Stop bickering about jail issues and put public safety first

A food fight between elected officials in Seattle and King County over jail policies should have been averted years ago.

Leaders must immediately stop the posturing and rationally chart out a course that makes the best use of available resources while acknowledging that reliable detention is an essential component of any public safety strategy.

At a Seattle City Council briefing on July 23, interim Police Chief Sue Rahr and Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison said King County restrictions on misdemeanor jail bookings were making enforcement of low-level crimes difficult.

The next day, King County Executive Dow Constantine pushed back in an email his staff member sent to Metropolitan King County Council members claiming, “factually inaccurate assertions and outright falsehoods being promulgated by representatives of the City of Seattle” and others.

Constantine’s office affirmed that limits on jail space are due to “serious staffing shortages” and not “philosophy or ideology” — although a reasonable person could wonder. Constantine has vowed to close the juvenile detention center. The Metropolitan King County Council recently received a report it ordered on closing the downtown adult jail and replacing it with something smaller.

King County jails repeat offenders and others in special circumstances, wrote Constantine’s staff member, adding: “King County is open to having a conversation about expanding the list of bookable offenses.”

That sounded reasonable. Too bad it was immediately followed by telling Seattle it could go somewhere else for jail services, even though the city pays King County $22 million annually for 198 jail beds and only about 80 are filled.

Enough!

A spokesman for Constantine later told The Times that the executive was frustrated because jail issues were discussed at a City Council meeting “without an opportunity for the County to be present …”

For three years, The Times editorial board has urged Seattle and King County leaders — including judges and prosecutors — to convene a public safety summit to hash out these issues, particularly the jail.

In 2022, we wrote: “Today, we repeat the call for a robust, transparent discussion to thoroughly examine issues that threaten progressive policing, impede community well-being and sow public cynicism. A place to start the conversation could be with incarceration.”

In 2023, we wrote: “The city’s legal system is in crisis. It starts with the King County Jail.”

Earlier this year: “The King County Jail should detail its policies around bookings and explain why people are turned back to the streets after arrests.”

There are victims in all this dysfunction and blame-shifting between King County and Seattle: the everyday people who live and work in high-crime and drug areas.

The Seattle City Council — with seven of nine members fresh from running for office last year — deserves credit for trying to grapple with these issues and come up with solutions.

Harrell and Constantine must now show leadership. Set public safety goals, find creative ways to maximize resources, give the people confidence.

Seattleites deserve better than the status quo.