Legislative District 19

My idea of public safety is that all people should feel secure and safe wherever they are. They should not have to worry about crime, police, or harassment because of who they are, their skin color, religion, sexual preference, origin, or anything else that makes them different. We should all be able to contact police when needed without fear and rely on them for assistance when needed. We can do this with proper police vetting and training and with other programs that promote community involvement and acceptance.

I would propose and support measures that create a mental health action team to respond to applicable calls without police intervention. We need more behavioral intervention programs that help young people on a bad path get back on track and provide educational programs that provide more opportunities in the workforce. We also need free, accessible programs for those dealing with addiction and alcoholism. We need programs with an overall goal of reducing recidivism and ensuring inmates’ transition back into the community. We should provide inmates with programs and services while incarcerated to prepare them for release and then provide them with supportive services in the community. Similar programs have shown to be effective and lowered the chance of rearrests to 10%. We need to properly train and vet police officers and encourage more mental health professionals in the work force.

I would like to see more crisis management and de-escalation training for police.

Public safety is the actions, regulations, rules, guidelines and boundaries we set as a society to protect as much of our population as possible from a variety of potential threats.

The ways to measure progress of public safety are fairly limitless. From death rates specific to age, region or cause to measuring the population of people living without homes. How can we lower the cancer rates of folx living along railroad tracks? How clean is our water supply for drinking and recreation? How many people and specifically children are mal-nourished, starving or lacking in reliable food access?

Education is a large part of public safety. Are we providing our students with enough food? With enough sleep? Are non-announced active shooter drills benefitting our students' preparedness or negatively impacting their mental health hindering their willingness and ability to learn?

Public safety is why we wear orange vests and hard hats. It’s why we monitor the quality of the food we eat and the water we drink. Public safety protects our people, our communities, our physical structures and ensures we are doing all we can to preserve and protect human life.

Public safety is denouncing white supremacy and fascism. Public safety is supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Public safety is welcoming people from around our planet despite what language they speech, the color of their skin or their cultural identities. Public safety is accepting and respecting people for how they identify and not caring one bit about who they love or what gender they identify as.

The function of public safety is to allow people to feel free and safe.

I will work to ensure that laws of our state are being enforced when it comes to gun control legislation. I want to see the end of qualified immunity, the Reid technique and peremptory challenges.

I will work to better prepare our area for the consequences of climate change. Sea level rise and flooding will have profound impacts on the area and we need to ensure people have alternate routes to flee or get to high ground in extreme natural events. Lines of communication, food and water distribution, emergency housing that is made of materials that won’t burn down in a wildfire and can survive other extreme weather events are also concerns we need to reinforce.

I would like to alter how tax money is raised and spent in our state for schools. Title IX of the Washington State Constitution says all students are entitled to a fair and equal education. Unfortunately many of the students in our state don’t have the same access to equal education that pupils in highly populated areas have. The financial resources aren’t available to rural areas the same way more densely populated school districts are accustomed to.

This past weekend 31 members of the Patriot Front were apprehended before they could riot and cause bodily harm to others at a Pride event in Idaho. This is the type of preemptive action law enforcement agencies must take to ensure the safety of our citizenry while exercising their constitutional rights. The disparity of treatment during arrest is still an issue but at least law enforcement took action to protect a community celebrating their identity. We need to see more actions like these taken against violent extremist, white nationalist and domestic terrorist groups.

Universal Healthcare is essential to public safety. I support I-1471 in Washington State.

I want to see the end of qualified immunity, the Reid technique and peremptory challenges. I believe seeing an end to these practices would be a good start to police reform.