Comment: Work of police reforms needs a year-round conversation

By Juan Peralez / For The Herald

Law enforcement and communities agree that the culture of policing in the state needs to change.

If this is true then why do we have a continuing battle between community police accountability advocates and law enforcement, year after year each session of our state Legislature? We cannot change the culture of policing in two- or three-month periods a year. Changing a stale culture of policing has not worked thus far and requires ongoing dialogue year-round between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

We need to establish a coalition of law enforcement and community advocates that will begin this severely needed dialogue to change the culture of policing, focused on saving lives of community members and law enforcement.

We must first acknowledge that policing started with slave patrols that rounded up runaway slaves and returned them to their owners. Law enforcement that serves the rich, powerful and affluent continues to be that part of the culture that is stale and rotten. We all have seen how they protect elected officials and the rich in all sectors of our society. Police must serve and protect all members of our communities regardless of race, sex, religion or economic status.

This year’s legislative session was a disappointment for community advocates of police accountability.

The biggest disappointment was HB 1579, which called for the creation of an independent prosecutors office to complement the state law that created the Office of Independent Investigations in 2021. HB 1579 would have provided unbiased, transparent and accountable investigations that would have gone a long way in changing the culture of policing and building much needed trust. Especially disappointing was that two Democrats, Sens. Mark Mullet and Kevin Van De Vege killed the bill in the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee.

House bill 2027 had to do with training, certifications, background checks and professionalism standards. It would have assured the highest level of professionalism of law enforcement across the state. It also provided enhanced background checks, areas of misconduct that can result in decertification of a peace officer. More importantly it would enhance the checks of affiliations or support of white supremacy organizations by police. The bill would no longer allow for uncertified volunteers, including Proud Boys members, to take over a city, armed with assault rifles as was seen in the city of Snohomish on May 31, 2020, supposedly to protect businesses from a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.

House Bill 1513 would have prohibited police from stopping motorists for expired license tabs, broken tail lights or cracked windshields. The majority of motorists stopped for these infractions of course are mostly poor people or people of color. In 2022 traffic stops resulted in 98 motorists in the United States dying in the hands of police. We need legislation focused on saving lives.

House Bill 1445 would have clarified existing authority of the state Attorney General and would have authorized the that office to investigate and if necessary bring suit against law enforcement and local corrections agencies to compel needed reforms where there are violations of constitutional and civil rights.

House Bill 1062, sponsored by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, would have prohibited deception by law enforcement officers during custodial interrogations. Deceptive interrogations have been responsible for incarceration of young people especially by agreeing to untrue statements that supposedly will lighten their sentences as promised by police. So deception by officers will continue and, worse ye,t young people will continue to be incarcerated as a result.

HB 6009 was the only good news. The legislation prohibits a barbaric restraining tactic utilized by officers called hog-tying, when a person is handcuffed and connected with a strap to tied feet and placed on their stomach, in the manner of branding hogs and other livestock. Hog tying was utilized in the death of Manuel Ellis by three Tacoma officers who were all acquitted.

Overall, there was not much progress in changing the culture of policing in our state Legislature this year.

Unidos of Snohomish County will be sponsoring a summit this summer that will bring together Snohomish county law enforcement, community advocates and legislators with the purpose of establishing a much needed coalition to start year round dialogue needed to change the culture of policing focused on saving lives of both community members and peace officers who of course are also community members.

The dynamic of police versus the public must be abolished.

For those of you that believe the culture of policing needs to change for the better of all concerned, I ask that you reach out to your respective legislators in the 2025 legislative session and request that they support legislation focused on police accountability legislation that changes the culture of policing for the safety of all.

Juan Peralez is president of Unidos, Snohomish County, working to encourage equitable enforcement and trust between law enforcement agencies and communities.