Speaking power to truth: current law enforcement public relations in Bellingham and Whatcom County / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic of a black police car with white and blue lettering and white and blue striping to access a June 24, 2020 KGMI radio news extra on Bellingham Police Department’s “Police Perspective” video series

July 30, 2020  Dena Jensen

Since the body count of victims of unjust killings by police officers culminated with the slaying of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in late May this year, community members in various areas of Whatcom County have been calling more intensely for numerous types of law enforcement and justice changes aimed at eliminating racist, discriminatory, biased, violent, militaristic, unjust, or unnecessary law enforcement actions. Increasingly, voices of local law enforcement officials are resounding in response.

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Worthy of honor and respect: the 2019 Farmworker March for Dignity / Noisy Waters Northwest

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August 8, 2019 Dena Jensen

It’s been held for years. I have been to four. This year was the second time I’ve marched the full route. The annual Farmworker March for Dignity starts at dawn, with many people leaving their home destinations around 4:00 a.m., in carpools or individually, to arrive at shuttle locations and park their vehicles.

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Whatcom County Sheriff receives Operation Stonegarden Grant funding in joint mission to secure U.S. borders / Noisy Waters Northwest

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kbfw rosalinda stonegarden

Click the graphic to access this Keep Bellingham Families Working Facebook post on their Facebook page

September 19, 2018   Dena Jensen

In light of our heightened awareness of threats to Whatcom County residents through the initiation of  deportation proceedings against immigrant’s rights activist and Bellingham resident Maru Mora-Villalpando in December of 2017, and the August 29, 2018 ICE raid against employees of the Bellingham location of Granite Precasting, I am going to try to shed some light on this Operation Stonegarden Grant funding that the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office has been receiving for years now with the approval of the Whatcom County Council. Continue reading →

Court Slashes Fine for WA Farm Where Worker Died / Public News Service, Suzanne Potter

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public news service sarbanand hearing photo

Click the graphic to read or listen to the complete Public News Service report

 

June 20, 2018  Suzanne Potter

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Farm-labor advocacy groups are furious after a District Court judge in Bellingham slashed the fine to $35,000 on Tuesday for a berry farm accused of unsafe working conditions, after a worker there collapsed and died last August.

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Bellingham: The City of Insidious Discrimination / Noisy Waters Northwest

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February 23, 2018  Dena Jensen

Monday February 19, 2018 was the one year anniversary of the Dignity Vigils in Bellingham, where community members have been gathering to stand in solidarity with undocumented and immigrant families and people as well as joining to stand against law enforcement and federal immigration collaboration which leads to deportation. These weekly events, part of the Keep Bellingham Families Working campaign, have been occurring every Monday during the lunch hour in front of civic buildings downtown, and often on Monday evenings at the WTA station on Railroad Avenue. Continue reading →

Legal Action Moves Forward Against Top Whatcom County Officials / Press Release, Whatcom Civil Rights Project

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press release legal action moves forward rosalinda

November 3, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2017

Legal Action Moves Forward Against Top Whatcom County Officials

Bellingham, WA- Community leader, Rosalinda Guillen, filed a lawsuit for over $230,000,000 on October 10, 2017 in Whatcom County Superior Court against Defendants, Sherriff Bill Elfo, County Prosecutor David McEachran, and County Executive Jack Louws, based on their unlawful actions in the 2015 election year. The lawsuit alleges that Louws, Elfo, and McEachran violated Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 42.17A by using county resources for their reelections and publishing a biased and deceptive mailer to registered voters. Continue reading →

Stand up for dignity / Letter to Whatcom County and Bellingham City Councils, Noisy Waters Northwest

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NO HUMAN IS ILLEGAL FOR NWNW

October 11, 2017  Dena Jensen

Subject: Further perspective on ordinances to protect members of our undocumented immigrant community

Dear Whatcom County Council and Bellingham City Council:

I wrote to all of you last week regarding creating ordinances that would provide more protections for members of our undocumented immigrant community. I recently had a local government official share their perspective on that letter with me. In this case, it doesn’t matter who made the statements because I think portions of the perspective expressed to me were similar to those I have heard expressed at council meetings. Continue reading →

Elfo asks, why citizen oversight for community safety? Answers become apparent / Noisy Waters Northwest

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August 2, 2017  Dena Jensen

On Saturday July 22, 2017 Community to Community Development posted a live-feed of their Family Forum for Community Safety that was held that evening at the Bellingham Public Library.

Near the end of the event, the facilitator, Rosalinda Guillen of Community to Community Devolopment, explained why she was being direct and public with this discussion.  She said that people are concerned about the federal government finding ways to impose immigration regulations and to make the county sheriff comply with immigration enforcement. Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo responded, indicating that federal officials had already tried to exert pressure and impose regulations, but that his sheriff’s office had said no and that they would continue to say no to federal mandates. Continue reading →

Citizens: BPD dismissive of people of color / NorthwestCitizen, Ralph Schwartz

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Junga Subedar of the Whatcom Civil Rights Project, left, hands crime reports to Detective Caryn Queen, center, and Detective Sgt. Claudia Murphy, right, Tuesday, April 26, inside the Bellingham Police Department lobby.

 

Tue, Apr 26, 2016, 7:04 pm  Ralph Schwartz

Saying the police failed to investigate assaults against protesters who marched in downtown Bellingham two months earlier, a group of citizens turned in their own crime reports on Tuesday, April 26, to the Bellingham Police Department.

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