Invest in police academies to cut vacancies

Published 1:30 am Friday, August 29, 2025

Recently, The Herald published an article on the county’s overspending in the Sheriff’s Office and Department of Corrections (“Snohomish County departments explain why they’re overspending,” The Herald, Aug. 22). Once again, we are suffering shortfalls in our public safety apparatus that not only cost money but make us less safe. One reason cited was an insufficient number of officers causing increased overtime pay; and no solution was offered.

But the solution exists! And it was fought for by Snohomish’s own state Sen. John Lovick. Last month, The Herald wrote about the first graduating class of newly minted police officers from the Arlington regional police academy (“First class graduates from Arlington’s police academy,” The Herald, July 30. In its first class, over 30 officers were trained and another 34 began training two weeks later. But the article missed a critical additional aspect of the Arlington academy. Regional training centers don’t just train police officers. The center in Vancouver has already trained 193 corrections officers since it opened last year.

If we are serious about budget shortfalls and public safety, the answer is not politicians twiddling their thumbs and hoping it’s just the transition to a biennial budget. This is the solution. Politicians must follow the lead of Sen. Lovick and invest in and highlight our own regional academy. If we can train multiple classes of public safety officers in Snohomish County to work in Snohomish County, there will be no officer shortage. When officers are hired at capacity instead of the lowest levels in the nation, we won’t have to pay massive quantities of overtime and our budget shortfall will be solved as well.

Ilani Nurick

Seattle