Columns Old

crs 30-10-506

“sheriffs responsible for the official acts of their deputies and undersheriffs.”

Interesting:  statute was amended in 2006.  Responsibility of sheriff all behavior not changed; purpose was to limit sheriff’s right to fire without some due process.  More.

Policy and procedures documents for Colorado sheriffs.  Jeffco has none publicly available.

To Casey Tighe, Jefferson County Commissioner via e-mail:

The issues I see and experience in my neighborhood with the Jefferson County sheriff’s department could hardly be more serious. Today I am asking the FBI to investigate color of law abuses and I will additionally contact my U.S. attorney and the DOJ if necessary.  Evidence/allegations include fabricated evidence, false arrest, no/extremely adversarial complaint process, lack of proper supervision/monitoring, lack of/improper training, failure to protect/provide safety, repeated threats, name calling, personal visits, unsolicited/unwanted calls and e-mail, illegal search, suppression of legal rights (e.g., access to property), systematic failure to respond to crime reports, and falsified public records. Efforts to have the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office investigate have been unsuccessful and some of these allegations may apply to that department as well.  I strongly request that the Commission/county investigate so that these matters may be handled “in house” and…

1. fabricated evidence;
2. suppression of evidence;
3. false arrest;
4. no/extremely adversarial complaint process;
5. lack of proper supervision/monitoring;
6. lack of/improper training;
7. failure to protect/provide safety (more generally:  neighborhood law enforcement);
8. repeated threats, name calling, personal visits, unsolicited/unwanted calls and e-mail;
9. (suspicious search and confiscation methods);
10. suppression of legal rights (e.g., access to property);
11. systematic failure to respond to crime reports;
12. falsified public records;
13. Interference with U.S. Postal Service operations;
14. obstructing legal/civil actions;
15. repeated/systemic failure to identify themselves;
16. interference with First Amendment/right to petition;
17. failure to respect citizens’ right to report crime.

‘I am interpreting a law how I want and you are accused.’  This could even include ‘making up’ a law.  The inverse or opposite is also true:  ‘I say this law doesn’t mean that therefore it is not illegal.’  This second or inverse application results in a lack of protection or a harm to society.  Law enforcement and other public employees cannot do this.  People’s rights are violated as a result.  This is what is known as a “color of law” violation.

It does not matter whether it is individual or organizational.  Individuals can’t do it.  Organizations have a responsibility to stop it.  Obviously, organizations cannot support it or create a culture that allows it.

The FBI website provides information to help understand the organizational aspects these civil rights violations.  The individual violations are related-to, caused-by, or explicitly or tacitly supported by top officials within the organization.  This is where things like training, supervision, and complaint procedures come into play.

I strongly believe that the systemic, long-term implicates the organizations top executive, sheriff Ted Mink.  Specific communications directed-to and ignored by him support this conclusion.

In this case the examples–they are many, with multiple,  specific pieces of evidence to support each one–are based on my personal experience.  This must not be reason to discount the extreme severity of the abuses.  There are virtually no government-supported avenues for others to come forward:  the local district attorney and attorney general have refused to even look into it and Colorado has no state police.  Information provided to the sheriff’s department is, in reality, used to suppress the abuses; there is absolutely no public, accessible disclosure forum.

1. Where to Start?
2. Knowingly Poisoned
3. Tarbell and Rockefeller
4. The Basics in Colorado
5. Ted Mink I
6. Ted Mink II
7. The List
8. EPRD
9. Local Journalism
10. The County
11. Stats
12. Planning and Zoning
13. Ed Renals
14. Extreme Secrecy
15. Pics
16. Politics and Elections
17. Don’ts; Lessons Learned
18. Selective Enforcement
19. Civil Rights

Following are the facts of the case.

For over two years the neighbor behind me has disturbed me by shining lights into my home and lighting up large portions of my backyard.  Oral requests and numerous letters have been ignored.  Given the impasse, on several occasions the local police department has been called.  The behavior has persisted.

Employees of the police department have refused to explain, in writing or otherwise, why they will not correct the abuse.

On approximately two dozen occasions employees of this same police department have harassed me for reporting crimes.  This harassment has included coming to my home for no legitimate reason; outrageous–always oral–allegations of alleged crimes committed by me; name calling; unsolicited calls; and caller-ID blocked calls.  Several internal affairs complaints by me have been ignored.  E-mails and letters to Sheriff Ted Mink have been ignored (i.e., not responded-to).

These are the implications and conclusions based on the case.

Propaganda, according to Webster, are “ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing cause.”  (from pbs/frontline comments)