MAYBE A SHUFFLING OF COUNTY'S LARGE WORK FORCE IS IN ORDER

Two articles that don't appear to be related actually have an
interesting connection. Brier Dudley's article about the size of King
County's work force ("Is county's work force King-size?" Local news,
Nov. 18) and Warren King's on the record pace of heroin deaths
("County heroin deaths a crisis," Local news, Nov. 18) both fail to
discuss the resources (or lack thereof) that Washington state
(including King County) puts into drug enforcement.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington state
is tied for second to last in the number of law-enforcement officers
per population at 17 per 10,000. In addition, Washington state has no
state drug-enforcement agency. Don't these statistics seem to have a
relationship to both articles?

The King County Sheriff's Office has fewer than 12 deputies per 10,000
citizens in the area it covers. Their drug-enforcement unit is
extremely small.

This apparently is one part of King County government that is sadly
lacking in work-force size. I did notice that Dudley did not mention
the Sheriff's Office in his examples of overly large work forces.

I urge your readers to contact their council members and ask them not
to cut any of the budget for the deputies who provide for our safety
and security.

Steve Tucker, Fall City