Transcription: Comments Made in Sultan City Council Meetings (Jan. 21st and Feb. 11th, 2004) Regarding Assault on Eldon Criswell on the night of January 16, 2004
[The comments below were made on January 21, 2004, during the council member comments portion of the council meeting.]
Criswell Last Friday night, um, and it just so happens it was my brother, uh, was assaulted over on, uh, 8th and Alder. And that, that's, it's pretty scary to think that people can't walk the streets -- this is 11 o'clock at night -- either walk the street, walk from the Dutch Cup to my house. Um, fortunately he wasn't hurt, but it could have been a lot worse. But the next day…I dropped by the Candy Cane. My wife had called me and she thought she'd seen a person out there that looked resembles the guy that did this. At that time, about the time I showed up out there, a police officer drove into the Candy Cane. When I talked to him, this officer didn't even have a description of the guy, although the police took the description from my brother at the time they were called by [unintelligible]. Later on that evening I talked to another officer who wasn't even aware of the incident. And I think this certainly needs to be addressed. Communications, as far as I'm -- [when] something like that happens it should be passed off officer-to-officer at the time of shift change. You know, this is a suspect, here's what he looks like, here's what happened, whatever. Apparently that ball was dropped. And I hope it doesn't happen again. That's all I got to say right now.
[No further comments were offered from any council member, except for Brennan Deveraux.]
Brennan Deveraux Rob? Was he, like, was he mugged? Did they, like, take stuff?
Criswell Took his wallet. He had, like fifty bucks [unintelligible]. Wasn't a whole lot of money. But it's just the idea that it's a pretty sad thing for the [unintelligible] has come to that point.
[During the Department Heads staff comments/presentation, the following statement was made by Police Chief Fred Walser.]
Chief Walser Mr. Mayor, I have to say some things, and especially in light of Councilman Criswell's comments. In fact, I'll start with that. Um, there was a breakdown of communication on that particular incident. Our computer system crashed, and, um -- and don't get me wrong. I'm not offering excuses for anything we do. We welcome criticism. And we did drop the ball on Eldon's mugging in relaying the information. However, Commander Becker was on duty that night. And he went home to his computer and emailed each officer to try and update them on the information on Eldon's mugging. Unfortunately, the two officers which you referred to, did not access his email to get that information. That is a standard procedure when we have an incident that occurs, it goes into the officer's email system. I -- after this particular incident, we're also instituting a handwritten briefing system on a, on a board, where the officers get the information on incidents of interest. There's also a crime update that they've got…that they get.
Criswell Yeah. Myself, it's not just because it was my brother, but I mean, being able to see what went on there, it, it…truthful[ly], it made me a little angry that that ball was dropped, because, you know, say this was a murder rap [unintelligible], you know, the guy's still on the street. And that's pretty upsetting.
Walser Well…I cannot -- [both speaking simultaneously]
Criswell The problem is [unintelligible] and it probably wouldn't happen all the time. It was just one of those incidents that I was aware of, and whether it was my brother or somebody else's.
Walser Yeah, usually we're pretty, pretty good about relaying information on incidents, both internally and externally to the sheriff and whoever else needs it, which is --
Criswell [interrupting] Your office--your officers [unintelligible] that, too.
Tolson Yeah. I try to see the email.
Walser Excuse me?
Tolson I also receive the emails.
Walser We try to -- you would have gotten if you had -- to be honest with you, you would have gotten an email, too. And I think all the council members got the email. So…and if there's a better way to do it, I'm right there ready and willing to listen. But our computers, as I said earlier today, we've got super problems with our computers. And I still have officer's reports that I can't access stuff. And we've got a guy that's working on it.
COMMENTS [EXCERPT] FROM THE FEBRUARY 11, 2004 COUNCIL MEETING:
Walser The other, the other issue I need to address is some allegations of police incompetence or problems that surfaced at the last council meeting. There was an issue brought up that somehow the police don't communicate well, or for whatever reason, tended to drop the ball on the street mugging that occurred in this city. Had the chief of the police department been informed of these issues, he probably could have responded -- and I'm speaking in the third person, so it [unintelligible] -- he responded to the allegations timely and factually. But having no pre-warning that this information was going to be brought forth in public, the chief responded in the only way he could: Out of ignorance. And if there was a mistake, we certainly would have [unintelligible] for that. The facts of the matter are quite contrary to what was stated at the city council meeting. An individual was mugged in this city. Um, the police department responded within a minute and a half of the 911 call, through the [unintelligible]. There were two officers on duty. Both officers responded. They took very sketchy information, and a very sketchy description was broadcast to all east Snohomish County police agencies at that time. The descriptions were two white male suspects, one possibly having a Mohawk haircut, the other wearing a baseball cap that was turned around backwards and wearing dark clothing. One officer took the victim's information, the other began a survey of the neighborhood in the surrounding area, and, in fact, walked on doors and talked to people. One subject was 50 feet from the site of the alleged attack, watching television and stated he heard nor saw anything occur. That information was then carried forward and a Community Transit bus that was leaving town was stopped and checked for possible suspects. The area was canvassed. Nobody was found. Both in responding to the call and leaving the call. The information then was taken back to the police station, and our Commander Becker attempted to put that onto our computer. And unfortunately our computers had crashed. And we had some problems. We are dealing with five- to seven-year-old equipment and have a myriad of problems and trying to function as a modern police agency. The Commander went home at 3:30 in the morning. Took the time to type out a press release. He also sent email notices to every single officer, including the chief of the department, regarding this incident and the crime updates that occurred that evening. The next morning one officer reported to work at 6:00 a.m. and was the lone officer on duty for four hours Sunday morning. She had a myriad of things to handle, being the lone officer in the city. She did not check her email. The second officer came on duty at 10:00 a.m. He had checked his email at home. He was well aware that there was an issue in Sultan, a mugging, and a brief but [unintelligible] description of the perpetrator. At some point he was flagged down in front of the hamburger drive-in, just west of town, by a lady who wanted him to contact a supposed suspect in this incident. He began to question this lady, "How do you know he's a suspect? What information do you have that I can act upon?" Well, she just thought he answered the description. That's not good enough for a police officer to stop and detain and accost somebody without having enough probable cause. The suspect did not answer at all the descriptions that the police had at that time. A, um, that individual was subsequently contacted by another person and driven away from the area, and the officer then went about his routine police business. This, in no way did that officer drop the ball. In no way did my officers do one thing wrong. They did everything they've been trained to do. They went well above and beyond what they should do, and I resent the implication of anything different. And this issue has caused a serious moral problem with your police officers, and MUST STOP. They are dedicated men and women who put their life on the life for you, not themselves. And they need better treatment than that. We need better equipment. We need better facilities. We don't have that. It's nothing personal. But I am fed up with being ambushed by people who do not have the common courtesy to come to me first. And I will answer any question. I have absolutely nothing to hide and this council needs to know that. If there is a problem here, I will deal with it. I guarantee you I will deal with it. Enough said. Thank you, Mayor, for giving me the opportunity to vent. [applause] [audio file of last portion of chief's statement, 1 mb.)
Tolson
I spoke with the Chief prior to this, regarding this, allowing this to happen. This will be a discussion point at our retreat. And we will address it at that time.[end of this transcription]