SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Officer: We shouldn’t expect Bellevue Police Officers to be saints
Jan 10, 2013, 12:50 PM | Updated: 2:34 pm
Yet another scandal is rocking the Bellevue Police Department. As many are wondering what exactly is going on within the Department, one officer tells us why we should lay off our criticism. (Photo: Linda Thomas)
(Photo: Linda Thomas)
The Bellevue Police Department has had some really bad press in the last few months, since a group of officers got punished for behaving badly at a Seahawks game and one admitted to driving drunk. Most recently two high-profile officers were demoted for not reporting their eight-month-long affair to their superiors.
KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson has been particularly critical of the Bellevue Police Department and now Mike, a local police officer, is taking issue with Dori’s comments.
In a letter to the Dori Monson Show, Mike says we shouldn’t expect law enforcement personnel to be perfect, and Dori is holding these officers to an impossibly high standard.
Although Dori respects police officers as a whole, he thinks that Mike missed his point.
“When we trust people to come into our lives carrying deadly force, I want to know that they’re people who make good judgments,” said Dori. “If they can’t make good decisions in their personal life, how can I trust them to have the power of deadly force over my life?”
Dori also takes issue with the way that the Bellevue Police Department has handled these issues.
“My main criticism yesterday was of a leadership, a captain who won’t speak about any of this, who has gone into bunker mentality,” said Dori. “I think police departments need to be transparent, and Bellevue’s has not been.”
Read Mike’s letter below:
Dear Dori,
For years now I have noticed the media always runs with off duty cop gets DUI stories expecting that all people in this one particular profession be absolute saints. No other profession is held to as high a stardard by the media as law enforcement.
Your continual slander of the Bellevue PD is totally inappropriate. As you may be aware we are living in a fallen world. Nobody is free from sin, including talk show personalities. My guesse is there are tons more cops than talk show personalities nationally meaning statistically there will be more headlines of off duty cops slipping up than radio hosts ect. Freedom of the press isn’t intended to slander those that serve.
Most disturbing is on the air today you made a direct correlation between infidelity and being unable to handle a firearm safely! The story as told by you on the radio did not include any gun play by the Captain or whoever finding his ex and whatever coworker who had obviously been intimate. Had there been weapons drawn or shots fired you would have a good point. Workplace affairs happen everywhere but I don’t need to stick my nose into other peoples private lives. I understand you need to compete with soap operas for your time slot human nature is apparently attracted to smut…
Disclaimer, cops should be saints. We should all strive to live biblically. Morals aside a messy love triangle is totally unprofessional and should be avoided. But what good does it do to point your finger at Bellvue PD? When the entire culture is in need of significant healing. Look at the most recent elections as evidence about half the voters are backwards on values. Again let’s keep personal who’s sleeping with who private business in the bedroom.
Do you really think that infidelity makes a person unable to safely handle a firearm?
Sounds like she wanted to be held and feel loved at a low point and did something inappropriate with a man who couldn’t resist such a delightful tempation and they were both sinners enough to be unable to outwit the devil.
Absolute good vs. evil is a little bit out of the realm of any single law enforcement agency. Wouldn’t you agree?
That’s why they say never meet your heroes. On behalf of every cop who ain’t a saint please accept my apology. For I like you Dori am disappointed we are living in fallen world and would like to be able to hail cops as saints. I pray one day we will heal the entire culture eliminating the need for media as we know it.
In the mean time can you tone down the finger pointing?
