Comment: Work of police reforms needs a year-round conversation
The Legislature considers good ideas, but the process is slow and intermittent and needs support.
Saturday, March 23, 2024 1:30am
By Juan Peralez / For The Herald
Law enforcement and communities agree that the culture of policing in the state needs to change.
If this is true then why do we have a continuing battle between community police accountability advocates and law enforcement, year after year each session of our state Legislature? We cannot change the culture of policing in two- or three-month periods a year. Changing a stale culture of policing has not worked thus far and requires ongoing dialogue year-round between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
We need to establish a coalition of law enforcement and community advocates that will begin this severely needed dialogue to change the culture of policing, focused on saving lives of community members and law enforcement.
We must first acknowledge that policing started with slave patrols that rounded up runaway slaves and returned them to their owners. Law enforcement that serves the rich, powerful and affluent continues to be that part of the culture that is stale and rotten. We all have seen how they protect elected officials and the rich in all sectors of our society. Police must serve and protect all members of our communities regardless of race, sex, religion or economic status.
This year’s legislative session was a disappointment for community advocates of police accountability.
The biggest disappointment was HB 1579, which called for the creation of an independent prosecutors office to complement the state law that created the Office of Independent Investigations in 2021. HB 1579 would have provided unbiased, transparent and accountable investigations that would have gone a long way in changing the culture of policing and building much needed trust. Especially disappointing was that two Democrats, Sens. Mark Mullet and Kevin Van De Vege killed the bill in the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee.
House bill 2027 had to do with training, certifications, background checks and professionalism standards. It would have assured the highest level of professionalism of law enforcement across the state. It also provided enhanced background checks, areas of misconduct that can result in decertification of a peace officer. More importantly it would enhance the checks of affiliations or support of white supremacy organizations by police. The bill would no longer allow for uncertified volunteers, including Proud Boys members, to take over a city, armed with assault rifles as was seen in the city of Snohomish on May 31, 2020, supposedly to protect businesses from a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.
House Bill 1513 would have prohibited police from stopping motorists for expired license tabs, broken tail lights or cracked windshields. The majority of motorists stopped for these infractions of course are mostly poor people or people of color. In 2022 traffic stops resulted in 98 motorists in the United States dying in the hands of police. We need legislation focused on saving lives.
House Bill 1445 would have clarified existing authority of the state Attorney General and would have authorized the that office to investigate and if necessary bring suit against law enforcement and local corrections agencies to compel needed reforms where there are violations of constitutional and civil rights.
House Bill 1062, sponsored by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, would have prohibited deception by law enforcement officers during custodial interrogations. Deceptive interrogations have been responsible for incarceration of young people especially by agreeing to untrue statements that supposedly will lighten their sentences as promised by police. So deception by officers will continue and, worse yet young people will continue to be incarcerated as a result.
HB 6009 was the only good news. The legislation prohibits a barbaric restraining tactic utilized by officers called hog-tying, when a person is handcuffed and connected with a strap to tied feet and placed on their stomach, in the manner of branding hogs and other livestock. Hog tying was utilized in the death of Manuel Ellis by three Tacoma officers who were all acquitted.
Overall, there was not much progress in changing the culture of policing in our state Legislature this year.
Unidos of Snohomish County will be sponsoring a summit this summer that will bring together Snohomish county law enforcement, community advocates and legislators with the purpose of establishing a much needed coalition to start year round dialogue needed to change the culture of policing focused on saving lives of both community members and peace officers who of course are also community members.
The dynamic of police versus the public must be abolished.
For those of you that believe the culture of policing needs to change for the better of all concerned, I ask that you reach out to your respective legislators in the 2025 legislative session and request that they support legislation focused on police accountability legislation that changes the culture of policing for the safety of all.
COMMENTARY
Comment: Two bills will continue work regarding police conduct
The legislation would limit traffic stops to serious offenses and address alleged mocking actions by police.
Saturday, December 30, 2023 12:55pm
By Juan Peralez / Herald Forum
The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability and its allies will be promoting and supporting two crucial bills in the upcoming legislative session in Olympia. Unidos of Snohomis County is an ally and strongly supports the bills.
House Bill 1513 known as the traffic safety bill will save lives by reducing traffic stops. The bill proposes that police should stop pulling over drivers for expired license tabs, burnt-out tail lights or cracked windshields and concentrate on speeding, negligent driving and impaired driving that are most responsible for traffic deaths. Driving with expired tabs, broken windshields or a burnt tail light has never been responsible for traffic deaths.
