The City of Vancouver Continues to Retaliate Against Officer Sharma in Public Meetings

Council Member Says Sharma Was Not Victim
Monday, October 13 10:45 p.m.
By JEFFREY MIZE COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER

A former Vancouver police officer who received a $1.65 million discrimination settlement was not the victim, a member of the Vancouver City Council said Monday.

Councilman Larry Smith said the real victims were 78 people whose reputations were damaged by Navin Sharma’s “false” and “sloppy” drunken-driving reports.

“Sharma actually discriminated against these 78,” Smith said during a discussion of how the city intends to carry out a post-settlement review. “I’m a little concerned that those individuals who got a false report have been victimized.”

Greg Ferguson, a Vancouver attorney who represented Sharma in the federal discrimination lawsuit, did not return messages left on his cell phone Monday.

Smith’s comments came one week after several people, including a retired Vancouver police lieutenant and a former Vancouver assistant city prosecutor, told the city council it was necessary for an agency with subpoena power to conduct a subsequent investigation.

(Read more of this Columbian article....)

Councilman Larry Smith is quick to judge and make public statements. Once again, an elected official points blame towards Officer Navin Sharma with hopes of shifting blame away from themselves. It is clear that Councilman Smith had not previewed the public documents made available to him.

On October 11, 2008 RightThing 2Do Commented a BLOG Post and noted....

"Pollard said it’s important to remember the case started when an officer, referring to Sharma, filed 78 false police reports."

It was very obvious that Mayor Royce Pollard was attempting to publicly convict Officer Sharma of some wrong doing, or at least wanted the public to believe that, to shift blame away from the City Attorney's Office, The City Manager, and VPD Admin Staff.. or was he?

Maybe the Mayor actually believes Sharma was wrongfully terminated and wanted to send a message to look into the VPD Admin and City Attorney's Office and placing blame there.

We CAN NOT forget that these DUI reports were the beginning of the final head-hunt that ended up in Officers Sharma's wrongful termination.

The Mayor wants us to remember these DUI reports that were inaccurate, however, through a Washington State Patrol investigation, deemed a "training issue", rather than deceitful acts.

The Mayor wants us to remember these DUI reports that a few VPD Admin staff dug up and actually looked for, in hopes of finding ammo against Sharma.

The Mayor wants us to remember these DUI reports which had the same simple common errors that other officer's reports had. Those other erroneous "false police reports" which were also "filed", were determined to be "training issues" too, and no other officers were fired.

The Mayor wants us to remember these DUI reports that were filed into the courts, with subtle errors, so subtle that no VPD supervisor, City Attorney, defense attorney, or Judge even noticed.

The Mayor wants us to remember these DUI reports which 78 supervisors were required to review and approved, a process to catch errors, were never questioned or disciplined. In fact, Sharma's first-line supervisor was never questioned about Sharma's performance or reports during the Internal Affairs investigation.

Let us not forget those DUI Reports, that had simple common Cut N' Paste errors that were so subtle, no one caught them in the report writing, report approval, and court process ... AND errors that were deemed by a WSP investigation as "training issues".

These same reports were dug up from the past at the direction of a VPD Administrator, used to sand bag Sharma towards wrongful termination. Pollard said it’s important to remember the case started when an officer, referring to Sharma, filed 78 false police reports...... reports that VPD Admin, City Attorney's Office, and the City Manager's Office used as 'leverage' to carryout their 'bully tactics' and wrongfully terminate Sharma.

Who were the VPD Administrators and City Attorneys that were pushing to 'use' these DUI reports in hopes of railroading Sharma?

Councilman Smith's public accusation is shocking to me, not shocking that it came from him, but shocking that it appears the city is continuing to harass and retaliate against Officer Sharma.

How can Councilman Larry Smith, an elected official, publicly accuse a citizen of discrimination?