Mum’s the Mayor

This is one of those times where "Silence is golden".

Come on Helene, Man up! Does the PD have any accountability to anyone? other than Peter Lance? Judge Hill will just dismiss the case if he thinks unauthorized shredding occurred? I would hope there would be a little more than that happening like an inquiry into what the @#$%#@ is going on down at the PD other than fan mail for ON PATROL. The POA won't endorse Self because he called a spade a spade? Why wouldn't you call Cam into your office and ask him what is going on? Oh wait, he is out of town on a job interview. It seems like there was more done about some blue line indicating global warming in 1000 years than there is being done about an apparent lack of checks and balances in this town.

Responding to the News-mess means the Terrorists have won.

"The judge has made it clear he intends to dismiss the case if there’s evidence that shredding took place improperly."

Judge "gutless wonder" Hill. I want him for my next trial!!

No...You don't want hill at you next trial.

Look what the jerk did to that African UCSB Student and then see if you want him as your judge.

Total Incompetence with a dash of injustice.

Violations of Beutel's rights? What about violation of Lance, et al's rights? This is a bad joke. Time to grow a pair and take on the POA.

"No...You don't want hill at you next trial.

Look what the jerk did to that African UCSB Student and then see if you want him as your judge.

Total Incompetence with a dash of injustice."

Oh, he was the one who sent that young boy away for decades, despite an overwhelming call for his case to be reviewed? Forgive me, I don't want him as my judge. Incompetence, no guts, publicity hound and a lousy judge.

It's hard to distinguish who the bad guys are here. The infamous Newspress, the crooked police dept., or the inept judicial system. All seem to be corrupt!

"The mayor would comment on the fact that not all police cars come equipped with cameras, as reported by Lance. In the past, all cop cars had cameras. Schneider said the city administrator has been reviewing the issue and looking for grant funds to buy such video equipment."

The cops are increasingly resistant to cameras keeping an eye on how they do their jobs. Suddenly cars that once had cameras don't have them anymore, and they put duct tape over the security cameras at Pacific Coast Collective and Hortipharm when they raided those sanctioned dispensaries. Then, of course, there's this man and thousands like him who have been charged with wiretapping for filming police in public: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/...

Is it just me, or does that make you really, really, really uneasy?

It's not just you.

you have no idea the insane amount of money that is being made from the whole dui industry in this town

#domfighter: Definifely not just you. This is beginning to smell like corruption and coverup on a wide scale in this town. I've emailed the Council several times - received an acknowledgement from only one of them. I suggest everyone who wants an independent investigation write to the grand jury - you can do it online.

isn't 3domfighter the guy busted by the cops for stealing electricity in a pot house? and your link is about a 2007 incident in a town that happened on the east coast??? how is the relevant to cameras in cop cars? sorry i dont get it

"this is beginning to sound like corruption and coverup on a wide scale..." Bwhahahaha. This is beginning to sound like a brass band led by Peter Lance and the News-press to throw up a noisy diversion so Lance won't have to walk to Nipper's bar to pick up ... whatever he picks up there...champagne glasses? talk about an obvious ploy to blow up a DUI into the next OJ cases so a drunk can wiggle free. Ludicrist. And the whole town, even the mayor, is so afraid they'll might be wrong that they are marching right in step to Lances and the News Presses baton waiving. This is like a cheesy short story called "The Town that Cried Corruption."

...and the short story ends with the sly booze hound in the bow tie winking at the reader and driving off half crocker as the mayor, police chief, and judge all stand outside the court house pointing fingers at each other bickering. The end of the perfect comedy!

Check today's NewsPress for the latest bit of chicanery by our DA's office.

Tomharris: Beutel and Lance are two different people. It just may be that both are guilty. Try not to let your hatred of the NewsPress destroy logic and reason.

Kasi Beutel is promoted to the director of MADD and later becomes Attorney General of the United States.

Beutel and Lance and two different people in the same way that JohnLocke and the News-Press are the same person.

JohnLocke: speaking of logic and reason.... I think that we can stipulate to the fact that Lance has motive up the wazoo to pursue this fairy tale - he doesn't want to get convicted for DUI.
But what is Beutel's motive? And why would the DA's Office, the Police Dept, and the City Attorney's Office all put their careers, reputations, freedom, etc. on the line to engage in this "vast conspiracy" as Lance would have you believe? The City and the Police Dept. have fired some of their own in the past for far less than what Lance is accusing Beutel of. So, if these wild claims had any "real" credibility, wouldn't they just drop the hammer on her and move on? I suspect it's because they know that Beutel is simply a hard working cop who just happened to be the one to arrest Lance for his crime that night....it could have been any officer. According to the City, they haven't suspended her, she's not on administrative leave and she's not under investigation - this should be a clue to the average citizen that maybe the allegations aren't true.
Back to Beutel's motive... do people really think that she would risk everything just to arrest Peter Lance for a misdemeanor? It just doesn't make any sense.
Before buying into all of the crazy conjecture and wild accusations, people need to use their common sense and not assume that what they hear from Team Lance is the actual truth just because they say it is.

I always thought conspiracy theories were for simple people to latch onto. Kind of like their belief in the easter bunny

Beutel's motive is to maintain her award-winning position with MADD, earn more overtime pay, and get promoted.

As far as her not being suspended, et al, it can be taken as an indication that the SBPD thinks her innocent or that they are covering for her. As I and others have said many times, a full and independent investigation is indicated.

I suggest you not confuse seeking truth with believing any one individual's story.

@Tomharris

First, the word you are looking for is "ludicrous". "Ludicris" is a rapper/hip hop artist, and I'm not even sure what "Ludiscrist" is.

Second, Officer Beutel might find it difficult being appointed Attorney General (however sarcastic you were trying to be) without teaching or practicing law, or even having a bar license (or the hope of ever attaining one given her questionable ethics, and therefore a presumably uphill battle with the moral character determination. prefilled forms and perjury would almost certainly preclude her, and that's evidence we already know).

Just because Lance has everything to gain by having his case dismissed doesn't mean that he was the first to have his signature (allegedy) forged, and nor could he be the last. Frankly, it's all too convenient for the SBPD to shred the waivers that would prove or disprove Officer Beutel's innocence. And Beutel had everything to gain by continuing her flawless streak of DUI arrests and assistance in convictions.

They both have everything to gain, and if Lance is let off due to a technicality, then bad on Officer Beutel. If she ever wants to be "attorney general", she best learn to follow the letter of the law and not her interpretation of it.

And if Beutel is let off without a trial, then bad on the SBPD, the DA, the court, and the City Council. No, we don't know if she's guilty. That's what trials are for. And given the growing amount of evidence and misbehavior by the local law enforcement community, a trial is clearly warranted. Heck, people have been brought trial on much less than this.

I learned a long time ago to not trust anything published in the News-Suppress unless I knew it to be true myself or it was proven by an independant source.

"Is it just me, or does that make you really, really, really uneasy?"

3domfighter
September 16, 2011 at 2:09 p.m

It makes me uneasy as well.

Maybe Helen ought to catch a ride with Sanchez to San Berdoo.

discoboy: Not ANYTHING? that seems a bit extreme. But in the Lance case, does a handwriting expert used by the state of California in previous court cases qualify as independent (not independant) enough for you or do you assume that since the N-P reported his testimony it must be a lie?

One more comment for "goodprevails": if Beutel is proven guilty, the SBPD will have a rather large problem defending all her priors - hundreds of potentially flawed DUI arrests. Excellent reason for coverup if you're a police chief trying to look good to a new employer (or keep your current job or not look like an incompetent fool).