This is how Bellingham is dealing with new Washington state policing rules
Bellingham Police will still respond to emergency calls for people suffering a mental-health crisis, Mayor Seth Fleetwood said at an online City Council meeting Monday night, July 26.
Fleetwood’s comments came in response to concerns regarding several new state laws, including one that took effect Sunday that limits police use of force and requires officers to use de-escalation techniques.
“We’re reminding people that they can and should still — when something happens that warrants it — call 911. There will continue to be responses, but the tools available will be limited in some situations,” Fleetwood told the council.
“The intent behind these new requirements are values we all share,” he said.
In the case of HB 1310, officers must leave if no one is in danger and no crime has been committed.
Fleetwood said that his office is working with police and other city officials to ensure compliance with the new laws and information about them is on the city’s website.
“New policing legislation, some of which went into effect just (Sunday), has local governments and law-enforcement agencies across the state, including the city of Bellingham, scrambling a bit, working to adjust to changes and explain them to our community members,” Fleetwood told the council.
“We’re looking at these issues not only as policing issues but as citywide and community-wide response issues that we all need to work on together,” he said.
Police Deputy Chief Don Almer briefed the City Council on July 12 regarding nearly 100 bills from the 2021 legislative session that affect law enforcement.
“It really doesn’t change a lot of what we do because we’ve been on kind of that forefront of a lot of this stuff already,” Almer said during a council committee meeting.
“I don’t think that this is going to be a radical change for our agency,” he said.
Fleetwood said Monday that the city is taking the new laws seriously.
“The city, along with our various partners can and will handle the challenges this new legislation brings. In some cases, new laws rely on agencies, services or protocols that have not yet been established or funded. In other cases, we will respond to calls for law-enforcement service, but our actions once we arrive may look different than in the past. We have processes in place to consider, fund, and establish the alternative programs necessary to meet the new requirements,” Fleetwood said.
