Seattle Cop Suspended For Harassing Latinos

The Chief of Police of Seattle, Washington, has drawn the proverbial line in the sand. Chief John Diaz has said that he will not tolerate police officers who use racial or ethnic slurs and anyone who does so in the future will be punished.

All of this arises from an incident, recorded on video tape, where according to the Seattle Times a local police officer used anti-Mexican language while detaining a Latino man.

Police Chief John Diaz said he initially preferred to fire veteran Detective Shandy Cobane but was advised the dismissal likely would not stand up to appeals available under the contract with the police guild.

The next best thing that Chief Diaz could do was to use the incident as a watershed and warn his department that, moving forward, such behavior would not be tolerated. That and suspend the officer in question for 30 days.

The suspension is the harshest punishment Diaz can dole out short of termination, and it comes at a time when the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether the Seattle Police Department has a pattern of violating the rights of minorities.

So there is history of civil rights violations in Seattle . There have been similar cases in the past few months of harassment against Latinos and the federal government is investigating.

But what the Latino community in Seattle wants is to be treated with respect. In the mean time the cop in question, 17 year veteran Detective Sandy Cobane, was removed from Seattle’s gang unit and put to work on patrol duty.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda

[Photo by davidsonscott15]