collision and was checked out at the scene by the Fire Department. The suspect vehicle was last seen heading southbound on Lake Washington Boulevard South. The injured officer later went to...

On March 12th at approximately 11:35 p.m. officers responded to a 911 call of a burglary in progress in the 1900 block of Boyer Avenue East.  A canine unit and King County Guardian One responded to the scene as well.  Containment was set up and a canine track was conducted but turned up negative (the suspect(s) may have had a vehicle nearby).  Several large items were taken from the house.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the 68-year-old female victim was coming home and saw a suspect running around the back of the house.  She also observed that several doors and windows to the house were open.  She then called 911.

An extensive area search was conducted however, the suspect(s) remain at large.

Following on the heels of City Attorney Pete Holmes letter declining a request to convene a grand jury to weigh whether criminal charges should be filed against former Seattle police officer Ian Birk for killing John T. Williams last summer, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg also "respectfully declines" to convene a grand jury in a letter addressed today to several Williams' family attorneys. (Background on how a grand jury would be different from the public inquest process that already took

It's a good thing Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is holding hearings on the domestic threat posed to our nation by American Muslims, because that's the only way to be sure to protect us from this:

Five Fairbanks-area residents involved in a loose-knit militia group have been arrested in connection with a plot to kidnap or kill Alaska state troopers and a local judge, federal and state authorities said on Friday.

The group includes Francis "Schaeffer" Cox, the 26-year-old leader of the so-called "citizen sovereignty"

In a letter dated today and addressed to the Williams' family attorneys, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes says he will not convene a grand jury to investigate whether or not former police officer Ian Birk could be held criminally responsible for killing John T. Williams.

"I must respectfully decline your request," Holmes writes (.pdf). "The King County Prosecuting Attorney has determined that there will be no criminal prosecution in Mr. Williams's death."

However—and this is exciting—Holmes adds

This is some progress:

Doctors already are preparing for another major step in recovery for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords: replacing the portion of her skull that was removed after she was shot at point-blank range Jan. 8.

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Good lord it's good.

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David Simon, creator of The Wire, writing in Slate in response to Felicia "Snoop" Pearson's arrest, is required reading.

In an essay published two years ago in Time magazine, the writers of The Wire made the argument that we believe the war on drugs has devolved into a war on the underclass, that in places like West and East Baltimore, where the drug economy is now the only factory still hiring and where the educational system is so crippled that the vast majority of children are trained only for

Posted by news intern Ryan T. Hicks

People like to worry about gun violence, but as anyone who routinely scrolls through police reports (party game!) can tell you, guns aren't predominantly the weapon of choice in Seattle crime stories. Take last weekend, which saw not one but two assaults perpetrated with pepper spray.

On Saturday, March 5 at 2:15 p.m., an employee working at a bakery on Rainier Avenue S.—presumably Borracchini’s Bakery, judging from information in the police report—was outside the

Last November, in a small east Texas town, an 11-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped by a pack of 18 men, ranging in age from teenagers to a 27-year-old. The assault was recorded on several cell phones, and the recordings eventually found their way to teachers in the victim's school and then to the police.

It's a horrible story, made more so by the New York Timescoverage, which seemingly empathizes with the attackers while indirectly placing blame on the victim. There's this:

Residents in the neighborhood

A bit of news from my hometown:

More than 60 people, including the actress known as "Snoop" from the Baltimore-based HBO series "The Wire," were arrested Thursday morning across the city and its surrounding counties in connection with a large-scale heroin and marijuana operation.

Raids were carried out in the pre-dawn hours by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore police and a slew of other federal and state law enforcement agencies.

Makes me want to watch The Wire again.

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Another bold statement from the Seattle Times editorial board—"Gifted athletes are not exempt from accountability"—a sentiment of the "sky is blue" variety with which I totally agree, with the possible exception of replacing the "are" with "should be," if only to reflect the more typical reality on the ground.

Yes, athletes should not be exempt from accountability on the basis of being particularly tall or fast or strong or unusually adept at throwing, kicking, shooting, hitting or catching balls

From Arkansas CBS affiliate WREG:

Police are searching for clues in the death of a transgender woman whose body appeared to have been shot and dragged under a car Tuesday. The body of Marcal Camero Tye, 25, of Forrest City, was found by police a little after 5am Tuesday on Highway 334 in east-central Arkansas...

Full report here.

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This post has been updated.

Today, the City Attorney's office charged University of Washington basketball player Venoy Overton with furnishing alcohol to an underage girl—a gross misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The decision comes a month after the King County Prosecutor's office declined to press criminal charges against Overton for allegedly assaulting the 16-year-old girl after meeting her and her friend via Facebook. (The KC Prosecutor's office said there wasn't sufficient evidence

Because it was supposed to "reduce crime" on our streets. And now—since it didn't pass—robberies and theft are way up. Oh, they're way down? Violent crime is down by nine percent from last year? Larceny and theft are down, too? And robberies are down 20 percent?

Any moment now, we'll surely see a retraction from the Seattle Times—though we know this was written by Joni Balter—for accusing officials who voted against the bill of "turn[ing] their backs on those who want to make downtown and other

But not all the news was good. Aggravated assault—specifically, domestic violence cases—rose one percent last year. “Why that

The 2010 crime statistics are now available online.  Please see the attached link:  http://www.seattle.gov/police/Crime/STATS.HTM

Posted by news intern Megan Burbank

Recently, three people were violently mugged in downtown Seattle on one day, which raises the question—is this the crime zeitgeist of our city? Is one group of connected individuals responsible for all three of the attacks? Or has there just been a spike in robberies downtown?

