Federal Way’s legislative agenda targets police pursuits

The top priority for the Federal Way City Council for the upcoming legislative session: changing police pursuit laws to allow pursuit for car theft and other property crimes.

At an early morning public meeting between city council members, Mayor Jim Ferrell and 30th District state representatives on Dec. 18, city and state officials shared their priorities and projects for the upcoming session.

In addition to advocating for changes in police pursuit laws, public safety priority requests included investment in mental health and substance use disorder programs, changes to laws around the ability of police to question minors, and investment in a helicopter for the Federal Way Police Department.

City council members and the mayor also shared priorities around transportation projects, the need for local control by cities vs. state mandates, capital improvement requests, and condominium and housing liability changes.

State Rep. Kristine Reeves was unable to attend because she is in Washington, D.C., at a meeting at the White House, according to Mayor Ferrell. Councilmembers Assefa-Dawson and Jack Dovey were also not present due to illness.

The council first shared their top priorities related to policy change through state Legislature. Rep. Jamila Taylor and Sen. Claire Wilson responded by first giving an overview of their expertise and their committees.

Taylor and Wilson expressed multiple times that they focus on the root of problems that impact public safety, whereas the council’s agenda focused more on how to react to issues as they occur.

30th District representatives, Federal Way City Council members and Mayor Jim Ferrell meet to discuss legislative priorities at the Dec. 18 breakfast. (Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang / FW Mirror)

Public safety

Councilmember Jack Walsh presented their priorities around public safety with support from Federal Way Police Chief Andy Hwang.

“With a lot of things, being number one is good, but being number one in the nation for car thefts is terrible,” said Walsh, referring to a statistic that shows Washington state is number one for car thefts per capita.

Walsh and Chief Hwang presented an overview of statistics to outline their advocacy for changing police pursuit laws.

Legislators responded by acknowledging the burden of car thefts, but advocated strongly for the consideration of other methods to reduce theft.

“My question is always going to be, what is it that we’re doing to prevent, as well as what we’re doing when things are happening,” said Wilson. “When it comes to public safety and crimes, I am going to look at the root of the problem.”

As one example, Wilson said that “homelessness and crime also share economic roots, and so we have to make sure that we’re helping people meet their basic needs. Food, water, shelter, clothing,” adding that “people are desperate, and desperate people do desperate things. The people that are doing those desperate things are our neighbors, and they are our brothers and our sisters and then our aunts. They’re vets. There are individuals who have been incarcerated and come out with absolutely no support.”

This lack of resources and support are “things that I can work on,” Wilson said, “and those are things that I work on every day in order to increase our public safety.”

Taylor questioned the statistics that the council presented and shared her reasons for concerns about pursuit.

“I’m very very concerned about pedestrian safety,” Taylor said, citing higher levels of pedestrian injuries.

Concern about car theft also brought the council to mention the issues around youth violence and crime. “Some of these vehicles are being driven by 14 and 15 year old kids that don’t even know how to safely operate a vehicle. That truly endangers the public,” said council member Jack Walsh.

Taylor shared an update on her work to prevent crimes committed by young people.

“I’ve been consistently working on youth violence prevention,” Taylor said. She emphasized the need for diversion and support for youth, giving examples of apprenticeships, internships and after-school programs to help young people stay away from criminal activity.

Youth came up again when the council advocated for changes to laws that protect minors from incriminating themselves by requiring a lawyer be present before they can answer questions from police or provide consent to a search. Chief Hwang said that these laws “requires police to make arrest decisions without being able to get the juvenile’s side of the story,” and asked that parental consent be enough to question or search juveniles without needing a lawyer present.

Transportation

Federal Way leaders ranked the 373rd Street Roundabout Project as their top priority in order to increase safety. “Based on the most recent collision report, since 2015, there have been 7 deaths, 11 accidents resulting in a disabling injury, and 24 accidents with evident injuries,” according to their legislative agenda overview.

Other transportation priorities include the City Center Access Project, improvements to the Southwest 336th Street through Southwest 340th Street corridor, and reprioritization of the Triangle Project, which is the intersection of I-5, SR 18 and SR 161.