In an e-mail despatched to all Seattle Police Division (SPD) officers on Monday, SPD Deputy Chief Eric Barden celebrated the top of King County Jail’s misdemeanor reserving restrictions and advised officers to right away start rising arrests. Barden known as the choice “one other nice step ahead for the Metropolis and, significantly, for Seattle PD.” Not so nice for Seattle’s poorest and most susceptible residents, who will comprise the “overwhelming majority of individuals” jailed below this transformation, stated King County Division of Public Protection Interim Director Matt Sanders in an announcement to The Stranger Thursday.
In September, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and King County Government Dow Constantine introduced an settlement to carry reserving restrictions, which had beforehand prevented SPD officers from jailing folks pre-trial for low-level and non-violent crimes akin to low-value theft, legal trespass, and public drug use. The restrictions went into place due to COVID-19 and remained energetic as a result of low staffing on the jail, which is a predicament nonetheless plaguing the King County Division of Grownup and Juvenile Detention (DAJD). Division spokesperson Noah Haglund stated that the jail has 60 staffing vacancies as in comparison with the beginning of 2024 when it was nearer to 100. Provided that numbers have improved because the begin of 2024, Constantine believes the brand new settlement balances reserving wants with the wellbeing of jail workers, Haglund stated.
The settlement, which took impact November 1, additionally elevated the variety of jail beds the Metropolis may use for misdemeanors to 135. Barden defined in his e-mail Tuesday that within the six months prior, SPD held on common about 90 folks a day on misdemeanors on the jail, so the rise would imply a further 45 beds accessible to officers per day. The jail held properly over 200 folks on misdemeanor expenses per day in 2019, in line with Barden.
“So, whereas we’re shifting in the correct route, we’re nowhere close to pre-pandemic capability,” Barden stated.
With reserving restrictions lifted, Barden advised officers to ebook folks into jail “each time there’s a public security curiosity.” The one time officers mustn’t contemplate reserving somebody who met that description, Barden recommended, was when the Metropolis reached or neared its 135-bed capability. “In any other case, reserving choices in step with pre-pandemic assessments must be utilized.”
In a name with the Stranger, Barden defined that “public security curiosity” meant officers ought to arrest in the event that they consider an individual may proceed to be an issue for a enterprise, the group, or residents within the space, and stated officers mustn’t arrest if these elements aren’t current. Barden argued that arresting folks can each take away them from a cycle of crime, forestall additional decompensation for folks in a psychological well being disaster, and set them on a path towards restoration.
Sanders disagreed with that perspective and pointed to research that present jailing folks pre-trial undermines public security in lots of instances, and will increase the probabilities that somebody commits one other crime. Even one to 2 days in jail can disrupt an individual’s life, making it troublesome to keep up secure housing, safe medical take care of behavioral well being situations, or maintain down a job. Lifting the reserving restrictions means folks presumed harmless may spend time in jail for the bottom degree of crimes that may not even find yourself charged, and nonetheless have their total lives disrupted, Sanders stated.
Barden stated he understood that perspective, however as he drives round Seattle he sees extra dysfunction than he did earlier than the reserving restrictions went into place. Consequently, even whereas the restrictions remained in place in 2023, property and violent crime in Seattle fell in comparison with 2022, and homicides fell in 2024, which speaks to an empirical enchancment in public security, if not a subjective beauty change to downtown Seattle.
The Metropolis has made it clear prior to now two years that it plans to make use of cops to handle substance abuse, poverty, and folks with psychological sickness, all points many argue can be higher addressed by social providers and unarmed various response groups. The Metropolis has tried to determine new diversion paths, and when it created its drug legislation earlier this yr it got here with a coverage requiring SPD to contemplate diversion earlier than reserving somebody in jail for drug use. Barden stated that lifting reserving restrictions wouldn’t change that, nonetheless in his e-mail to officers he made no point out of diversion choices and didn’t encourage officers to contemplate them earlier than arresting somebody.
Returning to a pre pandemic reserving mindset means probably returning to the times when officers threw folks in jail for stealing $30 sleeping baggage and memento pennies. We reached out to Metropolis Lawyer Ann Davison to ask her perspective on whether or not she additionally deliberate to crack down on prosecuting low-level, misdemeanor crimes, as she’s advocated for prior to now, however she declined to remark.
