Legislative District 17

I understand that law enforcement is usually after the fact but I believe the public wants law enforcement to be visible as a deterrent. I support additional staffing to allow a community policing approach. But importantly we also need to have more training in equitable law enforcement to make law enforcement personnel aware of biases and discrimination. We need law enforcement to treat every member of the community with respect and to be able to be objective. We also need more training in de-escalation.

I also support behavioral health crisis response teams, like the successful CAHOOTS program in Eugene, OR. We don't need armed officers performing first response duty for members of the community in the middle of a drug or mental health crisis. These programs need to be available in every part of the state.

I also believe we need caseworkers on the street to work personally and extensively over time with homeless individuals. The chronic homeless have underlying issues and most would benefit from residential treatment centers but SW Washington State is among areas of the country with the fewest dual diagnosis treatment facilities. We should be transitioning the homeless to treatment, halfway houses and permanent housing. It will probably take less money that what we currently spend on encounters with law enforcement and jail, ER and hospital stays, and shelters and camps.

Another area of concern is keeping our communities viable and feeling like safe places. Funding for litter removal and graffiti removal, is also a priority, even though is seems minor. A community that looks like it cares, and like it is safe, is one that is conducive to maintaining safety. (The NYC subway system learned that removing graffiti nightly kept new graffiti to a minimum).

What are the ways to measure progress? Tracking the number of cases of discrimination in policing. Tracking the number of un-housed individuals. Tracking the cases of vandalism. Tracking the number of women and minority personnel in law enforcement.

We have a wealthy state. We can afford to fund community programs like staffing for community policing and behavioral crisis response teams. I would advocate for funding these approaches. I would also seek funding for comprehensive approaches to the homeless crisis. We have chronically homeless individuals in every community and in rural areas, living in the woods. People living in survival mode, living moment to moment, are not able to move forward. Theft and drugs are just part of survival for many. We need to take the humanitarian measure of actually providing housing and treatment.

As I mentioned, tracking progress with female and minority staffing can be helpful in creating law enforcement that is better at community relations. This is not to overlook the many examples around the country of biased treatment coming from female and minority officers. But it is moving in the right direction.

We also have to consider reforming our jails. Some law enforcement personnel move between jail duty and street duty. The inhumane conditions in our jails, and the exploitation of inmates with fees and assessed costs that become future burdens is not the way to treat people. That outlook could unfortunately be transferred to the street.