SEATTLE — Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison said the King County Jail will not book people for certain misdemeanor crimes, such as animal cruelty and certain property destruction and theft cases.
Last week, Davison told council members that officers are not able to book on over half of the misdemeanor crimes listed in the city’s laws.
In the King County jail, Seattle misdemeanor crimes went from a daily average of 180 bookings in 2019 to less than half that last year. During the pandemic, concerns over COVID prompted jail booking restrictions, and since then a lack of staff is among the reasons why the lower numbers continue.
"It is coming to a breaking point,” Councilmember Bob Kettle said on Tuesday.
Kettle is pushing for a new pilot program that would provide 20 additional beds in Des Moines at the SCORE jail because he said something needs to change.
"What's happening to small businesses, the break-ins and then there is the break-ins of people's homes. I mean these areas are being traumatized,” said Kettle. “I hear this every day of the week.”
It was said again Tuesday afternoon at city hall.
"You can assault someone in my neighborhood and that same day be on our doorstep,” one resident said.
"I am a Third and Pike resident, and on average, we have between 100 and 200 drug users on our block at any given time,” another person testified.
Seattle residents told council members during a committee meeting that more jail space is needed to keep the public safe. But critics of the proposal raised several concerns, including how much a new jail contract would cost.
"What you are proposing is to spend $2 million a year to have Seattle police officers, the same people you have told us are supposed to be spending their time preventing murders and DUIs and all kinds of other terrible things, shuttling shoplifters,” said Austin Fields, a King County public defender who took part in the meeting’s public comment.
Another speaker said, "I do not want our tax dollars going to a new jail."
The debate is also dividing city leaders. During the meeting, Councilmember Tammy Morales inquired about working with the King County Jail to increase bed space under the city’s current contract.
"Why not just continue negotiations there instead of creating this whole new system,” Morales asked.
Questions were also raised about the time and cost of shuttling people out of Seattle to the SCORE jail and how it would impact the court system. Ultimately, the council committee decided to move the jail pilot program proposal forward. The full city council is expected to vote on it soon.