Judith Lucke: The Legend of Incompetence That was Fired Too Late

When I spotted this picture of former Multnomah County deputy Judith Lucke I instantly remembered the most incompetent guard I ever heard of. I had been researching the history of the culture and customs within the county when I learned of her case. I never personally dealt with her, but her history is legendary. Her problems included being held hostage by an inmate during a hospital visit with a knife and fork; failing to back up deputies during physical encounters; and finally leaving a loaded gun in a locker room where an inmate could have found it. I included some of her issues in my lawsuit against Multnomah County. The part about Lucke is as follows: Another victim of this culture is the general public, as was the case with former deputy Judith Locke whose epic tale of incompetence demonstrates what kinds of people can get hired as corrections deputies by MCSO and what it takes for them to get fired, Lucke v. Multnomah County, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71861 (2008) (case no cv-06-1149-ST). Her troubles began when she was stalked and sexually harassed by male deputies in 2002, Both Lucke and [Laurie] Kimmell [another former deputy] testify that male deputies were treated more favorably than female deputies with respect to the terms and conditions of their employment including in the allotment of break time, shift assignments, and duties. The following year she was the subject of her first of six investigations by the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) after an inmate she escorted to the hospital acquired a set of metal silverware from his hospital dinner tray which Lucke had failed to inspect before hospital staff gave it to him. After Lucke removed [inmate]'s restraints so he could change his pants, [inmate] brandished the knife and fork, held Lucke hostage, stole several of her personal effects, and escaped. Lucke was presumably armed with pepper spray, a taser, and a gun (like Bull was when he escorted me to the hospital), but was so poorly trained that she was no match for a hospitalized inmate with silverware. The Chief Deputy at the time ordered that she receive additional training because he agreed that the escape was due in part to shortcomings in MSCO policies and procedures which included a failure to properly train deputies. Her second and fifth IAU investigations took place after she failed to engage inmates in support of fellow deputies during altercations at the jail. Her third IAU investigation took place after she encouraged an inmate to fight another inmate by saying in response to a complaint from one inmate about another to patch it up, or have it out. When she was disciplined she said there was never a legitimate basis for her discipline as she had heard others make similar statements during her training. Her fourth IAU incident took place for failing to maintain logbooks after an inmate was injured and she was ordered to rewrite her report of the incident. Finally, her sixth IAU investigation led to her termination in 2007 when she left her personal weapon loaded and unattended in the women's locker room in the MCIJ. Where it could be accessed by deputies, civilian staff, staff family members, contractors and inmates who are assigned to clean the area. So, after a long period of continued incompetence that endangered inmates, the public, and fellow deputies she still had not done enough to be terminated until the higher ups realized that keeping her on their staff might get them killed. #judithlucke #multnomahcountyjail

source https://copblaster.com/blast/4422/judith-lucke-the-legend-of-incompetence-that-was-fired-too-late