These days, you could count the number of non-PC, truly public figures in Seattle on one mutilated hand; and the subset who happened to be black on - probably - one finger.

And now, tragically, that voice in the wilderness is gone.

An expert marksman on the firing range, and vocal opponent of knee-jerk, almost-always-bogus racism accusations against Seattle cops, Seattle Police Officers Guild President Ken Saucier died in a one-vehicle accident this past weekend.

He was returning from a national target shooting competition. Authorities report Saucier, 40, the married father of three daughters, grew drowsy at the wheel around 3:40 a.m. while heading home through Idaho. He veered off the road and over-corrected. The vehicle rolled, and he was killed, while a close friend riding with him survived.

What's usually a predictable liberal rag called The Seattle Weekly has this worthy tribute to Saucier by writer Philip Dawdy. A few excerpts:

He’d been on the streets himself, in the South and North precincts since 1986, breaking up rock houses in the South End and patrolling University Avenue on third watch, a beat he told me he loved. He’d been a SWAT member, a firearms trainer, and then, after mouthing off regularly about how cops were getting screwed, ran for and became president of the union—the first African American ever in that position. He was re-elected last December.

Saucier was furious that some citizens continued to think cops were racists, an instrument of The Man to hold down minorities. As far as he was concerned, racism on the force was nonexistent, and it was time for the public and anti-cop activists to give cops a break.

...Saucier was disturbed that budget cuts had reduced the number of officers working routine patrol to fewer than the cops on the street in 1973.

...I liked all of this straight talk from Saucier....then that damn accident....how unlucky we all were to lose someone public who went through life with so little concern for what the gatekeepers of society thought of him. Civic life in Seattle will be a lot less interesting.

In our timid, stereotypically liberal Left Coast burg, where police are automatically assumed to be racist almost whenever a minority is shot or seriously injured by police while commiting a crime, Saucier was a strong and important voice for law enforcement.

Saucier was controversial. It's easy enough to dig up Web-archived news articles with his tough, and sometimes inflammatory pronunciamentos on police oversight, racism allegations, or contract negotiations.

Yet Saucier reminded many people, myself included, that police are our friends, and all too often, are badly and unjustly under-valued.

With Saucier's untimely passing, it's also worth remembering that nearly all members of Seattle's minority communities, like most whites, want criminals caught; justice dispensed; and streets made safer. Except gang-bangers.

Rest In Peace, Ken. You'll not be forgotten.

Cross-posted at Political State Report.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at July 28, 2004 07:57 PM

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These days, you could count the number of non-PC, truly public figures in Seattle on one mutilated hand; and the sub-set who happened to be black on - probably - one finger. And now, tragically, that voice in the wilderness is gone. An expert marksman ... [Read More]

Tracked on July 28, 2004 09:03 PM

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