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During the investigation, nobody questioned the initial decision to let Robbins leave the police station -- even though he was acting quite oddly and even though a records search revealed his long history of mental illness.
In an interview with Santa Rosa Police Detective Dan Lujan and Jack Karr, an investigator with the District Attorney's Office and a former Santa Rosa officer, Carlson, a 21-year veteran of the Police Department, offered this analysis of the situation:
"You know, what I got the impression of that, he changed his demeanor just before I shot him is that he wanted me to shoot him. That he was forcing me to do that. That's the impression that I got. Ah, that's just a guess."
The Santa Rosa Police Department took the lead in investigating the shooting of Dale Robbins, which was ruled to be justified. A 1996 civil grand jury report criticized the investigation, noting that the only person on the investigating team with no connection to the Police Department was the deputy district attorney on the case.
Since that incident, under the direction of a new chief, Michael Dunbaugh, the Santa Rosa Police Department has adopted the practice of requesting that the Sheriff's Department take the lead role in investigating officer-related shootings.
The new investigative procedure is one of several changes Dunbaugh has made since becoming chief last July. He has arranged for a new mental health response team to advise police in crisis situations. He even equipped the department's SWAT team with "bean bag" ammunition -- 2-1/2-inch shotgun shells that expand on contact and incapacitate, but do not kill, suspects.
On July 4, Officer John Noland shot and wounded 48-year-old David Wharton, a suicidal man who had been threatening to shoot himself in the head. Noland said he shot the man when he pointed his gun at him. In the spirit of openness, Dunbaugh recently met with a local civil rights group concerned about the shooting. And Dunbaugh says the Police Department is trying to give the media all possible information about police shootings. The Santa Rosa Police Department's version of glasnost even extends to an open house next month for the people of Santa Rosa -- the first ever.
Critics of police procedure in Sonoma County say the chief's efforts, while promising, are not enough to change a law enforcement culture in which use of deadly force is far too common. Judith Volkart, the chair of the Sonoma County ACLU, says regardless of additional training and kinder, gentler weapons, accountability is crucial -- and is still lacking. Volkart says the connection between Sonoma County's police agencies is too close for any sort of genuinely independent investigation to take place, and the police are the only ones doing any investigation.
"The police are policing themselves in this community. There is no community involvement and there's no accountability directly to the community," says Volkart. "At this point, the investigatory power is maintained completely within law enforcement.
"We believe the windows and doors need to be open so that citizens can look in at how policy is being made."
Chief Dunbaugh says he is open to the idea of a civilian review board in Sonoma County, as Volkart and other critics are advocating. Such a board would give citizens without direct connection to law enforcement the power to subpoena witnesses and conduct independent investigations. The board would also have the power to recommend disciplinary action in cases where investigators found that police acted inappropriately.
But civilian review is no certain solution for excessive police force.
Civilian review boards are noble creatures, in principle. But at their worst, they become better known for political infighting and ineptitude than for their vigilance in overseeing police practices.
Reducing the high incidence of police shootings in Sonoma County would take more than civilian review. County police agencies claim to follow a countywide use-of-force policy that should, in theory, limit police-related deaths. But after police shootings in Sonoma County, investigators rarely question whether that policy has been broken -- or why crisis situations escalated into shootouts.
In Sonoma County, nobody has been asking hard questions -- why Officer Rangle shot an unarmed man, why Officer Stevens confronted a dangerous suspect without backup, why Officer Carlson let the amazingly disturbed Dale Robbins leave a police station.
Kevin Saunders' shooting was ruled legally justified. But justified is not necessarily unavoidable.
Kevin was hardly a model citizen. He was violent, mentally disturbed, and emotionally frayed. But his family still mourns his death.
Claire Saunders lives at the same address, down the street from where Kevin was killed last year. Last August, she told police she felt the shooting was justified, that Officer Rangle "was just trying to serve and protect and to save other people's lives." She also said she felt that Kevin "wanted to die."
But Claire, who now lives with a man who moved in shortly after Kevin's death, has since changed her mind. She has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit over Kevin's shooting on behalf of Saunders' daughter, Sierra, and Claire's two other children from an earlier marriage.
Kevin's mother has never changed her opinion of what transpired that afternoon last August. Today, 13 months after Kevin's shooting, Pat Baldridge is still angry.
"He should never have been shot. They're calling it 'suicide by cop.' What is that? What does that mean?" Baldridge says in a tone that is both soft and furious. "Because they found a wrinkled-up note? Because he was desperate? He needed help -- and the police shot him.
"I will grieve for the rest of my life.
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