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Seattle PD or Seattle PC?
FrontPageMagazine.com | May 15, 2001
by Michael Tremoglie
URL: http://www.frontpagemag.com/columnists/tremoglie/2001/trem05-15-01p.htm

MORE AND MORE U.S. cities, from Seattle to Cincinnati, are being held hostage by the forces of political correctness. On the one hand, "civil rights" activists seem ever more willing to justify and provoke mob violence. On the other hand, police and city officials seem less and less willing all the time to protect citizens against such violence.

On April 14th, I spoke with Sgt. Ray Smith of the Cincinnati police public information office. When asked if any blacks had been charged with hate crimes in conjunction with the recent disturbances he replied that some had been charged with ethnic intimidation.

Subsequent reports indicated that the only hate crimes charged were involving a white person. This despite the fact that there was enough video of black hate crimes for a feature length documentary. I spoke to the Cincinnati PD public information office today and was told that the police were still investigating hate crimes by blacks.

Can you say political correctness?

Politics is an integral part of policing. From the unofficial prohibition of issuing parking tickets in some areas, to assigning investigative priorities, politics drives the system

As a police officer you are cognizant of the fact that taking a police action could possibly result in your arrest. The chances of getting in trouble are even greater when you take action off-duty, although you are required to do so. You are always aware that anything you do is subject to scrutiny afterwards and political partisanship. That's why there is very often a laager mentality with departments.

It only adds to the cynicism of a job that nurtures cynics.

Nearly two decades ago, as a police officer assigned to a racial detail I was required to report as a racial incident any instances involving anti-black crimes. When I asked about anti-white crimes I received no reply.

This was evidently the case with the Seattle PD three months ago. They needed a political assessment before taking any action during the Mardi Gras " celebration." I would also suggest that they needed to do a political assessment before investigating any hate crimes

From the beginning there was probable cause to believe that hate crimes were committed by blacks during the Seattle Mardi Gras mayhem. The videotapes, news photographs, and witness accounts all indicated that racism played a role - anti-white racism. The Seattle PD did not acknowledge that possibility.

Seattle police spokesperson Clem Benton informed me that hate crimes were not being considered. When I spoke to people at the Seattle Times and Post-Intelligencer I was told that some readers were complaining, but that they themselves were not investigating it. Although one Seattle Times editor told me, " It was a developing story."

Not until March 17, after FrontPageMag.com called for an investigation of anti-white hate crimes, did the police recognize that hate crimes were committed. Still they are minimizing it.

The March 16 issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that Seattle police Detective Christie-Lynn Bonner, who investigates bias crimes, said that identifying hate crimes can be as difficult as trying to read someone's mind. Investigators must look at "the totality of the situation" before determining whether a hate crime occurred -- Racial slurs do not necessarily mean a hate crime has been committed," Bonner said, referring to Fat Tuesday. "It depends on the context they're used in."

Is that right?

Well, Detective Bonner according to the Anti-Defamation League's website: Hate crimes are defined ...as an act or an attempted act by any person against the person ...another individual or group which in any way constitutes an expression of hostility toward the victim because of his or her race.

Congress defines hate crime as " a crime in which the defendant intentionally selects a victim, or in the case of a property crime, the property that is the object of the crime, because of the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexual orientation of any person."

None of the definitions require one to be clairvoyant in order to press charges.

Unfortunately, PC politics a la Seattle and Cincinnati is nothing new.

In 1990, in Philadelphia, an African American murdered a cable TV salesman because he was " a white man walking in a black neighborhood." There was little media reporting. What there was referenced the murderer’s psychiatric history. This is noteworthy because the Seattle police and media mention that the black suspects have criminal histories.

Well, the guys that murdered James Byrd weren’t exactly choirboys. But, in their case, the suspects’ race, not their criminal history, was emphasized.

There was a time in this country when a white person could murder an innocent black person with little fear of retribution. There would be little or no police investigation; no hue and cry from the media. Things have changed. Apparently it is now becoming acceptable for a black person to murder a white person.

The political correctness on college campuses has migrated to the police departments, city councils and newsrooms. Life has become more dangerous for honest citizens as a result.

Michael P. Tremoglie is a freelance writer currently working on his first novel, and an ex-Philadelphia cop. E-mail him at elfegobaca2@earthlink.net.

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