By Paul Benz / For The Herald
The Snohomish County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP) is deeply concerned with the recent video that features Snohomish County Sheriff Adam Fortney, and other county elected officials, stating their opposition to policing reform bills, particularly HB 1054 (reforming specific policing tactics).
While the NAACP Snohomish County recognizes the need for policing to keep communities safe, the roots of law enforcement in this country go back to the police patrols that pursued runaway slaves, and led to decades of targeting, unfair prosecution and dehumanization of communities. Most of our black, indigenous, and other persons of color (BIPOC) communities rightly believe they are still unjustly pursued and profiled by police.
As such, the NAACP Snohomish County fights to ensure that policing is accountable, police officers are well trained in de-escalation tactics, and police departments adhere to recently passed statewide certification and decertification processes within the Criminal Justice Training Center.
The video cites that HB 1054 went too far in reforming police involvement in vehicular pursuits in our state. The NAACP, along with countless affected family members who lost loved ones at the hands of police, and the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability believe that vehicular pursuits are an inherently dangerous police tactic that too often results in collisions that cause injury, death and property damage. In our state, pursuits are the second leading cause of police killings (see https://tinyurl.com/WApolicedeaths).
In 2021, the Legislature set common-sense standards, based on best practices so that police could engage in vehicular pursuits only in the most serious of circumstances, such as carjackings, armed robberies, other violent offenses, DUIs, sex offenses and prison escapes. In Washington, of pursuits that resulted in death, 73 percent resulted in injury or death to uninvolved bystanders or passengers.
Washington’s new law improves policing by increasing the safety of Washingtonians.
Lastly, the NAACP Snohomish County is deeply concerned that the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, through its sheriff and five local police chiefs, is potentially violating state public disclosure commission law by using public funds to openly lobby state legislators and Snohomish County residents, through the video, to change laws previously passed. State law enforcement associations have their lobbyists in Olympia and should rely on them to do this work.
Paul Benz is the criminal justice chair for NAACP Snohomish County, and wrote this on the organization’s behalf.
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