In 2022, 1,176 people died in the hands of police. Traffic stops accounted for 98 people dying in police hands. The bill will also allow police to concentrate on the deadly traffic violations mentioned above. It will also help in building much needed trust in law enforcement. We must acknowledge that mostly poor people get pulled over for expired tabs or minor car repairs and too often they end up being killed during police stops. In April of 2015, in North Charleston, S.C., officer Michael T. Slager fired eight times and shot Walter L. Scott while running away from the officer after a traffic stop for a broken tail light. Legal experts agree that these shootings are unwarranted.
House Bill 1445 is the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Limits and Reform Bill. It clarifies existing authority and authorizes the Attorney General’s Office to investigate and if necessary bring suit against law enforcement and local corrections agencies to compel needed reforms where there are violations of constitutional and civil rights, in order to promote effective and constitutional policing, detention and incarceration practices across the state. It will increase transparency, trust in law enforcement, and improve accountability in police and corrections agencies.
The bill will also address the mocking culture as displayed in two videos currently released by the Seattle Police Department after the killing of 19-year-old Damarius Butts and the minimizing of the life of Jaahnavi Kendula by two Seattle police leaders. An investigation by the Attorney General’s Office could help understand what led to this behavior and how to stop it.
Changing the culture of policing in America is way overdue. These two bills will help in changing the culture of policing that benefits law enforcement and communities while helping build much needed trust in law enforcement and corrections agencies.
Please support this legislation by writing to or calling your respective legislators.
Juan Peralez is president of Unidos of Snohomish County.
COMMENTARY
Comment: Journalist to speak to local threat of radical right
Author David Neiwert will speak about extremism’s threats, Thursday night at the Everett Civic Auditorium.
Saturday, October 21, 2023 1:30am
By Juan Peralez / For The Herald
The Jan. 6, 2021 attack on our U. S. Capitol by white nationalists will go down as an infamous day in United States history.
Although the narrative in the dominant media has considered the attack on our democracy a riot or insurrection, others witnessed the attack considered it a coup attempt to install Donald Trump as a fascist dictator. Its no wonder Trump met and praised authoritarians such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and the dictator Republicans are trying to clone, Hungary’s Viktor Orban. I consider it a crash course on how to be a fascist dictator after he was elected president.
The Pacific Northwest has also been has been touched by this threat and in fact has been a breeding ground of extremist violence since neo-Nazis and white supramacists migrated to Idaho, Washington and Oregon in the early 1970s, fomenting violent confrontations in Portland, Seattle and other Northwest communities over over recent decades. Washington state was ranked fifth in the nation for white supremacacist activity in 2021 by the Anti-Defamiation League, and Snohomish County was ranked No. 1 in the state.
Let us not forget Shawna Forde, a former Everett woman and leader of the Minuteman Militia, who attempted to have her husband John Forde murdered in December of 2008 by her boyfriend. The man who shot John Forde has not been apprehended. Shawna Forde later went to Arivaca, Ariz., and shot and killed a 9-year-girl, Brisenia Flores and her father, Rual Flores, in a home invasion intended to fund her border watch group. She is now in prison on death row.
To get a better understanding on the rise and dangers of white supremacy, Unidos of Snohomish County and Communities Against Hate and Violent Extremism sponsoring an educational event from 6 to 8 p.m., Oct. 26, at the Everett Civic Auditorium, 2415 Colby Ave. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
The educational event will feature investigative journalist and speaker David Neiwert, recipient of awards including the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism, and author of several books, including “The Rise of The Radical Right in the Age of Trump,” and his latest book, “The Age of Insurrection; The Radical Rights Assault On American Democracy.” Neiwert has been tracking and researching extremist groups for nearly 50 years.
By creating an awareness and understanding of the rise and dangers of white supremacy, the sponsors and co-sponsors that include the Anti Defamation League, American Civil Liberties Union, American Muslim Empowerment Network-Muslim Americans of Puget Sound, NAACP andothers, we hope to work with the state Legislature to create a statewide commission to address white supremacy as well as statewide hotline people can call to report incidents of hate and violence.
The issue of hate and violent extremism in Snohomish County, Washington state and our country must be addressed before our democracy is overthrown.
Juan Peralez is president of Unidos of Snohomish County.
COMMENTARY
Comment: Public safety lost ground in this year’s Legislature
Legislation that would have better addressed racism’s effects on communities was not adopted by lawmakers.
Saturday, June 3, 2023 1:30amOPINIONCOMMENTARY
By Juan Peralez / For The Herald
Our state’s elected officials regularly proclaim that public safety is a concern. Most candidates when launching a campaign for an elected position express that public safety is one of their priorities.
