OLYMPIA — When Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill April 13 that was sponsored by North Olympic Peninsula Sen. Jim Hargrove to prohibit motorcyclist profiling by club colors or logos, a convicted murderer was among the leather-clad spectators standing close by.
The bill — SB 5242 — prohibits police from profiling motorcycle riders merely for sporting club colors or logos.
Hargrove, a motorcycle enthusiast, donned motorcycle gear including leather chaps, a leather vest and a do-rag for the bill-signing ceremony inside a Capitol conference room.
But there were some real-life gang members there, too.
Quoting unnamed police sources, KIRO-TV in Seattle said Wednesday that the 30 to 40 spectators who stood within a few feet of Gregoire at the bill-signing included members of such gangs as the Banditos and the Outsiders wearing gang colors and that some were convicted felons.
State Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins said the Portland, Ore., Police Department confirmed Wednesday that a biker at the event, Robert Christopher, had been convicted of killing a Portland police officer in 1979.
“People are obviously concerned, I get that,” Gregoire’s spokeswoman, Karina Shagren, said Wednesday.
“I know the law enforcement community is upset. We have been told of blogs that law enforcement officers have apparently expressed their frustration.”
The bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate and was supported by retired and current members of law enforcement serving in the Legislature, Shagren said.
The bill makes it clear that profiling is not permissible and requires some training for law enforcement to make sure it doesn’t happen.
The State Patrol, which coordinates security for the Governor’s Office, is “certainly aware of what’s being said in the blogs” about the signing ceremony, Calkins said.
“I am aware of general public concern that may include some law enforcement people,” he added.
“I stress that we don’t talk about security that may have been in place in a situation like that.”
Gregoire told The Associated Press that she plans no change in security procedures as a result of Christopher attending the event.
Christopher was convicted of killing Officer David Crowther during a drug raid in 1979, but he was released about two years later because of police misconduct in his case, The Associated Press said.
Hargrove, a Hoquiam Democrat who represents Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County, said he was unaware of the spectators’ backgrounds until he read a news account of the event.
Hargrove said he had invited one constituent, a man from Grays Harbor who had suggested Hargrove sponsor the bill.
“The Capitol is an open public building, and anyone can go into a bill-signing,” Hargrove said.
“We don’t do background checks on people. We don’t do background checks on the press, for that matter,” he said.
“I did not have a list of convicted felons that I sent out that said, ‘Please show up at this bill-signing.’ I have no idea who invited them.”
Gregoire was not aware of the criminal histories of any of the spectators, “nor was she aware anyone belonged to any sort of known motorcycle gang,” Shagren said.
State Patrol security was present inside and outside the conference room, she added.
“When you are signing a bill preventing motorcycle profiling, it makes it difficult to ask people wearing motorcycle gear to leave a room when they are not breaking the law,” Shagren said.
“Had they been asked to leave, the Washington State Patrol would have been violating the law the governor was there to sign. The irony is not lost on us.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