According to police reports, it all began Wednesday, February 23 at 12:04 a.m. when a man waiting for a bus at Second Avenue and Bell Street made the fatal mistake of reaching for matches

On March 6th at approximately 6:38 a.m. officers responded to a report of a man down and possibly deceased in a vacant lot on the northeast corner of East Republican Street and Federal Avenue East.  Officers arrived on scene and discovered a deceased 37-year-old male who had apparently sustained a head injury.  Homicide and CSI detectives were called to the scene to investigate further.  

The King County Medical Examiner responded to the scene and took custody of the body.  This remains an active and on-going homicide investigation.

Remember this Blotter post from last October?

On Wednesday, March 2nd, Sergeant Bryan Clenna was presented with the American Heart Association “Life Saver” Award for his quick thinking and first aid skills.

Congratulations, Bryan!

Interested in the 10-week Community Police Academy but can’t make the time commitment?  SPD has developed a one-day Academy!  The courses provided will be condensed and a hybrid of the regular 10-week sessions.  For those willing and able, we hope that you will consider attending one of the 10-week sessions. 

For more information and to get your application to the one-day academy, click here. 

Space is very limited for the one-day Academy and all applicants will be backgrounded.

Be sure to sign your application and include a copy of your ID. Return your application by Friday, March 11th to Maggie Olsen.

Date: April 9, 2011

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Location: TBA

Cost: Free

Sponsored by: Seattle Police Department

Contact: Maggie Olsen (206) 684-8672  or margaret.olsen@seattle.gov

On March 3rd at approximately 12:35 p.m., East Precinct patrol officers responded with Seattle Fire medics to a report of an injured person in the 500 block of Lakeside Avenue S.  It quickly became apparent that the victim, a 38-year-old woman, had suffered a gunshot wound.  The victim was rushed to Harborview Medical Center for emergency treatment but efforts to save her were unsuccessful.

It was not immediately clear whether this was a suicide, accident or homicide, so Homicide and CSI detectives were called to the scene out of an abundance of caution.  The King County Medical Examiner will conduct their own investigation to determine the cause of death.

A woman of 88 who was targeted in September 2009 smelt a rat, and only pretended to eat the cake, which she dropped in a bin when her gentleman caller went to use the toilet.

Feigning to fall asleep, she watched as he began searching the flat.

Challenging the burglar, she made him leave, though he did manage to steal a sum of money nonetheless, Le Parisien writes.

Read the whole story about the "Paris cake burglar" here.

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Posted by news intern Megan Burbank

Since his State of the City speech a few weeks ago, Mayor Mike McGinn's office has gotten a lot of support for his idea to change the hiring practices of SPD—specifically to incentivize new officers to be hired from the Seattle work pool—as opposed to Burien or Enumclaw or Colonial Williamsburg or the Hellmouth or wherever the fuck.

In fact, I called and found that none of the feedback the mayor's office has received on the McGinn's recruiting suggestions has been

On January 6, Belltown resident Michelle Thorton was discovered strangled in the closet of her Vine Street apartment, nude from the waist down.

Today, the King County Prosecutor's Office filed second degree murder charges against 41-year-old Gary Wade, who, prosecutors allege, sexually assaulted Thorton on December 29 before killing her in an ensuing struggle. Wade has a felony criminal history in Utah and Georgia for assault, resisting arrest, forgery, offering prostitution, and attempting to distribute

On 3-1-11, at approximately 2:11 p.m., officers responded to a call of a strong-arm robbery at a business in the 2300 block of S. Jackson St. Officers arrived on scene and contacted the victim. He stated that a black male teen suspect with an afro, wearing a dark jacket, stole his laptop and ran off Southbound from the location. Officers arriving in the area advised dispatch that they had just seen a suspect matching that description running Southbound in the 400 block of 25 AV S.  The officers located the suspect still in possession of the laptop and detained him in the 500 block of 25 Av S.  A loaded stolen handgun was also located on the suspect.

The victim stated that a second suspect was also involved.  A second victim was also located at the business.

It was determined that suspect 2 and the suspect 1 coordinated to steal the laptops.  The victim confronted Suspect 2 as he exited the Starbuck’s and attempted to retrieve his laptop and phone....

Song here, and Yogis here.

It wasn't exactly a shot in the dark when I predicted that yesterday's post on the idiot gun-owning family in Alabama would get the 2nd Amendment fundies all up in arms. Yet all I really did was point out that study after study shows that access to a firearm is the number one risk factor for being involved in a shooting.

Case in point, Michael Fiorini of Auburn, who King

On February 28th, at approximately 9:45 PM, East Precinct officers responded to a call of an armed robbery in a residence in the 2300 Block of East Madison Street.  Officers contacted the victims who told them that at about 9:15 PM, three black males wearing masks had forced their way into the residence.  At least one of the suspects was armed with a handgun.  The suspects demanded to know where the drugs were kept and began ransacking the residence.  The suspect with the gun used it to hit two of the occupants of the residence.  The suspects then fled  after taking a large amount of drugs from the victims.  Seattle Fire responded to the scene to treat the two victims for their superficial head injuries, but none of the victims required any further treatment.  It is believed that this particular residence was targeted for the drugs kept inside.  Detectives will follow up on this case.

Posted by news intern Megan Burbank

In another good news missive, Seattle Police Chief Chief John Diaz and East Precinct Captain Jim Dermody recently announced that the East Precinct experienced a twelve percent decrease in violent crime and a four percent decrease in property crime between 2009-10. This means that last year, the East Precinct had its second lowest crime rate in eleven consecutive years.

High-fives for good news! And a job well done, SPD.

Gently proving that not all officers are frothing