Top 5 laws and policies causing Tacoma's crime crisis
Removal of School Resource Officers
In June of 2020 the Tacoma Education Association asked the Tacoma Police Department to remove their School Resource Officers due to some “students not being comfortable around officers”. In the last month there have been two juveniles arrested for threatening to shoot up two Tacoma schools, one shooting outside of the McCarver Elementary School, and one attempted child luring outside of Northeast Tacoma Elementary. That suspect was gone when officers arrived and was therefore unable to be located. And of course, there is the recent Ulvade school shooting.
Booking Restrictions
You can see my previous posts about the effects of booking restrictions in the city of Tacoma and surrounding areas here. Tacoma has been given limitations by the jail on what charges they can bring people in on. Since my last post, two subjects were released from custody after being found with 43 fentanyl pills in a stolen car. Both also had multiple DOC and felony warrants.
Article 1 section 7 of the Washington State Constitution
Seemingly benign, the way this has been interpreted by legal counsel is that almost nothing can be searched without a warrant; regardless of the circumstance. Common real life examples include: suspended known gang members cannot be searched for weapons and stolen cars cannot be searched after the suspect is removed.
House Bill 1310
You can see my previous post about House Bill 1310 here. House Bill 1310 was created by Rep. Jesse Johnson out of Federal Way only one year ago, and since then it has been quietly moving towards full revocation. After the bill was passed, it was interpreted by legal counsel to mean that no one can be stopped without probable cause. This makes law enforcement incredibly difficult because probable cause is typically something developed over time, and not known right away. As I said in my prior post about this, I was advised by legal that if I respond to a report of a dog being beaten and I find the described dog and suspect, I cannot stop or ask police to stop the suspect if the suspect leaves before or during my questioning. Another notable moment was when Rep. Johnson was asked by a radio show host how officers should keep a suspect around for questioning without force, he said they should gather around the suspect, corner him, and use tactical questioning.
Dismantling of the Gang Unit
The Tacoma Police Department was pressured to get rid of the gang unit a few years ago. Because of this, gang violence is up and gangs account for a large amount of the violence occurring in this city. I can personally attest that most shooting calls are gang related. Known gang members are often associated with illegal weapons, violent crimes, and possession of drugs.
This article was written in December of 2020 regarding Chief Ramsdell’s retirement by Kiro 7 news. The accomplishments of the gang unit over the last 2 years has apparently been forgotten.