King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn on Tuesday issued the following statement in response to a proposal from the King County Department of Public Defense that would stop individuals arrested for dangerous crimes, including vehicle theft, burglary, and failure to register as a sex offender, from being booked into jail:
“With COVID-19 death rates steadily dropping across King County and criminal violence off the charts, it is absolutely negligent to use the pandemic as an excuse to release dangerous offenders from our jails and to suspend the prosecution of crimes.
“King County has a responsibility to our citizens, and certainly to the victims of these crimes, to enforce the laws that were put in place to protect their safety and their property. This proposal would completely fail our law-abiding residents who deserve to be protected. Instead of choosing not to prosecutive fugitives, sex offenders, and home invaders, we need to increase funding for law enforcement and corrections officers.”
