“We are the third deadliest police force in the nation”: Spokane activists gather in Riverfront Park on Saturday to oppose police brutality

The group came together to mourn the deceased, to question current police tactics and to fight for the justice of all victims of brutality.

SPOKANE COUNTY, Washington. The Spokane Police Department is the third deadliest force in the United States according to FBI data from the Spokane Community Against Racism (SCAR).

About a dozen local activists gathered in the rain in Riverfront Park on Saturday afternoon to remember loved ones who had died at the hands of the police.

Mass Action Against Police Brutality (MAAPB) is a national campaign to hold law enforcement officers accountable for brutality, according to its website. In April, the organization had a national call to action, with events across the country.

“Today it will be great to highlight affected families because those are the voices that address this specific trauma, the trauma of losing your loved one,” said activist Anwar Peace. “We will hear their voices, hear how much pain they are in, accept that pain and help them move forward.”

Peace has been a police activist for more than 21 years and is currently a member of the Spokane City Human Rights Commission.

“Ozzie [Knezovich] has constantly groomed [SCSO] has no racist police officers in his power, ”he added. “How can that be, when Officer Thurman was a veteran who’s probably done this type of behavior before, and only after some awareness training did it come out.”

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich fired Sergeant Jeffrey Thurman in 2019 after the sheriff’s office investigated an internal complaint alleging that the sergeant called an on-duty MP while on duty and asked if he was ready, ” to kill some N **** “**. “Thurman is also accused of telling a young surrogate that he would impregnate her during a job training session. SCSO said both issues came to light during the investigation.

“It was handed in by other MPs,” said Peace. “Again, MPs handing over other MPs, that is the key.”

The MP, who made a complaint about another Thurman’s racist behavior, is now suing the sheriff’s office after alleging he was harassed over the complaint. Former MP Andrew Richmond filed the lawsuit in the District Court on March 30, 2021, alleging retaliation, racial discrimination and constructive dismissal.

Organizer JD Leighty started the event by naming people who were killed by law enforcement agencies in the northwest of the country. He mentioned the names Adler Michael, Otto Zehm, David Novak, Ethan Murray, Clando Anitok, Steven Anderson, Jeanetta Riley, Dwight Steward and Nancy King.

His best friend was Craig Johnson, a man who was killed by a deputy from the Bonner County’s Sheriff’s Office. MPs attempted to arrest Johnson for allegedly confronting a MP with a firearm on his own property during a social check days earlier, our news partners on the Bonner County Daily Bee reported.

At today’s rally, Peace spoke about how he believes police reform is necessary and indispensable for the community to unite.

“I don’t think there can actually be any kind of community healing until police authorities admit they have a problem in their police departments,” he added. “It has been really difficult to make change when there is certain leadership here that has historically been confrontational with community change efforts.”

They’re the same community leaders who haven’t given their own advice on how to fix their department, he said.

This summer, Spokane law enforcement officers used tear gas to target peaceful protesters during Justice for Georgy Floyd and Black Lives Matter rallies. Following the guilty verdict of Officer Derek Chauvin, Washington lawmakers sought to fundamentally change the way police responded to protests, riots and events. Mayors, county officers or even the governor would have to give their approval before police could use tear gas to quell rioting.

The community needs to push local leaders to change the norm, he said.

“What we saw here in Spokane was very powerful,” he said. “The majority of our community is white and it has been very encouraging to see the protests taking place on our downtown streets. The majority of these people are white. As blacks, browns and indigenous people, we have been saying for years that there has been a problem with the police for years.

“And the fact that our white community now understands that race profiling and policing is not on my mind is not my imagination. It’s a real thing that as a black man I deal with all the time. How cops interact with me based on my race. And for years it has been believed that the problem must have been me that if you had any kind of contact with law enforcement, you were a suspect, a villain. “

He added that it works the same way with law enforcement agencies, not everyone at work is bad.

“In the chauvin trial, it was so powerful and it gave me hope of prosecution when I saw the police chief testify and say, ‘This is against politics.’ The various other officers said ‘No, we don’t,’ “he added.” It should give hope to fellow activist who may believe that all police officers are bad. Just watch this process and see what these officers are about Chauvin said. Not all cops are bad. “

Peace is a big advocate of officer safety, he said.

“As an activist, this is one of the proposals I made to the police,” he added. “It’s not about defusing or banning them, it’s about giving them sanity [help]”

Hundreds of police officers die by suicide every year, Peace said. Blue HELP, a nonprofit dedicated to ending the mental health stigmatization of law enforcement officers in the United States, confirmed that more than 200 officers killed themselves in 2019.

“The mental well-being of police officers affects not only the police officers but the streets they patrol on,” he said.

Peace also wants random psychological and drug tests for officers. He said it was a disadvantage for the police authorities not to do this because they would not catch officers if they were negatively handling their charges.

Not only does he admit there is a brutality problem and assess officials, but he also wants law enforcement to sit down and speak to communities that feel targeted.

In June 2020, the city of Spokane proposed roundtable discussions on police reform, but these have not yet started.

“We used to be the fifth deadliest, but that number has been adjusted,” said Peace. “Now we’re the third deadliest police force in the nation, we have to do something about it.”

Again at 6:

According to the Spokane Community Against Racism (using FBI data), the SPD is the third deadliest police force in the country.

A rally against brutality was held in Riverfront Park. I lived with an activist who says reform is essential to community unification. pic.twitter.com/pm13CIASIY

– Morgan Maid | KREM (@MorganTrau) April 25, 2021