Renton Police Chief Chief Kevin Milosevich held a press conference in front of Renton's City Hall this afternoon to defend the department's decision to charge an anonymous cartoonist who is "either a department employee or one who is closely associated with the department," with cyberstalking for posting generic cartoons (that don't mention the department specifically or any people by name, according to King County Superior Court charging documents) that supposedly mocked the Renton PD.

The ACLU of Washington and other First Amendment rights lawyers have called the department's cyberstalking charge both flimsy and concerning.

As you read, please remember, we are talking about cartoons here. CARTOONS—which is why I've replaced "videos" with "CARTOONS" in the text below. Ahem:

"Early this year, a series of nine [CARTOONS] were posted on YouTube," Milosevich begins in a statement to the press. "The purpose of these [CARTOONS] was to embarrass, torment, and harass specific members of the police department and other city employees. The [CARTOONS] currently posted by a local media outlet are a very mild representation of the entirety of the contents. The [CARTOONS] that are the basis of the criminal investigation are being released this afternoon."

Now, in an unusual move, the department is releasing all of the videos in a seeming attempt to prove the department's case to the public—i.e., that the cartoons are totally embarrassing and harassing. (I'll post the videos as soon as they're formatted correctly.) Which will totally contain this mess for sure.

More after the jump.

Milosevich continues:

Often, law enforcement is accused of failing to investigate incidents of misconduct, and/or minimizing the actions of officers. The [CARTOONS] we are releasing today meet the definition of a crime. As with other reports of crime occurring within the City, we will investigate to determine if a crime has been committed and to prosecute such crime.

In this case, we obtained search warrants for various internet sources in an attempt to identify the suspect in the case. We believe that the suspect in this case is either a department employee or one who is closely associated with the department.

Once a thorough investigation has been completed, and if the suspect is identified, the case will be submitted to the appropriate prosecutor’s office for review. It is the responsibility of the prosecutor’s office to determine if criminal charges will be filed.

As the Police Chief, I have the responsibility to the citizens of Renton to ensure that our officers are acting within the law and within department policy. I would rather err on the side of investigating all incidents of alleged criminal misconduct rather than risk failing to investigate a crime.