Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich says that a petition with 1,000 signatures asking for more police oversight is purely a political move, and has nothing to do with actual oversight. He says that his department already has oversight in the form of the Citizens Advisory Board, made up of community members that he selected, which meets once a month.
The petitioners say that they are merely responding to recent incidents involving use of force, and apparent conflict of interest in having a group of investigators appointed by those who are accused of the crime.
“This isn’t a partisan issue,” said Rick Eichstaedt, director of the Center for Justice and one of the petition organizers. “It’s a good government issue.”
Knezovich recently defended a deputy who said that the department needed an armored vehicle because of increased violence against police, specifically a threat posed by “constitutionalists”.
“He wasn’t talking about you and I, the American people that love the constitution, he talking about people that do bad things, that hate their government enough to take up arms and kill people”, says Knezovitch.
Included in his list of ‘extremists’ are the armed protesters at Bundy Ranch in Nevada, when Federal Officials attempted to capture, impound and remove ‘trespass cattle’ from open range. To Knezovich, Cliven Bundy is a criminal, and those who protected him are complicit in his crimes.
Knezovich says that the petition is a political move started by opponents such as Republican State Representative Matt Shea, former Spokane County Commissioner Bonnie Mager and Doug Orr, who unsuccessfully ran for the sheriff’s position last fall. However, petitioners say that this is the same oversight that the sheriff campaigned on during last year’s election.
Sources:
http://spokanepublicradio.org/post/sheriff-warns-extremists
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/sep/03/oversight-spokane-county-sheriff-petition/
