Tacoma police: 20 years of community mistrust

“Uproar after police car caught on video running over people,” (TNT, 1/25).

Tacoma Police Department doesn’t have a public relations problem; they are the PR problem.

As a millennial who grew up in Gig Harbor, when TPD Chief David Brame killed his wife and himself in front of his children in the Harbor Plaza parking lot, it shaped many local minds of a generation about law and order.

His children were removed from our school. Classmates shared their experience shopping around the strip mall when they heard the shots. The teacher of one of the Brame children broke down in front of staff and students for missing signs of abuse.

The fallout of that horrific event only jaded more people when it came to light about how Tacoma leadership failed to hold themselves and those they oversaw accountable.

In more recent news, weary eyes watch investigations in Manuel Ellis’s homicide with little expectation of anyone being held accountable.

Now we watch as a TPD vehicle backs up and then accelerates over pedestrians. At least I won’t be holding my breath for accountability. There is community mistrust of TPD because of their failures in the past and present.

This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Tacoma police: 20 years of community mistrust."