The Guy Sarah Palin Fired Was a Trailblazer, Too

I may be one of the few people in the continental United States who could tell you who Walt Monegan is without having to read a news story or a Wikipedia entry on Sarah Palin.

All you probably know is that Palin, the Alaska governor whom John McCain picked as his vice presidential running mate, is being investigated because of claims that she or others in her administration abused their power or improperly pressured Monegan to fire a state trooper who is Palin's ex-brother-in-law.

Palin dismissed Monegan from his state public safety commissioner post in July, and has provided several explanations for the dismissal since then. But there has been a consistent and ongoing effort to discredit Monegan and impugn his integrity, and dismiss the case as nothing more than a politically motivated hack job.

I interviewed Monegan for 90 minutes in February 2005 when, as chief of the Anchorage Police Department, he was presiding over a crime prevention program that was revolutionary in terms of treating people with mental illness.

That year, I was one of six people in the nation who received a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellowship to write about mental health issues. I chose the judicial treatment of mental health as a topic - and mental health experts and police departments throughout the country all gave me similar advice:

"Go to Alaska," they said, in so many words. "Talk to Walt Monegan."

As I wrote later, in an April 2005 article for The Record of Bergen County, N.J., many in Alaska suffer from the cold, the constant darkness and the isolation of the state's mountain towns that are inaccessible by car. The state consistently has had among the highest suicide rates in the nation.

Monegan's department was teaching its officers how to deal with a mental health crisis, and serving as a model for other police departments in the country - such as Memphis - who were doing similar things.

At the time, 10 percent of his 330 officers were "crisis-intervention" trainees who were learning how to speak to, deal with and ultimately handle people with psychiatric disorders. They were attempting to wipe away the "psycho-killer" approach to handling crime scenes that almost always yielded the same results: somebody at the crime scene dies; or somebody gets arrested, then thrown in jail, then released from jail and, ultimately, commits another crime.

Monegan understood this. He was a native Alaskan who, according to his biography, was raised in "bush Alaska" in a town called Nyac, by his maternal grandparents. At that time, according to his biography, Nyac was a gold mining community with a population of 54 people and a one-room schoolhouse. "People used to drive their cars for miles on the frozen ice," he said.

He was inspired to change the department's approach, he said, because he was tired of watching the same people - all displaying symptoms of mental disorders - getting arrested over and over, only to end up back in the streets, untreated.

One man, in particular, was involved in a hostage situation that Monegan, as a patrol officer, responded to. Prior to that, his rap sheet involved mostly petty thefts; this time, he was armed and dangerous.

Monegan hoped to talk the man down. But it was too late. By the time he got there, the man took his own life.

"We've all watched young guys grow up and die, or they end up in jail," said Monegan.

Out in front of his department's efforts was a young, energetic and God-fearing police officer named Wendi Shackelford who arranged my interview with Monegan and, like Palin, considered her faith to be her central inspiration. "I think God is calling me to do this," she said.

I rode with Shackelford as she drove Anchorage's ice-ridden streets on a 10-degree February day and watched her deal with the various "crises" that police officers run into every day and go well beyond their job descriptions - but force them to play the role of amateur psychologists because nobody else will.

With Monegan's backing and encouragement, Shackelford had "assigned" herself to a young man who became delusional. His father gave him money and shelter. But nothing helped - instead, he broke into houses, hoping to find a woman who he thought was being kidnapped.

As a dispatcher's voice blared over her radio, Shackelford was busy listening on her earpiece as she fielded repeated cellphone calls about the man while navigating Anchorage's streets.

"He went into another house?" she said. "I knew it was a matter of time...Has he been self-mutilating?"

The officer then made a litany of calls - to psychiatric screeners at the local hospital, to the man's family and then to the local "mental health court," where he would find compassion, understanding and options. She ultimately got the man to agree to her plan, and to get treatment.

"I just try to get people to negotiate," she said. "We don't get paid extra for this. It's a matter of the heart."

Comments

[lizinatl]

We need to get real serious now and look at ALL that's happening!!!!

The government (through Fannie and Freddie) now owns most of our homes!!!

Le'ts stop this 'fiddling' while Rome burns... this is NOT A JOKE!! no matter how much McCain't grins...we are being tooooo petty during some serious times....McCain't nor Pain have vision enough to attack all that ails our -repeat OUR - country...their home, our country?

[grata2ude]

And the MSM is like the monkeys with their hands over their eyes, ears and mouth. They will not open their eyes, use their ears and say a word against McCain and Palin.

[drzoon]

Monegan for Gov!

no kidding. this guy seems to have his act together... and is interested in real progress.

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

Nice to see someone living by their values and not just talking about them.

[MotherGinSling]

Thank you, Tom Davis. This article is fascinating even without (or in spite of) the Palin connection. You (and Monegan) are dealing with a grave social problem in a compassionate way. This topic needs much more attention.

