Report: Conduct Unbecoming

The recently completed Seattle Post-Intelligencer series Conduct Unbecoming - How a Disgraced Sheriff's Deputy Beat the System is both interesting and instructional.

It raises questions about how a deputy sheriff could sink so deeply into corruption without his immediate supervisors and coworkers intervening. The report shows the consequences of supervisory inattention, or worse, supervisory tolerance. The report strongly suggests but doesn't conclusively prove that former sheriff Dave Reichert, now a US representative, was more interested in his political career than weeding out a corrupt deputy. The report goes on to show that while honest and county and federal investigators outraged by the deputy's egregious misconduct clearly believed they had the evidence necessary to successfully prosecute the deputy, that prosecution was actively suppressed by King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and present King County Sheriff Sue Rahr over the very strong objections of subordinates.

The reality is that some elected law enforcement officers and prosecutors allow political expediency to prevail over verifiable and admissible facts in deciding which cases will and won't be prosecuted.