By Janine Unsoeld
To potentially thwart the activity of drug dealers in
downtown Olympia, a proposed drug-free zone ordinance passed the city’s Land Use and
Environment committee on February 20 and will now go to the full council.
It has not yet been scheduled to be heard by the
city council as of this week.
The draft ordinance designates five civic centers
located in downtown Olympia and the area within 1000 feet of the perimeter of
each civic center as drug-free zones.
These civic centers include the Hands-On Children’s
Museum on Adams Street, the Washington Center on Washington Street, the Olympia
Center on Columbia Street, Olympia City Hall on Fourth Avenue, and the Olympia
Timberland Library on Eighth Avenue. A map indicating the areas shows that the downtown
core of Olympia is covered.
The draft ordinance, states, “…there is an increase
in the consumption of illegal felony drugs, including methamphetamine and
heroin….Drug-free zones will permit a potential enhanced sentence if a person
is convicted of a felony drug offense in violation of 59.50.401, 69.50.410, and
69.50.204, excluding marijuana leaves and flowering tops….”
The creation of the draft ordinance was a joint
decision made between multiple agencies and departments within the city.
The police department worked with the city
prosecutor, the Thurston County prosecutor, the Thurston County Sheriff, the
city manager’s office, the Community Planning & Development department, the
Parks department, and the Public Works department.
The top five reasons for arrests downtown in 2013 in
descending order, are outstanding warrants, drinking in public, trespassing,
assault, and narcotics, says Amy Stull, senior program specialist for police
community programs at the Olympia Police Department.
Roberts
and Tunheim Address Proposed Ordinance
Olympia Police Chief Ronnie Roberts and Thurston
County Prosecutor Jon Tunheim explained the proposed ordinance in a brief
presentation to the committee.
“State law allows this designation….It certainly is not
the solution. We can’t arrest our way out…but it does allow us to identify
those repeat offenders and refer those cases….All these areas are where we’ve
had a considerable number of calls,” said Chief Roberts.
The proposed ordinance uses current statute language
and does not take the passage of I-522 into consideration. “The marijuana
discussion is different,” said Tunheim.
Tunheim said his office would use the designation as
a strategy, and is a collaborative effort with other agencies. “It has a
valuable role, and is really consistent with the ongoing efforts of the Olympia
Police Department and all law enforcement leaders of the community with a more
regional approach….I want to stress it’s not our intention to go on an all-out
enforcement effort and jail everyone we can….It’s about the prosecution of drug
dealers and the ability to address the chronic offenders with some enhanced
sentence.”
Tunheim said that with an arrest for a felony drug
case, the offender could go to the state prison system if the sentence exceeds
one year, or it could get handled on a county level. “The enhanced sentence
automatically kicks us into that conversation for treatment options, through the
Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative (DOSA) or Drug Court.”
The Thurston County Superior Court Drug Court is a
12 – 18 month treatment program, but not everyone is eligible to participant.
Tunheim said, “Coerced drug treatment can be as
effective as voluntary treatment, and that’s a shift of what we’ve known
before….The more leverage you put on the table, the greater chance they can get
treatment. Make no mistake - dealers are
in it for the money. That’s what they’re motivated by.”
Roberts and Tunheim would like a map of the ordinance
area to be part of the ordinance. “Admitting it into evidence makes it easier
for us, so we can say, ‘here’s the zone, here’s where the deal happened.’”
Tunheim added that the prosecution doesn’t have to
prove that the offender knew it was a drug-free zone and says a dealer is
defined as someone who possesses drugs and paraphernalia with intent to
deliver. Evidence could include packaging, materials for the purpose of
redistribution, scales, notes, records, multiple packages of all the same weight,
and the presence of drugs.
“There is no automatic threshold – it’s just the
totality of evidence,” said Tunheim.
Tunheim said he plans to ask the court to restrict
the offender’s ability to come into downtown. “If the court puts that in place
and a law enforcement officer knows they have that order, then they will be in
violation of a court order, and the officer can engage that person and make an
arrest.”
The specifics of an exclusion order will be
addressed at the time the order is issued by the court, said Chief Roberts,
when asked later by Little Hollywood.
Asked if there is capacity to hold additional
offenders, Tunheim said yes. “Yes, we have capacity. We have for quite awhile.
