FINDING SMART WAYS TO HALT CRIMINAL MERRY-GO-ROUND

FOR years, lawmakers have claimed credit for getting "tough on crime."
As law-enforcement officers with over 44 years of combined experience,
we have to live with the consequences of every crime bill that passes
the Legislature whenever we work the streets. It's worth it to us to
take the time to pass good laws, which is why we're taking a "get
smart" attitude to crime control. Because, with each passing year,
more taxpayer dollars are being consumed by the prison industry - and
our jobs as police officers haven't gotten much easier. More than $1.2
billion of the state's budget currently goes toward housing criminals
in prison, an amount projected to double in less than 10 years. Each
prison inmate costs taxpayers over $23,000 a year. How smart is it to
keep spending money at this wild pace when other options are available?

With a prison population increasing at an exponential rate, we now
stand at the most significant crossroads faced by our criminal-justice
system in the last 20 years. We submit that our state can no longer
afford to ignore both the social and financial costs of failing to
effectively deter criminal behavior in our state.

The good news is that there are ways we can fight crime without just
throwing money at the problem or passing headline-grabbing
legislation. Instead, we can be smart and spend a little time and
energy where it matters most, before people fall into the cycle of
drugs, crime and violence. By making substantial reforms to our
sentencing laws, we believe we can hold repeat offenders accountable
for their actions, prevent youthful and first-time offenders from a
lifetime of crime, and decrease destructive criminal behavior that
supports drug use.

Current legislation in Olympia will accomplish precisely these goals.
We believe these modest, common-sense proposals will reduce drug
abuse, property crimes and ultimately ease the financial burden on
taxpayers - while maintaining a high level of public safety.

Drugs and alcohol

Drug use is the root cause of most property crimes, and it fuels the
majority of many crimes committed against our neighbors. Don't you
agree that if we could control drug addiction then we could also stem
the crime rate?

We support legislation to build on the concept of drug courts such as
those in King and Pierce counties - both of which have a proven track
record in reducing repeat crimes. King County Drug Court manager Mary
Taylor reports that after just one year, only 9 percent of drug court
graduates were arrested on new felonies versus a 22 percent arrest
rate for program dropouts. Keep in mind that one-third of all
criminals commit further crimes when released from prison. If we have
an opportunity to reduce repeat offenses, then we should take it.

Accountability

There are more than 50,000 released ex-convicts residing in
communities across the state. We know that one-third of these convicts
will commit another crime within five years of their release from
prison because we lack the tools to follow their every move. Our
current criminal-justice system is only doing half the job. To prevent
further crimes, our state needs a justice system that holds convicts
accountable for their behavior even after they are released back into
the community.

We're proud to have sponsored the governor's legislation that will
protect the public, protect taxpayers, save potential victims, and
help law enforcement. This proposal would add a period of community
custody - or supervision - to the end of many high-risk felony
offenders' prison sentences. Under this proposed law, community
corrections officers would supervise high-risk convicts and hold them
accountable for adhering to the conditions of their freedom - which
could include holding a stable job, drug treatment, no contact with
victims or other convicts, and paying for the costs of
supervision.

Prevention

Over the next 20 years, our state's teen population is expected to
grow by more than one-third as the offspring of baby boomers come of
age. By acting now, we must prevent the cycle of violence from finding
a new foothold. The choice we have today is simple: Pay a little early
in a juvenile's life to steer them in the right direction, or pay many
times more after they become habitual criminals.

We support funding $5 million in state grants to local prevention and
early intervention programs. Money would come from an existing
violence-prevention fund and would provide much-needed support for
local programs trying to make a difference in their
communities.

The payoffs of prevention programs are clear: Not only does prevention
make sense from the standpoint of saving tax dollars, it also
strengthens the safety and security of our entire community.

These common-sense proposals are quietly making their way through the
legislative process. We think it's important that new laws -
especially those that concern public safety - ought to bear the stamp
of reason, not political expediency. It's time to get smart on crime,
and we are here to get the work done.