SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Area National Organization for Women called on City leaders to speak out against domestic violence in response to former Spokane NAACP President Phil Tyler coming under fire for allegations of domestic violence.
The allegations come after Tyler, along with Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl, Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer and Mayor David Condon, took part in a video calling for men to take a stand against sexual harassment and sexual assault.
After this video, some people came forward expressing concerns about Tyler spearheading this kind of campaign, in light of reports of his past treatment of women. On Thursday, the Inlander ran an article using interviews and court records from Tyler's three ex-wives. In that article, each tells a similar story of abuse from years ago. Tyler denies their accounts of what happened.
KREM 2 reached out to Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich for a response.
“The Mayor, The Chief, the Fire Chief, and I stepped up for the women of our community, not for Phil Tyler, but for the women of our community,” Sheriff Knezovich said. “We did a video for the women of our community, so they can be safe and feel safe in our community.”
The Sheriff also pointed to his track record of repeatedly taking a stand against domestic violence.
“From the time that the Y lost the funding, the grant funding to keep the DV team together, I advocated and went to the Mayor for four straight years to ensure that that funding was sold,” Sheriff Knezovich noted.
The Sheriff said he has helped numerous nonprofits get off the ground to teach younger generations about domestic violence and he regularly speaks on community panels addressing the issue.
“For 28 years I've had to investigate domestic violence issues. In this county, it is the leading cause of homicides. We take this very seriously, to the point that the Sheriff's Office brought the lethality assessment program to this area and trained every agency in the area how to use it. Why? To stop our female friends from dying,” The Sheriff said.
The lethality assessment program helps officers get help for victims who are at the greatest risk of being hurt or killed. The Sheriff's Office says more than 80-percent of homicides in the county are domestic violence related.
In response to NOW's call for leaders to release statements, SPD Chief Meidl, SFD Chief Brian Schaeffer and Mayor Condon released a joint statement Thursday that reads:
“As local leaders we support giving victims a voice. It is our jobs and responsibilities to make sure we provide a safe place in our neighborhoods, communities, places of work, and other places we congregate for victims to speak up and advocates to speak out.
The allegations are very serious. Violence against women is a problem plaguing our country and dominating headlines nationally, and Spokane is no different. Too many women are victims and we have more speaking up every day.
This is not an easy discussion. It will take time and many more steps forward, but we must continue to stand against violence and for the voice of victims in our community.
As leaders of a city government, police department and fire department, we have taken steps to increase reporting options, make victims more comfortable coming forward, and protecting them when they are courageous enough to speak up. The police department has partnered with the YWCA to open the Family Justice Center, a center of excellence that puts victim assistance, advocacy, enforcement, and prosecution together in one location. Police officers visit offenders in jail and follow up with victims in their homes to make sure they continue to get the assistance and support they need through the prosecution process.
As much as we would like, change does not happen overnight. It will require a determination and diligence that we will continue to lead and demand that others join.”
While the statement refers to allegations and domestic violence, it never directly mentions Tyler.
“One of the statements that I found concerning was that they talked about how this is dominating headlines,” Spokane area NOW President Autumn Reed said. “Really any violence against women shouldn’t have to dominate a headline in order for it to garner attention from our local leaders.”
In addition, reed said she would like to know what steps local officials are going to to take to prevent further incidents from happening. She also said she wants to set up a round table discussion to have more open conversation about the issue.
Sheriff Knezovich is working to set up a meeting with NOW to talk about domestic violence in the Spokane community.
“I want to know what they’ve been doing and how they can maybe step up and help us stop domestic violence,” The Sheriff said.