SUPPRESSING MATERIAL EVIDENCE

(from Donna M.)

Imagine the horror of being one of four victims of a death threat and you discover that at least two [police] officers hid intake calls containing material evidence in a death-threat investigation.
Not one. Two. Maybe more.  

The chief of police—who was under an active criminal Official Misconduct investigation initiated by one of the victims just weeks earlier—retained control of the entire investigation.  

Ask the only questions that matter:
Why?
What was so important that evidence had to be excluded?
Who was being protected? Why would all of these officers be involved in such an egregious act? Was this a full-blown conspiracy against the victims who were outspoken critics of the mayor and the city government and officials?  

Here are some of the things I said in that intake call that got buried:  

“I don’t feel like this guy did this on his own at all. You know, he’s never been to a city council meeting before, we’ve never seen him before. He shows up…he knows everything about everything, and yet…if he really knew his stuff…he would know how to pronounce SEPA. I feel like somebody has been working with this guy…I don’t think he did this on his own at all. He knows too much information to be kind of a spectator on the sidelines as a citizen.?  

“I do not feel like he is working on his own. I feel like there were some people brought in by a former council member…they all started cheering and jeering when he made his little speech. So, I feel like there is a different ringleader that might be involved in this. He was spotted by one of our people with all these guys around him and then those were the same guys cheering this guy’s message. So, it was like they all knew about it.  

“There’s an active investigation into him (Chief Rodger Funk) for Official Misconduct…what bothers me that night is that we get this credible death threat, and the mayor sits there and says nothing, and the chief of police sits there and says nothing…I then emailed him (Chief Funk and said), ‘Why have you not looked into this? Why have you done nothing?’ And, no response….he didn’t really do what he should have been doing in my eyes…was he complicit in this…is this really going to be an unbiased investigation when he is your boss?”  

“We smelled a lot of corruption in town, and that’s what started this whole thing. I wanted things investigated by the chief and he refused. I have video recordings of him saying I don’t want to talk to you about this when I’m saying, ‘What is it when you try to report Official Misconduct on the mayor and you refuse to do anything about it?’ And, he’s like…I’m not talking to you…I’m not talking to you about this…and I have the video. It looks really bad. So, that doesn’t sit right with me to then have someone who’s not willing to do an investigation …this isn’t just once..this is four times…two different episodes from me and two from another community member…and he didn’t even respond to either one of us….so then this investigation is going to happen under his wheelhouse? It doesn’t sit right with me.”  

Officer Ritzer: “Okay, so I guess what I would ask is what would you like done with this case then?”  

My response: “I want it conflicted out…he didn’t do anything; he just stood by and watched…he doesn’t respond to my emails. That doesn’t look good. I think this needs to get conflicted out….I’m investigating your boss (with the criminal Official Misconduct investigation).  

Officer Ritzer: Let me clarify, are you under the impression that we’re investigating the Blaine Chief of Police with this investigation?  

My response: “No I’m just saying I want everything looked at. He didn’t do anything. I want everything looked at. So, if the chief of police just sits there while somebody is making a viable threat …on six people including two council members, and then he won’t respond to me…I’m just saying that everything needs to get looked at.”  

This intake call and several others never made it to the police report. Period. Police report numbers changed. Information was omitted.  This case was never conflicted out. Chief Rodger Funk kept control on it.

Officers do not risk their badges, careers, and futures by accident.
Why would so many officers actively suppress material evidence in a death threat case? Did someone tell them to do this? If so, who?  

For the victims, the realization was horrifying. 
It took time to understand what had happened, because the idea itself was almost impossible to accept: that the very people charged with protecting our lives would manipulate the investigation and exclude essential evidence. We were victimized again…but this time by the Blaine Police Department.  

There is no known precedent in American history of policing where a chief maintained control of a death threat investigation while simultaneously being the subject of a related Official Misconduct complaint brought by one of the victims - and where material evidence was then hidden by subordinate officers.  

What we are witnessing is not a mistake.
It is the exposure of something that was never meant to be seen.