A police department depends on community goodwill for a significant portion of its success in fighting crime. With a headline like this, the Department cannot win. It doesn't even matter whether or not the Department or any of its employees did anything wrong, they still lose.

The opening paragraph makes it even worse for the Department, with extremely descriptive language that certainly would have gotten a top grade in a journalism class: "Three small American flags, stuck in a barbed wire fence, wave over the roadside memorial on State Route 20. Scott Kinkele's climbing ropes are draped on the wooden cross below. An ice pick and a dusty old sailor's hat rest on his memorial stone, along with a dried-up spray of carnations. This is the grassy bank near Anacortes where Kinkele's Subaru slid to a stop that awful night in July 2000."

Your author would not do anything to downplay the tragedy ofthis event, in which a truly heroic young Naval officer was senselessly killed in a random act of violence by a drunken loser who had already proven to be a menace to society. It is important, however, to point out that a good police department faces public scorn, a long trial, a likely civil judgment, and some ruined careers when the employees did nothing illegal and did nothing out of policy!

Guns, narcotics and money are the "Big Three" as far as causing problems for police departments in general, and Property Rooms in particular. If you are in a Property Room and have not faced this issue, YOU WILL!

This lawsuit raises troubling questions about when - and if - police should run background checks on gun owners. It also requests liability be assigned for not doing so.

The suit, filed in Superior Court on behalf ofthe Kinkele family, alleges that police confiscated and then negligently returned the two guns to Eben Berriault in November 1999 - some eight months before Kinkele's killing. The alleged negligence is that the police returned the guns without running a background check. . Berriault, now serving a 55-year prison term for the Kinkele killing, has a criminal past that includes a manslaughter conviction for helping beat a 43-year-Qld Chelan County man to death with a rock in 1983, in addition to serving time previously for criminal trespass and burglary convictions. Convicted felons are not allowed to possess firearms under state law.

Police originally seized a rifle and a shotgun used in Kinkele's murder from Berriault's closet when they were serving a search warrant for drugs and stolen property in another part of the house, which was occupied by Berriault's brother. A month later, police returned the firearms to their owner. Because Berriault was not named in the search warrant or a criminal suspect in any case, officers did not run a background check.

Lawyers in the suit argue that the return of firearms to a felon "falls below the accepted minimum standards of police procedure," even though there may have been no standard requiring a record check.

In Washington, policies and procedures regarding return of weapons appear to be far from consistent. At the Washington State Patrol, troopers returning a confiscated weapon - whether it is taken for safe-keeping or evidence - must first ask for proof of ownership, then run a criminal check to see that the owner can legally possess the weapon.

Representatives of state agencies monitoring police and sheriff's departments say, however, that procedures vary case-by-case and jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction. "Each department kind of does their own thing," said the executive director of the Washington Association of Police Chiefs and Sheriffs. 

Another legal issue related to the return of confiscated weapons is that a staff attorney for the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys said, "It is not clear that federal law allows us to do a background check before returning a firearm to an individual."

The civil suit also maintains that the Police Department is liable because they had no actual policy or procedure in place.

Anacortes city officials were asked in a recent public disclosure request to describe such policies and procedures. Attorneys for the city are in the process of preparing a response.

They did issue a press release saying that Berriault was not under investigation or suspected of any criminal activity related to the execution of the search warrant and that they were not aware of his criminal past."

One issue to be considered is that anything possible should be done to see that no such senseless murders occur again. Kinkele was the youngest in the U.S. Naval Academy class of'98 to graduate. Through absolutely no fault of his own, and with nothing he could have done to avoid it or even be aware that it was about to happen, he became the first in his class to die. That tragedy is overwhelming.

A second issue, is what could and should police departments do to try to minimize the risk of similar such incidents in the future?

A third issue, is whether or not Property Room employees conscientiously trying to do their job, handicapped by the lack of a clear policy and conflicting legal opinions, have any culpability in this matter.

Many property professionals could say, "There but for the grace of God go I". We may have released guns in similar situations when nothing bad directly resulted. We cannot leave such things to chance, however.

Property Officers, individually and collectively through their agencies and their professional associations, must see that clear policies exist, that they are adhered to explicitly, and that they are on a solid legal footing. We must take responsibility for making our job safe legally just as we do for making it safe physically. Work together, and stay safe!

As a footnote, the murderer sits injail, the victim's mother died in her mid 50's, the murderer's brother hanged himself with a noose made of bed sheets in his prison cell, the shotgun sits again in a police property room, and nobody can make any sense from the tragedy of meaningless death".

Scott Kinkele was described by friends as a young Naval Academy graduate who lived like there was no tomorrow. He often advised his friends, "Take care, and live life to the fullest".