By Luis Moscoso
Two years ago I worked with various law enforcement officials and prosecutors to present a House Public Safety Committee work session on Fostering Constructive Relationships Between Police and the Community (TVW: tinyurl.com/TVWpolicecomm).
I told my friends in law enforcement that I wanted them to help me design a session from their perspective on this very important issue. I did this because I knew it was too easy to just criticize police behavior given the increasing number of police shootings in national and local news coverage. I wanted law enforcement representatives to have the opportunity to give their point of view on police and community relations.
We can all empathize with the difficulties law enforcement officers face every day on the job. At the same time we’re concerned that discussions that police training and behavior across the country have become increasingly polarized. Blue lives, black lives and all lives. How are we to make sense of the fear and apprehension growing between communities of color and police? And what does it look like here in Snohomish County?
Last year four elected officials from Snohomish County served on the The Joint Legislative Task Force On Community Policing Standards For A Safer Washington. 39th District Sen. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, 10th District Rep. David Hayes, R-Camano Island, Snohomish County Councilwoman Stephanie Wright and Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe worked on a report which has recommended that the Legislature change the state law that now protects law enforcement from prosecution after officers kill people in the line of duty. There is no tally for individual votes on the final report. But organizations that Rep. Hayes and Prosecutor Roe belong to did not support the recommendations in full. Now it’s up to us, the community, to contact our legislative delegations and ask them what they think and how we’d like them to vote on the legislation. Communities of color especially need to know how our sheriff and local police departments feel about the proposed law.
A community conversation with law enforcement about how to handle police shootings related to the legislation is more critical now than ever.
Police and community relations will remain tense if we don’t start talking to each other now. For example, last month the Snohomish County Deputy Sheriffs Association made an unfounded accusation against Superior Court Judge Eric Lucas, who is black. The deputy sheriffs association over-reacted to a social media rumor that Judge Lucas allegedly said that police “execute black people.” The deputies should have contacted the judge in person to discover the truth of the matter rather than issuing a press release attacking the judge.
I know from my personal experience on the Mountlake Terrace Community Policing Board in the 1990s and six years on the House Public Safety Committee that deputy sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies are concerned about what people of color think of them.
After meeting with county officials last week I am confident that we can all work together to initiate community-wide conversations to discuss these issues and clear up any misperceptions we all may have. I am glad that the county is interested in promoting community discussions that will allow law enforcement officials and community leaders to better understand how we can work together to improve relations among the community and police.
Luis Moscoso served six years in the state House of Representatives as a Democrat for the 1st Legislative Distrtict.
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