Ep. 24 WA State’s new wide-ranging police reform legislation causing concern for LE and citizens

On Being a Police Officer

Ep. 24 - A Captain from a mid-sized agency in Washington State discusses the wide-ranging new police reform legislation that went into law in July 2021 in Washington. Many states are enacting police reform bills into law, but to date, few go as far as the new laws in Washington – including being the only state to ban Terry stops, a long-held practice which allows the police to briefly detain a person based on reasonable suspicion of involvement in criminal activity.

Because of how these laws are written and their overall scope and restrictiveness, they have been met with concern and confusion within law enforcement on how to interpret and implement them. Officers are finding their hands tied when it comes to apprehending and arresting criminals, helping those in mental crisis and protecting the public. These concerns are shared among citizens who are seeing a rise in crime and new limits on what police can do about it. There currently is a debate over whether these changes will help or hurt public safety. And so I am to turning to this Captain to get his reactions and to understand what he is seeing as the impact not only on law enforcement, his department, but also on community members.

If you would like to contact your legislator with questions, comments or concerns about the new laws, you can locate your legislator at this website: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder

Contact me at [e-mail]. All booking, interviews, production and editing by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org