Families Advocating for Accountability Believe Washingtonians Deserve Quality Policing
3/7/2024, OLYMPIA, WA - The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability (WCPA) began the 2024 legislative session with an agenda designed to make Washington safer for everyone. Unfortunately, the Washington Legislature chose to stall necessary reforms. All of WCPA’s priority bills died before making it to the Governor’s desk (HB 1445 AG Investigations and Reform, HB 1513 Traffic Safety for All, and HB 1579 Independent Prosecutor).
Nickeia Hunter, WCPA member and Clark County resident, whose brother Carlos Hunter was killed on March 7, 2019, said “It’s been five years today since my brother was killed by Vancouver Police. Since then more than 150 people have been killed during interactions with law enforcement in our state. We have heard law enforcement say the bills passed in 2021 went too far and yet still not a single officer has been convicted of misconduct in any of those cases. We are not going away until there is true accountability.”
The legislature’s inaction has delayed these reforms. Delay has real consequences for communities across the state. We know that officer decision-making on who they will stop and when is highly discretionary and involves racial disparities. The impacts will burden communities of color and persons who are struggling financially. Similarly, discretion by local prosecutors has documented consequences on whether police are charged for alleged criminal use of deadly force.
Check out our previous blog posts: WCPA Opposes Dangerous Police Pursuits Initiative, and WCPA Statement on the Passage of I-2113
The equitable approaches in the WCPA legislative agenda aren’t just nice to have, they are necessary for a more fair and more just legal system. Overall, the appetite for reform has been dampened by rhetoric around lawlessness. This has ushered in a return to more punitive responses, and we see a chilling effect on our good government proposals for accountability and transparency.
Check out our previous blog post: Addressing Disinformation about HB 1579
Common sense policies that would reduce police violence and increase police accountability stalled. WCPA and its allies advocated for a range of approaches, from limiting traffic stops so that police violence was reduced (HB 1513), to taking action against systemic misconduct at police departments (HB 1445).
WCPA will be working over the interim to build more support from legislators, allies, and communities. Part of the work will involve education and outreach so that the general public and elected officials understand the seriousness of the gaps that exist across police agencies in Washington state.
