I disagree with the Herald’s editorial of June 15 (“Fourth Amendment freedoms: Suspicion goes overboard”). This editorial appeared to be based on a superficial review of the incident that led to the 25-minute detention of Shirley Scheier by City of Snohomish police officers in the back of a patrol car in October 2005.
Ms. Scheier’s own suspicious behavior was the principal cause of her detention. First, she scuttled away from the marked “no trespassing” area when she was approached by Snohomish Bonneville Power Authority staff while she was photographing the station. Then, she drove from the main gate on the east side of the facility to a dirt road that accesses the west side of the station from Highway 9. When police officers were dispatched by a 911 call from BPA, one of them eventually located Ms. Scheier on this dirt road. As the patrol car approached, she quickly returned to her car and drove off to avoid the officer.
She was then pursued and pulled over by the patrol officer. Found on her passenger’s side seat was an open map with red circles drawn around several major significant facilities in the Seattle area, including the BPA station and the Westin Hotel, where the president and visiting foreign dignitaries stay in Seattle. She repeatedly refused to keep her hands on the steering wheel as directed by the officer.
Why wouldn’t these behaviors have caused a reasonable person to be suspicious of Ms. Scheier? The fact that she had an ID card from the University of Washington and explained that she was an art professor taking photographs was certainly information that was useful in determining her intentions. But, based on her previous behavior, I don’t believe it would have been reasonable for the officers to simply release her without further checking. The officers checked with the FBI and found no cause to further detain her. She was released.
The Herald appears to believe that these police officers overreacted in their efforts to protect a key part of the power grid for the Northwest. The fact that Snohomish officers are designated as first responders protecting this BPA station is a serious matter. If the station were to be destroyed it would affect millions of customers and disrupt the region’s economy.
Neither the Herald’s news article nor its editorial questioned why the ACLU was so quick to settle this case for a mere $8,000 if it was such an important Fourth Amendment and First Amendment case. Doesn’t it seem odd to settle a case for a minor cash amount in a lawsuit promoted to defend basic constitutional rights?
Obviously to me, Ms. Scheier and her attorneys believed that if all of the facts were brought out their chances of prevailing at trial would have been questionable at best. If a jury, not in the heat of the moment of this incident but coolly and objectively calculating all of the facts, was not to be trusted to support their lawsuit, doesn’t that tell you something?
It’s easy to question the actions of police officers after all facts come to light. However, police officers typically make difficult decisions on the spot, often with only shreds of the full story and without the luxury of letting time help them sort out the truth. I challenge The Herald and its readers to put themselves in these officers’ shoes and decide whether they would have complete confidence that Ms. Scheier’s behavior did not warrant some investigation at the time.
I also wonder what type of editorial The Herald might have published if the officers immediately let Ms. Scheier go on her way, only to find out later that she wasn’t what she represented herself to be. What if the BPA facility would have been sabotaged as a result? If the police officers had ignored this perceived threat only to find out later that it was real, I can easily see The Herald publishing an editorial castigating these police officers for poor judgment.
While none of us believes that police officers can act perfectly in every situation, we do expect them to act prudently and to carefully protect our communities. Sometimes this makes law enforcement an easy target for critics who contend that excess force was applied in these difficult tasks. It’s not so easy when you’re a police officer who is trying to sort out the truth with scant information.
Larry Bauman is city manager of Snohomish.
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