In 2021, the Washington state legislators passed several police “reform” bills that Governor Jay Inslee signed into law. These new requirements in the state covered everything from police background checks in the hiring process to which circumstances could lead to an officer being decertified.
Each of the acts stemmed from activities that started in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.
Seattle was one of the cities that saw civil unrest violence and extreme lawlessness. There was even a section of the city that was declared an “autonomous zone”. Police were forced out of their own precinct building and members of the zone’s leadership extorted business owners and residents by offering “protection.”
We covered the bills that Inslee signed in May of 2021. It took less than a year for the state to reverse some of those limitations they placed on law enforcement.
Even the Democrat lawmakers who sponsored last year’s reform bill said that it went too far and made it harder for the police to do their job and safeguard their communities.
One of the more glaring issues from the reforms was House Bill 1310.
This bill legislated, in part, that officers could only use force when they had probable cause to make an arrest or to prevent imminent injury. The law also required that “proper de-escalation techniques” be employed before using force, unless absolutely impractical to do so.
Please note, this is not specific to use of deadly force. This is use of any force.
“Police said the measure hindered their response to crime: Often when officers show up at a scene, they need to detain people to figure out if they were involved in a crime. But under House Bill 1310, they couldn’t use force to detain them unless they already had probable cause to arrest them, they said.”
Under HB 1310, people could simply walk away, and the police believed they were powerless to stop them.
Advocates of the new law claimed that, far too often, police use force against the wrong people, most specifically, people of color.
The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability asked the governor to veto the section of this new bill, House Bill 2037, that allowed force to be used to detain an individual.
In a statement, they argued that HB 1310 was “deliberately written to address discriminatory policing and reduce violence.”
Coalition member Leslie Cushman said, “Police don’t need additional authority to use force.”
State Representative Jesse Johnson sponsored HB 1310. He said that an unintentional consequence of the bill was that it restricted the “ability of police to detain fleeing suspects.”
HB 2037 allows police to effectively do their jobs while using no more force than necessary.
Last year’s version of reform only restricted when force could be used. It did not define what constituted force. The new legislation lays out exactly what they mean by force.
It is defined as any act reasonably likely to cause physical pain, or any act exerted upon a person to compel or gain control of them.
Pat-downs and handcuffing a compliant suspect is not considered to be a use of force.
Inslee has signed other bills into law recently that rolled back sections of reform from the 2021 legislative session.
According to the Associated Press:
“One of the newly signed bills makes clear officers may use force to help detain or transport people in behavioral health crisis, while the other corrects an oversight that seemed to inadvertently prohibit police departments from possessing certain less-lethal weapons.”
On numerous occasions, Washington residents would call police to help transport individuals in a mental health crisis, only to be told that they couldn’t unless they had committed a crime.
For Diane Ostrander, that limitation became a reality. After repeated attempts to get her 34-year-old, homeless son the help he needed during a psychotic episode, he assaulted her in January. At that point, police were able to intervene, and he has been in a psychiatric facility receiving treatment since his arrest.
Ostrander spoke about the signing of one of these new bills.
“[This bill] means my son will never have to go homeless or get arrested again for being in a mental health crisis.”
Another aspect clarified in the new laws is the use of less than lethal weapons.
House Bill 1735 “restricted police departments from having certain military equipment, including firearms of greater than .50 caliber. That inadvertently banned some bean-bag shotguns or other less-lethal weapons.”
The state’s Attorney General tried to offer clarification that the bill was not intended to include less than lethal weapons and agencies could continue to use them.
Many departments left them on the shelf, awaiting clarification from legislators, just be sure.
There is one final police reform roll-back awaiting approval before Inslee signs it.
Last year, lawmakers passed massive restrictions on high-speed pursuits. Senate Bill 5919 was passed by both chambers, but amendments made by the House must be approved by the Senate before making its way to the governor’s desk.
This new bill lessens the restrictions to allow certain types of pursuits to originate based off reasonable suspicion. The previous version required probable cause.
Only time will tell if these steps ensure that police can more effectively and safely do their jobs in the state.
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