Hold police accountable

Long before Betsy Wilkerson was a member of City Council she was, and still is, a businesswoman who owns and operates group homes. Good people with disabilities live and thrive in these homes. It was in this capacity that Betsy Wilkerson, when asked by the police to supply security footage from one of these homes, responded in a responsible way, protecting her clients’ privacy rights. She asked for a warrant before she released the footage.

Apparently, due diligence on her clients’ behalf caused the police requesting the footage to make inaccurate and disparaging remarks about her. The comments were captured on their body cameras. They seemed frustrated because they were required to follow the law and obtain a warrant. As if their comments weren’t enough, the incident was exacerbated when the body camera footage was disclosed under dubious circumstances and widely circulated in the right-wing echo chamber.

This incident is now the subject of an ombudsman investigation, as well it should be. Had Ms. Wilkerson not been a council member, there would have been no story. The police would have procured a warrant and life would have continued. But instead, as Shawn Vestal said, this incident was spun into an “odd, empty smear” leveled not against Businesswoman Wilkerson but Council Member Wilkerson, notably the only council member of color. (“Body-cam footage of council member makes way to Fox News,” Nov. 7). It is the police who need to be held accountable for this unfortunate mess, not Ms. Wilkerson who was doing right by her clients.

Mary M. Winkes

Spokane