Cheers: To body cameras. The Clark County Council has approved a five-year contract for sheriff’s deputies to adopt body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras. The move has been long discussed, and last year a ballot measure to fund the program through a sales-tax levy passed with 58 percent of the vote. Officials say deputies will be equipped with cameras by late summer or early fall.
Body cameras do not provide all the answers when questions arise about the conduct of police or suspects in threatening situations, but they often can lend transparency that answers some of the questions. As Clark County Sheriff’s Office officials said in a statement: “CCSO will continue to work diligently to earn and maintain trust and accountability with the community and believes this program is an important step in that process.” Such accountability is an essential part of public service.
Jeers: To high gas prices. According to AAA, Washington now has the highest average gas prices in the nation, surpassing California. The average price of regular gas in the state was $4.91 a gallon last week; in Clark County it was $4.89.
In an article from The Seattle Times, experts say Washington’s surge in gas prices is linked to a new carbon pricing program that charges businesses for carbon emissions. Businesses are passing those costs along to consumers. While that outcome was predictable, the program will help our state combat climate change; the first two auctions of emission allowances have raised more than $850 million for climate initiatives. Those initiatives are urgently needed, but that doesn’t make the pain at the pump any less palpable.
Cheers: To some good police work. When a suspect crashed a stolen car, fled on foot and entered a store through the back door, Vancouver police officers employed some technology to track him down.
After evacuating the business complex, officers used a drone to locate the suspect in the ceiling area of a business and took him into custody. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle and outstanding warrants for theft. Cheers go to some clever policing.
Jeers: To a hostile workplace. Clark County has been ordered to pay $200,000 each to three Latino workers who sued the county over what they said was years of racial discrimination and harassment. The lawsuit said the men also were denied pay, benefits and training opportunities provided non-Latino co-workers. A federal jury agreed, but did not find that the county violated federal civil rights laws.
The lawsuit claimed that supervisors and county officials were told of the harassment, but no action was taken. The result is a lawsuit that is paid by taxpayers or by the county’s insurance — for which we pay the premiums — earning jeers for county leaders.
Cheers: To Titan VanCoug. Washington State University Vancouver’s renowned corpse flower is expected to bloom again in the next week or so. Corpse flowers are rare, giant and give off a notable stench. Because of that, Titan VanCoug draws thousands of onlookers when it blooms — most recently last year.
Corpse flowers do not often bloom in consecutive years, but The Columbian reports: “Due to a watering error years ago, Titan VanCoug … cloned itself, leaving WSU Vancouver with four plants in one pot.” The bloom lasts only a day or two, but you can follow the progress (but not the odor) through a flower cam on the WSUV website.
