Letter | Officer shouldn’t get a third chance

Published 8:00 am Thursday, July 30, 2015

The (Seattle Times) story about the troubled history of Officer Nick Hogan is astonishing. An officer accused of crushing the bones to the tune of two settlements totaling $275,000, fired from the Tukwila force, job applications rejected by Tacoma and other jurisdictions, but then hired by Snoqualmie?

Chief McCulley explains that a military buddy of Hogan recommended him, so the Chief gave him a personal interview. What? How about the evaluations from Tacoma and other forces who apparently thought him too risky to hire. Is the Snoqualmie police force a rehab institution for officers who have problems with self-control?

Chief McCulley is disingenuous in proclaiming that Hogan deserved a second chance. That’s because he’s already blown his second chance—in Tukwila. Now he’s on his third chance.

And the chief casually reminds us that “there are two sides two every story.” OK. So what’s the other side of the story, the one that the Seattle Times couldn’t find, and that the Chief won’t discuss?

Police around the country today are suffering a mostly underserved black eye because of repeated instances of police misconduct. I’m a great believer in people’s ability to change their lives and their behavior. I also believe in second chances, but not third chances on a police force which we citizens hire to protect and serve us, and whom we entrust with the use of reasonable force in our names.

The Rev. Jan Larson

North Bend