SEATTLE - The Seattle times obtained the tapes that reveal Maurice Clemmons' rage toward police officers and his deadly plans for revenge.
But no one was listening. A lawmaker promises questions about the jail policy, will be asked.
Pierce County Council member Barbara Gilman represents the district where the four Lakewood Police Officers were gunned down by Clemmons on Thanksgiving weekend.
She said the Seattle Times report "alarmed" her.
Maurice Clemmons says in a jail recording, “What they did to me is going to come back and bite 'em in the a**."
He's speaking from jail. Clemmons, like the other 1,400 inmates, knew his calls were being recorded. He still laid out his deadly plan for revenge against law enforcement for what he claimed was a lifetime of injustice. In an recording he says, “It's gonna be the last time, hey mister...boom! dead in the forehead."
The Seattle Times obtained the tapes of conversations between Clemmons’ wife and his half brother during the month of October.
Pierce County Council member Barbara Gelman's district includes Forza Coffee.
“I was just devastated at all the information that came out. I can't believe that all that was taking place in the sheriff's dept without a red flag," she said.
Forza is where Clemmons killed four Lakewood Police officers in November. It was just weeks after being released from jail and the conversations were recorded.
Clemmons says in the recordings, “I'm going to put my faith in God to kill every last one of them that come up on me. That's going to be my faith, to kill every last one of them devils. butt with there ain’t no such thing as justice."
Council Member Gelman is also the chair of the county's Public Safety committee, which oversees the sheriff's dept and the jail.
The committee is likely where any change would begin and Gelman wants the sheriff to have new tools to keep officers safe, “That would help him more adequately identify who the high risk inmates are and how was can monitor those phone calls.”
Thousands of phone calls are recorded daily at the Pierce County Jail. Deputies will only listen to a conversation if they've received a tip the inmate is selling drugs, tampering with a witness or violating a no-contact order.
A sheriff's department spokesperson said they wouldn't comment on this story - at this point.
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