Police Union Chief Smacks Down Racist, Anti-LGBT Cops: If You Don’t Like Blacks And Gays, Leave

by Elisabeth Parker 

“You applied here. And you have to treat people all the same.”

That’s Ron Smith’s message to Seattle cops who’ve still got issues with gays and people of color. And in case they still don’t get their police union president’s drift, Smith adds:

“You have to serve the community. If you don’t like the politics here, then leave and go to a place that serves your worldview.”

The Stranger‘s Ansel Herz reports Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Ron Smith has recently taken a harder line against Seattle’s finest in the wake of recent scandals involving inappropriate racist and anti-gay Facebook rants, including a particularly offensive defense of Michael Brown’s murderer Darren Wilson.
Shortly after the Seattle Times announced on Feb. 6 that SPD’s Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole had just put a second cop on leave for bigoted social media posts, Smith posted a warning on the Seattle Police Officers Guild’s Facebook page: If police want to avoid appearing on the front page of the Seattle Times, they’d better watch what they email, text, and post on social media. After all,

“Times have changed and we must also change to adapt to societal expectations. We are held to a higher standard by those who entrust us with their safety and who call us when they need help in their darkest hour.”

Ron Smith’s Facebook post. 

In an interview with Herz, Smith explained that since there are so many cities and police departments across the nation that still tolerate racism and anti-gay bigotry, he doesn’t understand why haters even bother applying for police jobs in progressive communities like Seattle.

“There are more than enough places across this country that are hiring law enforcement that have a different political landscape than here. And I don’t know why they don’t just go there.”

That’s the gist of what Smith has been telling his officers lately:

“They hired you because they thought you were going to be able to work in a diverse community. And if you can’t, well then, I guess there are still places across the country that aren’t diverse, so go work there. But those won’t last forever.”

Smith’s tough talk is welcome…and long overdue.

This tough talk is welcome, considering that the guild has made headlines in the recent for resisting reform and making provocative statements in their newsletter.

It was exciting language from the head of a union that in the past, in its monthly Guardian newsletter, has described efforts to combat racial profiling as “socialist policies” from “the enemy” and argued that officers should be able to call citizens “bitch” and “n***a.”

Smith took office as SPOG’s president in Feb. 2014. His reforms have included four hour anti-bias training sessions for police officers officers in Nov. and Dec. 2014. When Herz questioned whether training sessions can fully address the problem of bias within Seattle’s police force, Smith agreed that you can’t, but it’s a start.

“That’s an overt attitude. There’s no room for that. I don’t know how you check that at the door. That’s like playing dress up.”

But really, Smith wants police officers to either keep their bias under wraps or leave. If they can’t at least try to serve their community and treat everyone equally, then they should GTFO.

“We need to treat everyone the same. Regardless of race, gender identity, economic class—all the same. I’m going to try to do better on things. I stand firm on the fact that  if you don’t like… the political environment of the city, then go someplace else… You gotta change with the times. You gotta embrace what we have here.”

And what Seattle has is a liberal, tolerant, multicultural community that supports Smith’s long-awaited reforms.

 

The Stranger’s tweet for their Ron Smith article — This is big: Seattle Police union president tells cops to get with the times or leave town. http://www.thestranger.com/