Randy Ulmer arrested for stealing over $10,000 dollars from the police evidence locker over a period of months will probably only serve 20 days and lose his ability to work as a police officer ever again.

The 33-year-old likely will never find a job as a police officer in any other state, either, since his name will be put in a national registry of officer revocations.

Ulmer was the police department’s evidence custodian. Frasier said Ulmer took an estimated $12,000 in cash from the department’s evidence locker from May through November 2008. He has since returned $8,500 and the city estimates approximately $3,500 remains missing, Frasier added.

Frasier said he doesn’t consider Ulmer a flight risk and he is not in custody. Neither Frasier nor Ulmer’s lawyer, Nick Nylander of North Bend, gave a reason why Ulmer pleaded guilty, thus waiving his right to a trial. The court dropped a second charge of first-degree official misconduct, a class-A misdemeanor, as part of the plea bargain, Frasier said.

One reason cited for the light sentence which could have been as much as five years is that Ulmer is a ‘first time offender’. Technically this is not true given that he stole money repeatedly over a period of months or years. In truth he is a first time arrestee but he is not a first time offender.

Meanwhile the Safeway robbery is also in the news. Some of these kids may be first time offenders as well and the look outs were not armed so it will be interesting to see how their sentences compare to the sentencing of corrupt ex officer Ulmer. Ulmer should have received multiple charges for repeating thefts again and again.

Then there is Sherbondy. Like Ulmer she may never have been charged before but she may have engaged in this behavior more than once. Maybe crammed jail space and budget cuts will cause the judge to go easy on them as well.

Personally, I am disgusted that Ulmer should receive such a light sentence and not only because he conveniently couldn’t remember the difference between 3′ and 17′ in court.

Local law enforcement agencies, in particular the Coos County District Attorney are pushing for the passage of Measure 62. The measure seeks to divert 15% of lottery funds away from programs like education in favor of state crime labs and prosecution.
District Attorney, Paul Frasier has written asking for public support of Measure 62 to supplement his department by an additional $318,000 annually. Before handing another third of a million dollars to the Coos County DA each year the stewardship of the current DA budget must be reviewed.
Any prosecutor that allows the office of district attorney to be used to settle personal vendettas, as I believe the Coos County office has, is not a proper steward of public money. Nor is a prosecutor who depletes resources on petty code enforcement while failing to prosecute serious crimes like extreme animal cruelty or rape.
Personally, I have experienced first hand the uneven handed justice dispensed from Frasier’s department. For example, I was prosecuted for trespass for merely returning signs, at the direction of a Coquille Police officer by the way, wrongfully placed on my property by an immediate neighbor.
This required an out of county judge, as the complainant was well known to the residing judges and Paul Frasier, and no doubt cost the county a fair amount of money. Worse, both the tampering of an expensive line survey and the submission of that altered boundary evidence into a court of law, (effectively perpetrating a fraud upon the court), went un-punished.
Frasier allowed his office to be used to settle a score yet again. While I was away on a trip to DC my nine-year old daughter was bitten by the same neighbor’s dog and did not report it to me until a week or so after my return. In trying to recreate the date of the bite my daughter was wrong by one day.
Frasier not only did not prosecute the dog bite but actually brought charges against me, at the neighbor’s behest, alleging the filing of a false report because my daughter was wrong about the date she was bitten. His office was ultimately forced to drop the charges but not until considerable public funds had been wasted.
Selective prosecution is a violation of civil rights and a betrayal of public trust as is denying equal protection. The conduct of Frasier’s office has lost my respect and earned my enmity. Information has been provided to me that suggests I may not be the only citizen victimized by Frasier’s office in such a manner and this article will likely motivate more people to come forward. Obviously, behavior such as this does not merit entrusting the Coos County DA’s office with an increase in public funds.
Even if I believed that an increase in funding would enable or encourage the Coos County DA’s office to prosecute the crimes perpetrated against me, which I don’t, I would still oppose Measure 62. America’s prison population has increased to 1% of the population, more than 2.5 million people the largest in the world, while our academic standing among industrialized nations has plunged.
An April 2004 study titled The Effects of State Public K–12 Education Expenditures on Income Distribution published by the National Education Association noted the strong relationship between investments in human capital such as education. States spending more on education show higher income levels and less disparity between earning levels between the richest and poorest.

The study further concludes, logically, reducing income inequality and by increasing the incomes of lower median earners more than raising higher incomes leads to the reduction of poverty rates. Many studies have linked, statistically and empirically, poverty rates and high crime rates including the Kirwan Institute on the Study of Race and Ethnicity. “Studies have shown concentrated poverty to have adverse effects on many facets of life, including employment, education, health and criminal behavior.”

The obvious conclusion is that investing in education, human capital, rather than prosecution, is the best long-term investment in crime prevention and offers the highest return on investment to the taxpayer. Previous topics in this column have addressed the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing, privatized prisons and the core relationship between education and crime.

The Oregonian recommends a NO vote on measure 62 noting it is ill conceived and poorly crafted and diverts millions from education toward a mish mash of public safety causes. Please vote NO on Measure 62 and while you’re at it vote NO on 61.

