OFF THE WIRE
by Austin Jenkins
A recent bill signing ceremony with Washington Governor Chris Gregoire has caught the attention of some police officers. Members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were there to celebrate a new ban on police profiling of motorcyclists.
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A series of pictures snapped by Jim Camden of the Spokane Spokesman Review newspaper tells the story. There's Washington Governor Chris Gregoire flanked by one motorcycle-loving state senator – Jim Hargrove - and a group of bikers.
At least three of them are sporting Bandidos Motorcycle Club patches. The Department of Justice considers the Bandidos an outlaw motorcycle gang with a history of drug trafficking and violent offenses in the Northwest.
But it's another patch that concerns Representative Chris Hurst, a Democrat and former police detective. This patch refers to the one percent of motorcycle riders who operate outside the law.
Chris Hurst: "A one percent patch is a big deal. Is that unfortunate that that's there in the picture? Ya it is, it's not appropriate. But at the same time it's a free country, anyone can walk into a bill signing and this bill was never designed in the House or the Senate to protect criminals or criminal activity and I don't believe that it will."
There is no evidence any of the men in the pictures have broken any laws. The Governor's office says it was not aware of who attended the bill signing. I'm Austin Jenkins in Olympia.
On the web:
Spokesman Review Photos:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/apr/14/motorcycle-profiling-outlawed/
http://www.spokesman.com/photos/2011/apr/13/130465/
Profiling Law (ESB 5242):
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5242&year=2011
DOJ Motorcycle Gangs:
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/gangunit/gangs/motorcycle.html
