(Headline USA) Seattle finally started putting shoplifters, vandals, and other petty criminals in jail after letting suspects accused of lower-level crimes walk free for the past four years.
Law enforcement in Seattle had been prevented from booking low-level criminals into the King County Jail because of pandemic era restrictions that slashed the prison’s capacity.
After the pandemic ended, the county jail cited staffing issues for the ongoing restrictions.
The result, according to Deputy Chief Eric Barden, was that people began to commit crimes knowing they would just be let off.
“We’ve had people tell us, ‘You can’t arrest me for that.’ Well, that was true but now we can. We’re hoping to get a little bit of accountability back,” he told the Seattle Times.
King County Jail finally agreed to drop its restrictions and open up additional beds for misdemeanor offenders in a deal with Seattle officials.
Since then, 70 of the 135 beds the jail designated for misdemeanors have been used on a daily basis.
The city’s public defenders fought against the decision to lock up lower-level offenders again, arguing that doing so would hurt the city’s poor and homeless populations.
“Lifting jail booking restrictions puts people who are presumed innocent in jail for unproven allegations involving nonviolent misdemeanors that may never even be charged,” Matt Sanders, the interim director of King County’s Department of Public Defense, said in a statement. “Studies have repeatedly shown that this undermines rather than improves public safety and increases the likelihood of someone committing an offense in the future.”
City residents, however, had been complaining about Seattle’s lax law enforcement for the past four years.
According to Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison, business owners whose property was vandalized or robbed would call 911, only for an officer to show up, detain the offender, and then explain to the business owner that the offender wouldn’t be arrested.
Now, Seattle law enforcement will be able to do their jobs and protect the city’s residents quickly and efficiently, Barden explained.
“We’re not running around looking to throw people in jail—that’s not our deal either. We’re just trying to provide the most efficient public safety to the citizens of Seattle that we can,” Barden said.