Readers of this blog may know that an applicant for the position of new police chief took an interest in the Leah Freeman case. After reviewing the only case files available to the public the seasoned investigator came to these cursory conclusions…

I have read the documents on her website and I am amazed that someone is not in jail for this case. There is an immunity memo between the DA and the boyfriends friend. The boyfriend failed the polygraph, There is history of abuse. I believe that if someone has a strong interview with both boyfriend and friend that this case could crack.

To that end the investigator wrote District Attorney Paul Frasier requesting permission to view the case files and solve this murder. Frasier denied the request immediately citing the following reasons…

There are other concerns in this matter. There are avenues we have taken in this investigation that we have kept secret from the public, including the family of Ms. Freeman. Indeed, there are secrets that we have kept from other law enforcement officers not working on the case. I simply cannot allow someone who is not a sworn police officer to have access to my files on this case as I believe there are investigative matters that must be kept secret if we are to ever have a chance of having a prosecutable case.

Notwithstanding that this investigator is a highly qualified law enforcement officer the statement above has the ring of declaring executive privilege in the interests of so called ‘national security’. In other words, “you can’t look at what we are doing or more accurately NOT doing because it might reveal our errors jeopardize the case”.

The conduct and competence of our public law enforcement is a matter of grave concern to everyone. We are being asked to accept on faith that everything that can be done is being done with no mechanism to assess the quality of effort in place. Further, in this case as in others, law enforcement is prohibiting the victims or public from participating in the resolutions of crimes that affect everyone.

It is hard not to wonder whether the DA simply does not want to solve this case. The investigator above would have been privately paid and is well versed in how to secure evidence suitable to a successful prosecution. So why, with an eight year old case would the DA refuse to open the files to a fresh face or even consider turning it over to another agency with qualified investigators? What are they hiding?

Note: Despite a glowing resume, this officer was not chosen as one of the five police chief candidates to be considered on July 21 – 22.

The suggested select hiring committee for the new Coquille Police Chief is not, in my opinion, representative of the community. In addition to two city councilors, the mayor and a representative from the school district and district attorney, the two (why only two?) committee members from the citizenry at large are likely to be Dr Sinnott and Wayne from the barber shop. (Content Citizens of Coquille)

Why does everyone on the committee have to be so OLD? Some young adult males, the favored target of our local police department should have some say. Concerned citizens should have some say as well as contented citizens.

Please visit the Coquille Valley Sentinel and pick up a form to apply to be on the committee if you want your opinion heard. Nothing has been more divisive to this community than the conduct and policies of the previous chief and it is very important to find someone who will work with the people and not ignore them.

Once again, I firmly voice my view that city manager O’Connor has outlived his productiveness. He has become an obstacle to constructive change and improvement. The city deserves a fresh face and a new course, business as usual has not served the city well.

…finally! It is no secret that I do not hold Chief Reaves, his policies, his public manner or his contempt for fellow citizens in high regard. That said, it is too early to celebrate until we see what city manager O’Connor finds for a replacement. Since O’Connor has repeatedly defended the chief rather than give serious consideration to the complaints filed by tax paying citizens, there is a strong chance that we are in for more of the same.

Reaves evidently plans to stay in the area and barbecue ribs AND, evidently, has joined the recently formed Coquille Valley Crime Stoppers along with another retired lawman, Mike Cook. Presumably, CVCS has as its top priority solving the murder of Leah Freeman. After eight years, Reaves joins an organization to solve a murder he would not work and steadfastly refused to turn over to an agency that might work it. Of course, he had the blessings and cooperation of the district attorney to hold the case but why? Why not give this case to a fresh agency?

In 1999, Edward Humes published Mean Justice detailing a factual account of how corrupt prosecutors can run amok and destroy innocent lives and communities. Now a DA is suggesting that prosecutors who withhold evidence that might aid a defendant be penalized, perhaps even imprisoned.

A district attorney whose office leads the nation in wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing says prosecutors who intentionally withhold evidence from the defense should face criminal charges or other harsh sanctions.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he’s considering a campaign to mandate disbarment of any prosecutor who doesn’t reveal evidence that could help a defendant. The worst offenders might deserve prison time, he said.

“Something should be done,” Watkins told The Dallas Morning News in an interview published in Sunday’s editions. “If the harm is a great harm, yes, it should be criminalized.”

Amen to that! Nothing is more harmful to a society than bad law enforcement and bad prosecutors and bad judges. Whether it is incompetence or corruption, these people that hand out blemished justice create more enemies of the state than we will ever know.

I will not be voting for Paul Frasier for Coos County DA and I will be writing much more on the topic of Frasier and his policies in the future. Don’t check that box on your ballot or write-in ANYONE else… he will still win but he should not have any voter confidence behind.

As a result of speaking out for police accountability, I am the recipient of a lot of information regarding cases past and pending handled through the Coos County District Attorney’s office. Some of the cases chosen for prosecution and consequently tried and funded by the taxpayer give rise to the concept that it is possible to follow the letter of the law and still violate its spirit.

Last night I heard of just such a case pending and I wonder, given that it is an election year, if it might be prudent to publish the occasional example of justice gone awry in Coos County. With hope, it might illustrate the caliber of judgment in the Coos County District Attorney’s office for the voters. It may help make people aware of the policies and procedures implemented at the DA’s office toward determining what is worth prosecuting and what is not.

So, from time to time I will publish a case that has been brought to my attention here but I have no set schedule for doing so, yet.