Eerie Similarities - San Francisco vs Kootenai County

The San Francisco Chronicle has begun a three-part series titled The Use of Force. It examines the use of deadly force by San Francisco police officers.

The Sunday, December 3, 2006, leadoff article by Chronicle staff writer Seth Rosenfeld was headlined When officers resort to gunfire. It reviewed four officer-involved shootings that resulted in lawsuits against the City of San Francisco. The City settled all four lawsuits but was required to provide the press with the police department's own investigative reports of the incidents.

In reviewing the official police reports about the four shootings, The Chronicle and its experts (University of South Carolina criminology Professor Geoffrey Alpert and former Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Lou Reiter) found a disturbing pattern in all four shootings. Quoting from the Chronicle article:

• "In the moments leading to the shootings, officers used faulty tactics, needlessly placing themselves in danger, then shot their way out."
• " The department's internal investigations resulted in reports that did not mention the missteps. "
• "The public did not receive a full account, and police officials may have lost opportunities to discipline or retrain officers and to improve operations to help prevent more shootings."

If these findings don't sound familiar, reread Whitecaps' February 16, 2005, post titled Theft, Gunfire, and Death in Hayden, Idaho: Part II. Then look at the March 2, 2005, post titled Worthy of Trust and Confidence?. The first post discussed the shooting death of Michael Madonna in a confrontation with two Kootenai County sheriff's deputies. The second was Whitecaps' response to the subsequent effort by the Sheriff's Department to conceal the facts of an avoidable deputy involved shooting from the public.

In the Madonna shooting, one deputy failed (twice) to maintain control over his prisoner, Michael Madonna. Madonna was able to reposition his handcuffed hands from behind him to his front, run into his house, recover a firearm, and turn and shoot at a pursuing deputy and a Coeur d'Alene police officer. Compare this to the Chronicle's first finding: "...officers used faulty tactics, needlessly placing themselves in danger, then shot their way out."

The Kootenai County Sheriff's Department failed to release relevant information to the public about the deputies' conduct in controlling both Madonna and the woman with him. The subsequent administrative hearing, conducted by carefully selected law enforcement officers (no civilians present), found no fault with the deputies' conduct. This sounds eerily similar to the Chronicle's second and third findings quoted above. (Thankfully, the meticulously completed Idaho State Police investigative report obtained by Whitecaps revealed what the Sheriff would not.)

In reading The Chronicle article, I was struck by the behavioral similarities of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department and the San Francisco Police Department command staffs: Cover it up and conceal the facts from the public. This persistent and always misguided cover and concealment tactic damages public trust and confidence in our local agencies.