This Whatcom Council statement supports law enforcement, highlights alternative programs
Members of the Whatcom County Council unanimously issued a statement last month supporting law enforcement and condemning recent attacks against officers locally and across the nation — but the statement also recognizes historic racial inequities and the need to work toward social justice.
Their statement started as two resolutions in the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee meeting Sept. 29, but was merged into one by council members Kathy Kershner and Rud Browne and passed the council unanimously later that day with Councilman Tyler Byrd absent.
“My resolution was a statement of support for our law enforcement officers as there are increased acts of violence that are occurring against them, not only across the nation but also examples here that are popping up in our local community,” Kershner said.
Browne said that Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies and jail corrections officers have been forced to confront mental health issues in the criminal justice system and that local officials are funding mental health and substance-abuse programs, along with jail alternatives.
“The phone calls I’ve had, there’s been a consistent theme that sort of struck me, which is those who call for defunding the police or the sheriff’s department in our case, have for the large part demonstrated very little knowledge of what we currently, what this community’s been doing for probably two decades at least in terms of alternative programs,” Browne said.
“We’re not like some of the jurisdictions that have pumped all their money into enforcement. We are a community that has pumped a huge amount money into prevention and incarceration prevention and recidivism prevention and drug treatment and mental health treatment,” he said. “The issue of systemic racism is not just a police issue, it is a community issue for which we all have a responsibility for.”
In recent weeks:
▪ An arsonist targeted a Washington State Patrol trooper’s home in the Everson-Nooksack area. No arrests were made.
▪ In Ferndale, the Border Patrol station was vandalized during a protest after reports that a whistleblower said immigrant women were being sterilized at a Georgia detention facility. Border Patrol spokesman Jason Givens confirmed that vandalism occurred but provided no details.
▪ Both Bellingham City Hall and the Police Department headquarters have been vandalized with graffiti in recent months following marches and rallies against the killing of unarmed Black people by police across the nation.
Whatcom County’s statement doesn’t mention the vandalism in Bellingham, but it does cite the death of a Bothell police officer among 39 law-enforcement officers who have been killed in crimes through Oct. 6, 2020.
That’s compared to the 48 officers who died as a result of criminal acts in all of 2019, down from 56 line-of-duty deaths from criminal activity in 2018, according to FBI data.
“We are very appreciative for the resolution passed by our County Council in support of our deputies,” said Steve Harris, president of the Whatcom County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
“Council members Kershner and Browne set aside the differences in their respective resolutions and worked on putting together a joint resolution that unanimously passed,” Harris wrote.
Byrd said during the committee discussion that he wants officers and their families to feel safe.
“I do have very significant concerns about the safety of our law officers,” he said. “I understand that people are upset by the actions taken by a very small group of individuals over time, and it’s absolutely wrong what has happened in some of these situations. But these people are still putting their lives on the line on a daily basis for us.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
