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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What it takes to be a sheriff / Facebook post, Joy Gilfilen

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Photo from Joy Gilfilen’s Joy for Sheriff Facebook Page

August 25, 2019 Joy Gilfilen

You know what everybody? The incumbent Sheriff is out in public making up stories about what it takes to be a Sheriff. 

The fact is and according to law – it takes getting elected. 

The buffoonery story about fighting 24 year old combatants is like saying that I want to be called the romanticized “Sheriff of Boon County”. I have no desire to be that kind of Sheriff. I will be a sheriff who works differently in the 21st Century. 

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Why there was reform to talk about at the Whatcom County Community Justice Forum / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic image of the Whatcom County Courthouse with people on the steps and a branch in the foreground to access audio recording of the Whatcom Community Justice Forum on Soundcloud

July 26, 2019 Dena Jensen

I listened to the KGMI recording of the Whatcom Community Justice Forum today. There was a lot of good information presented, however it did seem rather like a giant campaign ad for Sheriff Elfo with a final plug for a new jail thrown in at the end. There was actually less focus on a new jail in the forum, though, than there was when Sheriff Elfo was on KGMI’s Saturday Morning Live radio broadcast last weekend.  

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‘Bellingham, Washington, should become a Sanctuary City’ / Facebook post, Vote Von for the Peoples of – por las Gentes de – Bellingham

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Click the graphic to access Von Emeth Ochoa’s video with accompanying transcription on his Vote Von for the Peoples of – por las Gentes de – Bellingham Facebook page

July 2, 2019 Von Emeth Ochoa, Candidate for Bellingham City Council, Council At-Large position

Bellingham, Washington, should become a Sanctuary City. In no uncertain terms.

Reading Aloud: Things I learned from the forwarded documents from Community 2 Community/Comunidad a Comunidad and a letter from Sheriff Elfo from 2017, forwarded to me by https://noisywatersnw.com/

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Notes on Whatcom County Council 1/15/19 discussion on repealing code regarding correctional facility standards / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Screenshot of files received through a Public Records Request of correctional standards, policy, and procedure materials that were provided to the Whatcom County Council by Whatcom County Undersheriff Jeff Parks at the 1/15/19 Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee meeting

February 22, 2019 Dena Jensen

I have written a couple posts now on the part of the January 15, 2019 meeting of Whatcom County Council’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee related to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s proposal to repeal and replace Whatcom County Code (WCC) 1.28 regarding correctional facility standards.

According to the documents supplied to the Council Members on the committee and the presentation given by Whatcom County Undersheriff Jeff Parks, the Title 289 Washington Administrative Code (WAC), which Whatcom County had adopted as WCC 1.28, had been deemed obsolete and was done away with in 2006.

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Whatcom County Council committee considering repealing and replacing Whatcom County Code 1.28, Standards for Correctional Facilities / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access the proposed ordinance to repeal and replace WCC 1.28 that includes a copy of Exhibit A

January 10, 2019 Dena Jensen

This week, now that the Whatcom County Council agenda for next week has been released, I have more questions about jail matters that I am uneducated on!

On the agenda for the Whatcom County Council Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee is a “Proposed Ordinance for Action January 15, 2019.” This proposal was introduced, (according to a reference on the copy of the proposed ordinance) by the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office on December 4, 2018. I don’t know to what body or how that ordinance was introduced. There’s also a memo written by Sheriff Elfo explaining reasons for “repealing and replacing Whatcom County Code 1.28, Standards for Correctional Facilities.” 

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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 →

Citizens Beware… / Noisy Waters Northwest, Corky Nouveau

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sample ballot 2018

Click the graphic to view the complete August 7, 2018 Primary Election sample ballot on the Whatcom County website

July 24, 2018  Corky Nouveau

Citizens Beware…

Those were the last words that Jewell James gave to those of us who attended the recent Bears Ears totem pole blessing at the Bellingham Unitarian Church. Those words concluded a wide-ranging discourse full of wisdom and warning. Needless to say, the Natives who have long suffered at the hands of Washington State’s repressive state and local law enforcement agencies know of what they speak. Citizens beware, be aware, be wary…. Continue reading →

ACLU of Washington lawsuit: Whatcom County Jail violating ADA by refusing medication to people with opioid use disorder / News Release, ACLU of Washington

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aclu whatcom county courthouse

June 7, 2018  News Release, ACLU of Washington

The ACLU of Washington has filed a class-action civil rights lawsuit against Whatcom County and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office for denying people with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the County Jail medications necessary to treat their addiction.  The lawsuit challenges the Whatcom County Jail’s policy of refusing to provide people access to “Medication-Assisted Treatment” (MAT), including buprenorphine (Suboxone and Subutex) and methadone, even though it provides other clinically appropriate medications to inmates.  This policy is harmful, unwise, and illegal. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) forbids discrimination against people with OUD, who are just as entitled to medication as those suffering from any other ailment requiring medical treatment.

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