Angry in the Great White North

Deb Frisch is a woman with many opinions, all of the strong, and none kept to herself.

In particular, Deb Frisch has strong opinions about the police department in Eugene, Oregon, where she lives:

I do not know if there is anyone left in Eugene who doubts the incompetence of Melinda Kletzok as the Public Information Officer at the Eugene Police Department after the disinformation she propagated in the Salisbury and Reams murders by Trotter and Heyer on November 14, 2006 and March 4, 2007 and the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl at Alton Baker Park on December 31, 2008.

These are serious allegations.  And it's not the first time Frisch has made them.  Frisch seems to have particular contempt for Melinda Kletzok.  She repeatedly accuses Kletzok of withholding information, or of misleading the public - in effect calling Kletzok a liar.

You might wonder why I care.  On the one hand, the sort of people who think Deb Frisch is right aren't going to be swayed by any arguments from me.  These people either turn a blind eye to Frisch's vile stream of insults flung at anyone who crosses her, or they cheer her on.

On the other hand, for the rest of the population with a passing familiarity with Deb Frisch, she enjoys zero credibility.  Her opinions about the EPD would be dismissed out of hand.

So some people I can't convince, the rest I don't need to.  So why bother?

Because when the police investigate a crime, they don't publicize progress until there is a break in the case and an arrest is made.  There are many good reasons for this, as anyone with a measure of common sense can guess.  So when a crime happens in Eugene, it is reported by the local media, then there is silence as the police do their work.

But it is into this vacuum that Deb Frisch injects herself, and with no one confronting her on the statements she makes, she has an opportunity to frame the story.  For most people online with no knowledge of who Deb Frisch is or her history, researching one of these ongoing stories returns two things: a report of the original crime, and Deb Frisch's allegations of police incompetence or worse.

I'd like to balance the accounts by providing more information.  Years from now, when someone looks into this story in online archives, he or she will find my blog as well, and maybe I can prevent Deb Frisch from defining the incident and framing it in her own corrosive way.

I'm going to discuss the rape in Alton Baker Park.  Deb Frisch accuses the EPD of ignoring the rape altogether, instead paying attention to a bomb threat at two local Catholic schools:

I'd like to get to my main point tonight which is to call for the immediate resignation of Acting-In-Capacity Eugene Police Chief Kerns. While the residents of Eugene were informed daily of developments in the case of the bomb threats against Catholic children and their "teachers", we have not been informed of any developments in the alleged rape of a girl outside of Alton Baker Park on December 31, 2008. Although Detective Braziel could have established whether the allegation of rape was true by requesting a simple medical exam, it appears he did not bother doing this. The detective either received phone calls confirming an incident outside of Alton Baker Park in the late afternoon on December 31, 2008 or received none. Either way, the detective now knows for sure whether an assault occurred. But he has not bothered to inform the media of a resolution of the rape story, that is of interest and concern to many more people than those affected by the bomb scares at O'Hara and Marist "schools."

"Schools" is in quotes as an indication of her contempt for religious education, and of religious faith in general, in case you were wondering.

So what happened in Alton Baker Park?  From KMTR-TV:

Eugene police are investigating the rape of a 12-year-old girl at Alton Baker Park.

Police spokeswoman Melinda Kletzok says the attack occurred Wednesday in the late afternoon. She says the victim, her sister and a cousin were riding their bikes when they were approached by a young man who had an 8- to 9-year-old boy with him.

The man allegedly forced the girl to the ground and forcibly raped her.

The suspect is described as a dark-skinned man with ear-length curly black hair, a goatee and a tattoo of a heart on his left arm above the elbow. He wore a black fur coat.

The boy he was reportedly with had blond hair.

What disinformation is Melinda Kletzok passing on?  What makes Deb Frisch think that the police are not pursuing this case?  Has the trail gone cold?  Is Detective Dan Braziel shirking his duties, or letting the case slide by?  Is this what Melinda Kletzok is hiding through her disinformation campaign?

So I got in touch with Melinda Kletzok, who seemed happy enough to fill me in on the details.  She also let me know that the EPD ignores criticisms from blogs as a matter of policy, since dealing with that sort of noise would be drain on resources.  But she has no concerns regarding my decision to step up and counter some of Deb Frisch's claims. 

With regards to the Alton Baker Park rape:

The rape is being investigated by a Violent Crimes detective who is spending a significant amount of time on it. In fact, it happened on a holiday and folks came in especially to deal with the investigation and it continues. We put out a news release on it to try and get the public's help, subsequently we had a sketch artist render an illustration that was also put out to the public. We are closed to having an enhanced description put out soon. A child rape by a stranger is a rare occurrence for our community and so it is getting a lot of our attention.

I bet it's getting a lot of attention within the police department.  Of course, Deb Frisch accuses Melinda Kletzok of spreading disinformation, so logically, she could be doing the same with me.

But it is a measure of my own contempt for Deb Frisch that I recognize the logical incongruity, and yet feel no compulsion to look for a different source of information.

Kletzok was quick to answer all my questions, and to discuss the question of blogs and public opinion in general.  She comes off as credible and honest to me, and I have no doubt she's telling the truth when it comes to how the EPD is treating this case.   Deb Frisch, as always, strikes me as unbalanced and as craving attention. 

It's just too bad that people who have been harmed by violence have to have their pain compounded by the irresponsible ravings of Deb Frisch.  Hopefully this post will provide a measure of balance and counter some of the harm done by Frisch's unending stream of accusations.