[ewoman]

Thanks, Tom, for creating some depth to Monegan.

[Ironfox]

This story won't get traction because it involves "those" people. You know, the throw away the key people. You know, the crazies, the thieves, prostitutes, "the least among us". God forbid that WE should show mercy or compassion, we are CHRISTIANS after all, and we are here to criticize, condemn and imprison to the tune of 2,500,000 in private corporate prisons. Private prisons that use slave labor to turn a tidy profit. In a civilized country this would be a burning election issue, but hey.......

[Rodney1]

THE REPUBLICAN VICE-PRESIDENT NOMINEE' SARAH PALIN IS A TURNOFF!


The republican vp canidate isn't ready for the position. Sahah Palin"s lack of political experience abroad coupled with her outdated and out of touch scare tactics don't resonate with the majority of american citizens. Her lack of real emotion during last nights speech was fragmented. Not to mention her insensitive character traits and moral infractions. "Go figure?" She doesnt stand a chance hanging with the real politicans in washington let alone taking on the role as vp! She represents the old tired beliefs that continues to keep the parties seperated! Her position on health- care, equality, segregation, education, social security, this unnecessary war, mortgage crisis, high-gas prices, sexism, religion, all has gone unanswered! She will be just another side-kick-for the republican presidential nominee! Anyone one of the other republican represenitives would have been sufficient or may have been able to carry out the job, not her! She's a terrible choice in trying to tackle the issues before the nation. She has no experience and displays poor character and judgement. She's lacks in authenticity but presents several transparent and fragmented motivations for votes. She is a big turnoff and she offends the intellect of those who respect and understands politics!

[Liberoservative]

Monegan seemed to be a person who was really "in touch" with what forces were going through and was getting them the education they needed to face hanges in our moral landscape........

It is no surprise that when he refused to fire a state trooper, who had already been exonerated by internal investigation.....
and while I can't speak of Alaska investigations... there is nothing that strikes more fear into your soul than when you hear that you are being investigated by your own institution for wrongdoing.......

The trooper was suspended we really dont know the details of his investigation or the details of his re-institution to the force.... I would like to hear that......

But for Palin and cohorts to continue the harassement of the trooper YEARS after the allledged acts occured is simply scurrilous and a blatant abuse of power....... it is like...

"Well, I couldn't do anything to you when I was Mayor of Wasilla... but I am the Governator now dude!!!! So watch me make you get fired!!!!!"

I mean.... GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!

We have an administration that has already PROVEN itself that it will FIRE anybody who doesn't think like they do.... that they will SCREEN anybody who doesn't think like they do in order to force the nation into their way of thinking....

and now we have the radical conservative religous base (no better than the radical extremist islamic base in my point of view)... doing this to America!
Wake up America!!!!
Kucinich

[DoTheMath]

It's obvious that someone besides the authorities will need to conduct an honest investigation of the allegation that Palin abused her office to fire Monegan for personal reasons. The McCain campaign has sent attorneys to join the attorney Palin already had in stonewalling, circumventing, and otherwise subverting the official process. Their incredible jurisdiction argument, if it prevails, would effectively assign Palin the responsibility for investigating herself.

Therefore, articles like this are an important source of information on what was really going on up there. Interviewing, separately, each person who was involved in the firing and the alleged pressure on Monegan and others to fire Palin's ex-bother-in-law, including people who witnessed interaction between Palin and Monegan, would be a minimum requirement for any valid investigation into the matter. Monegan's performance evaluations and other records of his work as Public Safety Commisioner are certainly relevant.

So far, we have a prima facia case against Palin. The allegations, if true, indicate that Palin has broken the law. On the one side, we have tapes and testimony supporting the allegations. On the other side, we have attorneys arguing jurisdiction, preventing staff members from cooperating until the jurisdiction matter is decided, and complaining that Palin is too busy with the campaign to cooperate.

[Onefamily]

Thanks for a clearer picture!

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

Well it's obvious that this guy was 'Soft on Crime'. More prisoners = more federal $$$,$$$,$$$. Come on, put your Republican hat on and get with the program.

[jellinda]

We have had centuries of punitive penal policies, none of which have stopped people from committing crimes, particularly of repeating crimes. The traditional authoritarian approach is to throw the perps in jail, then throw away the key. The jails are overflowing, in case you haven't noticed, and more and more need to be built all the time. Isn't it time to think out of the box and use other approaches? Other approaches does not equal soft on crime.

[Bobrobert]

We could put them all to work rebuilding the infra-structure that has been neglected for 100 years.

[Jain]

jellinda - the comment by LiarLiarIraqsOnFire was "sarcasm" - get over yourself...

[Casanavelaw]

I think he was being sarcastic.

Monegan sounds like the kind of police chief most communities need.