Above: Dr. Karen Johnson, Black Alliance of Thurston County, testifies in support of HB 2907 before the House Public Safety committee chaired by Representative Roger Goodman (D-45) on Wednesday.
Senator
Fraser Sponsors SB 6621 Calling for Policing Task Force, Hearing Also on
Wednesday
By Janine Gates
The room
was packed for a public hearing on Wednesday for HB 2907, which seeks to clarify state law governing the use of deadly
force by police officers.
Washington State House Public Safety Committee Committee chair Representative Roger Goodman (D-45)
said that 65 people signed up to testify. Only a handful was able to give
their testimony, although he allowed the meeting to go 20 minutes longer than
expected.
Most testified in support of the bill, with some,
including the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Washington
Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, and Concerns of Police Survivors, opposing or expressing concerns.
Dr. Karen Johnson, chair of the Black Alliance of
Thurston County, presented an overview of how the group began its efforts just
a few short months ago, and described her organization’s efforts to build a
relationship with Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts after the officer
involved shooting of two African American young men in Olympia.
Johnson promoted the police department’s mission and
strategic plan, and said the Black Alliance is eager to help the department
garner the respect and trust of Olympia residents, and to make sure police get the training
they need to begin changing the culture within the department.
Encouraged by her story, Representative Goodman praised
Johnson’s efforts.
“...We have a lack of trust
between communities and law enforcement, but it seems you’ve done a lot of
work on a local level to bring people together….Who did you bring to the table
and is there a template for what we could do on a state level?” he asked.
Johnson responded that it’s about communication and having
courageous community conversations about racial bias and institutional racism
with
the police department, and exploring the experiences and questions around those
themes.
She said Olympia’s next community conversation with the
Olympia Police Department is scheduled for March 2.
“I think we’ve been doing an awful lot of talking to
them, and it’s time we start listening to what they need from us,” said
Johnson.
“I agree, I think we need to listen to the police,” responded Goodman.
Jamira Burley, with Amnesty International’s campaign
on criminal justice and gun violence, spoke in support of the bill, saying that
HB 2907 takes significant steps to provide needed clarity and accountability in
regards to the use of lethal force by officers.
Burley said that the use of lethal force by police
in the February 2015 case involving Antonio Zambrano-Montes, a farm laborer
with a history of mental health issues who was shot and killed by police in
Pasco, was inconsistent with international law and standards on the use of lethal
force.
Lisa Daugaard, director of the Public Defender
Association in Seattle, also spoke in support of the bill and described the 2010
killing of Seattle Native American woodcarver John T. Williams by a Seattle police officer.
“The Seattle Police Department itself concluded that
the killing violated policy on use of force, the first time that had happened
in decades. This was not a reasonable mistake – it was an unreasonable mistake, at best. Officer Birk was not reasonable in
thinking he was under attack, and he was not reasonable in thinking deadly
force was necessary to forestall any attack. This was widely accepted. If ever
a killing by a police officer might be prosecuted as a crime under the current
law, it seemed to most observers that it would be this one. And yet Ian Birk
was not prosecuted…..”
“…For those who are uncomfortable with the approach
taken in this bill: it’s time to offer an alternative solution that would have
allowed a prosecution in Mr. Williams’ death. A group of concerned community
leaders has done its best to propose a solution that is fair to officers and
community members alike. If you are uncomfortable with this solution, please,
identify another that will change outcomes in the most egregious of these
cases,” said Daugaard.
Noah Seidel of Lacey who represents Self-Advocates
in Leadership, a group of over 200 people with developmental disabilities, also
spoke in support of the bill.
“Mental health problems is not the only kind of
disability that people have had when killed by police officers. John T.
Williams…was also partially deaf. When he was killed, the officer was behind
him telling him to stop. Disability was a factor....We need to do a better job
holding law enforcement accountable to keep people safe,” said Seidel.
Seidel said that, according to a 2013 report by the
Treatment Advocacy Center and National Sheriffs’ Association, at least half of
the people shot and killed by police between 1980 and 2008 in the United States
had mental health problems.
Rick Williams, the older brother of John T. Williams,
also spoke.
“For five years all this talking and no action…He (Officer
Birk) gets a free pass. Why is this guy still walking free? It’s not right…I
can’t get my brother back but I can help people stand up for him. Somebody has
got to it do because this is all wrong,” said Williams.
The committee also heard testimony about HB 2908, which creates a 13 member joint legislative task force on
community policing standards. The bill’s prime sponsor, Representative Cindy
Ryu, (D-32), spoke to her bill.
James McMahon, policy director with the Washington
Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, did not necessarily oppose the bill,
but suggested that more data be gathered first before a task force begins to
discuss the issue.
Senator Fraser Sponsors SB 6621 Calling for Policing Task Force, Hearing Also on Wednesday
Above:
Rick Williams, seated, Jay Westwind Wolf, a Mohegan Tribal member who is also
on the Seattle Community Police Commission, Karen Johnson of the Black Alliance
of Thurston County, and Thelma Jackson, also of the Black Alliance of Thurston
County, gather just before the Senate Law and Justice Committee heard SB 6621,
sponsored by Senator Karen Fraser (D-22).
Later on Wednesday, SB 6621 was heard by the Senate Law
and Justice Committee, chaired by Senator Mike Padden (R-4).
SB 6621, sponsored by Senator Karen Fraser (D-22), creates
a 22 member task force on policing and the use of deadly force convened by the Washington State Institute for Public
Policy. It contains several directives
and would provide recommendations to the Legislature related to statute changes
related to the use of deadly force by an officer. The task force would report
its findings and provide recommendations to the governor by December 1, 2016.
Fraser spoke to her bill and said it was written in
cooperation with the Black Alliance of Thurston County.
Acknowledging the task force proposed in HB 2908,
Fraser said, “I’m not wedded to how we structure the task force…but the core
idea is to bring the relevant people together to talk about this and how we
want to move ahead in the future….We need all the right people involved in this,”
she said.
Similar to his testimony for HB 2908, James McMahon,
policy director, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, expressed
concerns about the bill and would like data to be collected on the use of force
before a task force is formed.
Craig Bulkley, president of the Washington Council
of Police and Sheriffs, also expressed concerns, saying that a problem has not
been identified with the current statute, data needs to be collected, and the
bill does not have a means to do that. He said that according to the FBI, 107
officers have been killed nationally in the line of duty, and 49,851 were
assaulted in 2013.
In Washington State, 16 people were shot and killed
by law enforcement in 2015. According to research by The Seattle Times, there
were 213 Washington State police related fatalities between 2004 – 2014.
In 2015, the Guardian newspaper tracked the number
of deaths in the United States due to interactions with law enforcement,
documenting 1,015 people killed by police using firearms. Of that total, 25.6%
of those killed were African American and 17.5% were Latino. More than 10% - 107 individuals - were unarmed when they were shot and killed by police.
For
more information about the HB 2907, Amnesty International's Report on Deadly Force, the Black Alliance of Thurston County, Karen Johnson, the City of
Olympia’s Ad Hoc Committee on Police and Community Relations, body cameras, and
other police related issues in Olympia, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com,
and type key words into the search button.
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