Any optimism Kitsap County Sheriff John Gese had that state lawmakers would improve the police pursuit and drug possession laws faded after they took little to no action on them during the session.
“I was hoping for more. I know these are controversial issues. But I guess I was expecting a little bit easier road to enacting legislation. We are dealing with crime rates that are going up in some areas, and I need help. The people I talk to in the community and elected leaders say they want us to have some tools to do our job, and we didn’t make much progress,” Gese said.
Police pursuits
Gese and Poulsbo police chief Ron Harding, among many others, had hoped lawmakers would expand when officers can initiate vehicle pursuits of suspected bad guys to include instances when an officer tries to pull over someone driving a stolen car and instead, the driver simply speeds away.
Current law lists particular crimes when cops can flip on their overhead lights and initiate a high-speed chase — those include violent, sex and escape offenses. During this legislative session, two types of crimes were added to the list — domestic violence and vehicular assaults.
Law enforcement officials were disappointed officers were not given discretion to conduct pursuits for property crimes, which include taking or driving a stolen vehicle.
Leaving property crimes off allow the list to conduct pursuits ensures those who steal cars will continue to simply speed off from police trying to pull them over, Gese said. Since a more-restrictive law on police pursuits was enacted in 2021, car thefts have doubled, Gese and Harding said.
“To say that chasing a stolen car is not worth the potential of a police officer, a bystander, or even a suspect getting killed — I agree with that,” Gese said. “But what I would say is, if I have someone who has stolen a couple of cars or been involved in a couple of burglaries it probably is a good idea to give police some discretion to try and stop that car.”
Other changes were made to the pursuit law. The standard police must meet to chase an individual was relaxed from “probable cause” to “reasonable suspicion.” Harding said, “The lower standard gives us the ability to act more quickly under most circumstances.”
The law now requires an officer conducting a pursuit to consult with a supervisor and develop a plan to end the pursuit. That may include deploying spike strips or other tire deflation devices.
Drug possession
Kitsap County law enforcement was also disheartened that lawmakers failed to pass a new drug possession law to replace the existing one, which many believe is toothless and does little to get drug abusers into treatment.
Under existing law, the first two times law enforcement contacts a person possessing an illegal drug an officer can only suggest the person get drug treatment. After the third contact, the officer can cite the individual for misdemeanor drug procession.
Gese was disappointed a new drug law was passed in the Senate but stalled in the House. “I thought it was a really good bill and took an approach that was humane. It created a crime and a penalty just stiff enough to encourage folks to get treatment and if they did their crime would be vacated,” Gese said. “It would have been helpful for us to combat this very open drug use that we see right now.”
The current drug law is set to expire June 30. Unless a new law is passed or the existing law is extended, on July 1 there will be no state law prohibiting possession of hard drugs, including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Gov. Jay Inslee may call a special session to force lawmakers to make a decision.
If no special session is held Harding believes cities in Kitsap will have to come up with their own laws to outlaw drug possession. “We are all going to try and craft our own municipal code to address possession and use of drugs,” he said. “The problem that may create is, if we are not all on the same page, you may have significant differences (in possession laws) between Bainbridge Island and Poulsbo. That creates an unworkable kind of system.”