We face this challenge of people not looking at a lengthy sentence for a
felony…they serve time, get out, and do it again. It’s tougher for us to push
people into treatment….The Drug Court has their own treatment staff. There is
capacity. In the county overall, outside the criminal justice system, for detox
and drugs, there is a lack of capacity.”
Felony offenses are already illegal in parks so drug-free
zone signs will not need to be placed in parks such as Heritage Park or
Sylvester Park, which are governed by the state. It is expected one sign per
city facility would be sufficient notice.
“The signs will send a message to the community that
we’re taking this serious, that we’re cracking down,” said Councilmember
Jeannine Roe.
Councilmember Langer said he would like to get the
word out to the Tacoma community that dealers are not welcome in Olympia.
Roberts and Tunheim said there are already collaborative efforts underway with
the City of Tacoma Narcotics Task Force.
Connie Lorenz, executive director of the Olympia
Downtown Association, asked about the Olympia Farmer’s Market. Roberts admitted
that the market is not included in the zone and is a point of contention in
discussions. “I was concerned with going too far. It is city property….the city
attorney will have to weigh in.”
Councilmember Steve Langer invited public comment
during the meeting, and community member Monica Hoover said that the proposed
ordinance criminalizes poverty.
She followed up her comments with a letter to the
council, saying in part, “I have no faith that the prison system contains
solutions for the vast majority of the problems we are facing in society. They are mostly part of the problem that drains
resources away from what people really need.
“The United States has the highest incarceration
rates in the world; many times greater than countries that we might consider
our peers. Longer sentences for drug
related crimes are a significant part of this problem. Please reject this ordinance and work for
solutions that don't exacerbate the prison problem.”
Tunheim responded, saying that in the last 25 years,
there has been a dramatic shift away from incarceration to treatment.
“….Evidence is showing us that criminal justice gets people into treatment and
use the system as a way to get into treatment.”
Roberts said that when people complete Drug Court,
the charges are dismissed.
Roe said she views the proposed ordinance as a
deterrent for hardcore dealers. “It may save some lives, and targets
individuals making a business of this.” Langer agreed. “I support this. It
deals with drug dealers and not users.”
Exclusion
From Downtown Olympia
Later, Tunheim clarified for Little Hollywood that whether a certain offender is excluded from
the downtown or not is ultimately a judge's decision and will likely be made on
a case by case basis, depending on the circumstances of that case and the
offender.
“Both the state (through the prosecutor) and the
defense are allowed opportunities to make recommendations to the court before a
judge makes the decision. My deputy
prosecutors will generally recommend a condition like this if they believe the
person continues to present a risk of further criminal behavior downtown. A judge can potentially order someone
excluded from downtown at any point in time after they are arrested and charged
and, once imposed, a condition like this would likely last until the case is
concluded. However, if the defendant is convicted, the same order can also be
part of the court's sentence extending the condition up to a couple of years.”
To clarify questions regarding the Drug Court
program, Tunheim also said later:
“In almost all cases involving drug related charges,
participants who graduate have their charges dismissed. That is part of the reward for successfully
completing the treatment program. Their “record”
(because it does not involve a conviction it is generally only available to law
enforcement) shows only that they were arrested and charged, but that the
charge was dismissed. If someone enters
drug court but is terminated before they graduate, then the judge decides their
guilt or innocence for the original crime based only on the information
contained in the police report. If
convicted, then they will have that conviction on their record.”
Upcoming:
A conference, Substance
Abuse: A Community Response, will be held Wednesday, April
30, 2014, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Great Wolf Lodge Conference Center,
20500 Old Highway 99 SW, Centralia, WA 98531.
Sponsored by the Thurston County Drug Action Team, the
conference will provide educational breakout sessions, opportunity for
discussion and collaboration, and informative professional keynote speakers.
Prevention leaders, treatment professionals, law
enforcement professionals, educators, health professionals, government
officials and community members are invited to attend.
The conference is designed
to cover all community sectors and focus on current and emerging issues, latest
research findings, best practices, successes, lessons learned, and problems
solved. The conference is designed for all levels of experience.
Early-bird registration, on or before March 31, is
$35 and includes lunch. Regular price registration, April 1 and later, is $45.
Payment for registration must be received on or before March 31 to qualify for
the early-bird price.
For more information, contact Tamara Clark, Events
Coordinator, TOGETHER!, at tclark@thurstontogether.org
or 360-493-2230 ext. 10.
