By Rudizink
Although we've had continuing inquiries about the now-pending Matt Jones/Vangate Matter, we've been reticent to discuss new developments to which we are privy, due both to pendency of Mark Decaria's independent investigation, and also because of the "quiet" perpetuation of a related OPD "internal investigation," which seems also to have remained on-going (according to trusted sources,) despite representations by Boss Godfrey's office that all issues related to the "Vangate" matter would be handed-off to the County Attorney's office. With two teams of lawyers working the civil rights violation and employee rights sides of this case respectively on behalf of Officer Jones, we thought cautious discretion was in order re further reporting on this story.
For newcomers to Weber County Forum, or regular readers whose memories of the Vangate matter may have slightly faded over the course of the last several weeks, you can find a thumbnail Scott Schwebke fact summary in last Sunday's Standard-Examiner update article, wherein our beloved Std-Ex Ace Reporter also reveals that a release of Mr. Decaria's legal "findings" regarding the whole array of legal issues springing from the Vangate debacle is imminent.
Regular WCF readers are aware, of course, that the facts of this case are far more complicated than the Std-Ex's Ace city-beat Reporter was able to report in the above article. This was, in fact one of the most fact-complicated and rapidly-developing stories within recent memory in the Land of Oz. In the course of a mere several weeks, the Ogden Police Benefit Association deftly managed to disseminate their pay-plan inequity story across the news media from coast-to-coast, reveal Boss Godfrey's nefarious citizen-predatory ticket quota, threaten the political careers of several local neoCON politicians, and persuade a seemingly asleep-at-the-wheel city council that "doing the right thing" was the best public policy of all. (Bumbling Boss Godfrey helped out a little bit with his own efforts, of course.)
In the interest of saving bandwidth however, we'll resist the temptation to re-tell the whole story, and refer our readers instead to this recently-compiled Special WCF Vangate Article Collection, which sets forth in chronological order the events of this story as they developed.
And in the interest of cutting to the chase, we announce the placement in our right sidebar of a graphic link to the Matt Jones Legal Defense Fund. Thanks to the efforts of the Ogden Police Benefit Association, a formal trust fund has now been established, toward which First-Amendment dedicated townsfolk can demonstrate their gratitude to Emerald City's Finest, by reaching into their pocketbooks and assisting in the defrayal of the legal fees that have so far accrued, and continue to accrue, as Matt Jones defends himself against the smear campaign that has been launched by the miniscule-minded neoCON on nine
Although Officer Jones' civil rights lawyers have taken his case on a contingent fee basis, his employment lawyers work for an hourly fee -- and the clock continues to tick.
Our gentle readers have been very generous in the past in their willingness to contribute to noble causes, and we hope they will be equally generous in the instant case, which involves the issue of free speech, a bedrock right of American Freedom.
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4 comments:
Great collection of articles, Rudi!! Very Nice Free Matt Jones button. WCF is truly becoming a Source.
But I have a question. That Press Conference where the Mayor announced Mr. DeCaria was investigating. Was it stated there that Mr. DeCaria's office was investigating Jones, (the investigation that would normally be done, and is allegedly being done, by Internal Affairs,) also?
Have been trying to figure out how they would go about this. Perhaps they would split it into parts: the VanGate episode, and then the validity of the reason for Jones being put on leave. In order to do the latter, they would have to look at the IA investigation to determine its validity. In order to do that, they themselves would have to also investigate Jones, as IA is doing.
So we have an on-going investigation being investigated? This might be somewhat hard to do.
I will match any hundred buck donation made throught this WCF appeal.
Matt Jones and our civil rights are under siege and must be defended.
Godfrey's and Greiner's perfidity must be exposed to the light of day for what it is.
Very interesting story here in today's SL Trib. Evidently, Salt Lake City has filed an injunction in an attempt to block records of the Civilian Review Board from the public.
This board is, I believe, the one that risked being dissolved in the last Legislative session because we "didn't need" it. The dissolution of it would have led to these employees having no recourse regarding accusations against them, among other things.
At stake are the files of three police officer review cases in which the review board and the police chief disagreed on the final disposition. In those records, the board sustained allegations of excessive force, dishonesty, a civil rights violation and the destruction of evidence.
The State Records Committee stated that release of these records was in the public interest. But SL City Attorney Martha Stonebrook counters this because:
The release of the information also could potentially confuse the public in matters "differentiating an advisory recommendation by the review board from an actual sustained finding of misconduct by the police chief,"
Red flag alert here!!! Stonebrook's sentence seems pretty clear to me. She is contrasting the differences between "an advisory recommendation" and "an actual sustained finding." I, a member of the public, can understand the difference between these two things.
Yet Stonebrook states that the city does not wish the release of this information because it could confuse the public, and that our confusion could result in "unfairly stigmatize(ing) police officers in situations where the police chief does not sustain the allegations of misconduct," wrote Stonebrook in the complaint.
No matter which side one is on, the refusal to release information of the Board's findings smacks of clandestine, closed door meetings. resulting in individuals' lives being affected in one way or another without the rest of us knowing how or why. And the reason we are not to know how or why people's lives are being affected is that knowing about this could just confuse us.
The release of the information could result in the unfair treatment of officers in review situations and negatively affect the chief's ability to execute disciplinary matters, Stonebrook alleges.
Like I said, no matter which side one is on, keeping information secret in situations like these does not bode well for us. If it becomes customary to keep information like this secret, many, many abuses could occur and in fact, the entire process of review would become a mockery. Why convene a Board to investigate and make findings if no one is able to know about them?
Could this be why it was alleged that we didn't need the Civilian Review Board? Because it would just be better not to confuse us with these things?
Here's what Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson said about the Civilian Review Board:
This ordinance and the Board it creates are critical in ensuring police accountability, as well as protection for police who have been falsely accused. It will, in the long run, promote greater trust between the Police Department and the community it serves.
I agree with that statement, and do not think that attempts to keep the findings of these boards secret are for the best.
City files to block release of records on police reviews
Dian
Dontcha know nothin? For cryin out loud girl, every body around here that drinks the cool aide like your supposed to knows that our leaders, especially the high moral types like Godfrey and Greiner, knows one hell of a lot more about what's good for us than we do. That's why this is a Republic and not a Democracy like we all have mistakenly believed all these years.
Why can't you just relax and trust our leaders. We all know they wouldn't lie to us about things like why Matt Jones is being abused, and like how the mall would be financed, and how the Goondola will make us all millionairs.
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