That all sounds good, and most people will support them if they have coherent plans because they know our communities are not safe. However, for white communities, public safety is not as big a concern as it is for the state’s Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color (BIPOC) communities. White communities in general are concerned about drugs, the mentally ill, the homeless and keeping their families safe from crime. These communities see law enforcement as heroes who are fighting against evil members of our communities to keep them safe. In most cases law enforcement performs their mandate to serve and protect community members and that is admirable. White people have little fear of police, unless they are criminals, and are always expressing that we need more police to keep them safe.
We must acknowledge, however, that BIPOC communities often share a tremendously different perspective and opinion of police. First of all, most members of the BIPOC communities do not believe that they are being served and protected. Secondly, they feel that communities that are mostly Black and Brown are being constantly invaded by police, which is reflected by the number of Black and Brown people killed by police.
Black and Brown people in particular will not even exit their driveways without looking to see if there is a police car nearby. They are also constantly looking in their rear view mirror while driving. If they see a police car behind them they will pull into the parking lot of any business nearby. Their biggest concern is being stopped by police for “driving while Black or Brown,” which could end up in a tragic situation for the driver, things that may never cross a white person’s mind.
In 2022, 1,176 people were killed by U.S. law enforcement officers. Only 370 deaths (31 percent) involved a potentially serious situation with an alleged violent crime. The rest, 806 (69 percent) were responding to mental health situations, welfare checks, domestic disturbance, a person allegedly seen with a weapon, no offense alleged or traffic violations. Over 1,100 people annually have been killed by law enforcement over the last six years and the scenarios remain consistent.
In addition, in 32 percent of cases last year, the persons were fleeing before they were killed while attempting to run or drive off. These are the cases where experts will say lethal force is unwarranted and also endangers the public.
The racial disparities continue, of the 1,176 people killed in 2022, 370 (24 percent) were Black, yet comprised only 13 percent of the population. In most cities, Blacks are three times more likely than whites to be shot by law enforcement, except for cities such as Minneapolis and Chicago, where the rates are 28 percent and 25 percent higher, respectively.
Washington state legislators had an opportunity to pass legislation that could lower the number of people being killed by law enforcement, but chose not to. Being concerned about public safety is one thing but to not embrace an opportunity to improve it is shamefully contradictory.
Democrats should have opposed Senate Bill 5352 regarding vehicular pursuits, which overturned House Bill 1054, passed in 2021. The year prior to HB 1054 being passed Washington pursuits resulted in 12 deaths of bystanders and passengers. The year after passage there were three deaths. How could Democrats overturn a law that was effective in saving lives.
House Bill 1513 was another opportunity this year that was not supported by a Democratic majority. In 2022, 98 people were killed following traffic stops. HB 1513 would have prohibited police from stopping drivers for expired license tabs, burned-out tail lights and other non-moving violations.
The most important bill in this year’s legislative session was House Bill 1333 sponsored by Rep. Bill Ramos, D-Issaquah, that addressed public safety for all state residents, regardless of color. HB 1333 would have created a two year commission to address domestic violence extremism, a recommendation by our state attorney general in a report issued by his office last year. The report was issued after a six-month study by the AG’s office to assess the need to address white supremacist activity, although legislators did not want to call it that.
Washington state ranks fifth in the nation in white supremacist activity and Snohomish County ranks No. 1 in the state according to the Anti-Defamation League. White supremacist groups like the ones that attempted a coup on Jan. 6, 2021, at the U. S. Capitol. Six members of the Oath Keepers and three members of the Proud Boys have gone to prison so far. These groups pose a heightened threat and endanger everyone’s safety, according to the Department of Homeland Security. According to the FBI, these groups pose the biggest threat to our democracy.
Last fall, mayors in Snohomish County formed a coalition with business leaders because of their concern for public safety in the county in particular. Their main mission was to expand policing to address drug addiction, the homeless and mentally ill on the streets. This coalition of mayors and business leaders, because they are all mostly white, have little experience or understanding of the underlying reasons that drive drug addiction, homelessness and mental illness.
Racism, a symptom of white supremacy that has existed throughout the history of our country thrives on inequalities and injustice in every institution of our government. This is the root cause that this coalition should be addressing if they honestly want to address the issue of public safety.
This monumental failure and total disregard by Democratic lawmakers for our public safety and our democracy should be of utmost concern to the coalition of mayors and business leaders if they are genuinely concerned about public safety. They should lobby state legislators next year to support the creation of the commission recommended by our state attorney general’s Office and support traffic safety bills that save lives.
Juan Peralez is president of Unidos of Snohomish County.
Juan Peralez, President of UNIDOS of Snohomish County
