Life happens, and freelancing is not paying the rent.

I believe there is potential in the form of journalism that I’ve started here, so while I’m looking for a regular paycheck I’m building a site to continue this experiment. It will be a labor of love in my off hours from a part-time, and probably unrelated job, but in time I hope to develop a business model that will let me focus on the reporting.

When the new site is in place I’ll post it so you can visit and participate.

-SSands

I didn’t link to the final written article for this story as I said would. I ran into a dilemma I hadn’t anticipated. I don’t want to go into details but I learned a lesson and can put a safegard in place to prevent it in the future.

The article is a bit old now but still relevent. It concerns what may happen next year. So here I’m posting it as I had originally submitted it:

Law enforcement shrinks in shadow of budget deficit

Unincorporated areas expected to feel the brunt of the effects

“I’ve been a police officer for 28 years, Never in those 28 years have I seen an event that will so significantly change how the Sheriff’s Office responds to crime.”

-Sue Rahr

King County Sheriff

*By Scott Sands

2009 could be a good year for thieves in the unincorporated areas, like Highline, due to budget cuts that may force the Sheriff’s Department to eliminate investigations of property crimes in which less than $10,000 in goods are stolen.

“If you call 911, you’ll get a uniformed officer,” said Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the King County Sheriff’s Office. The officer will conduct primary interviews, dust for prints, and write a report. Then, according to Urquhart, if the loss is less than $10,000 a robbery detective will file the report away and there will be no follow up.

If you’re not caught on the scene, or by some other means “you’re going to be home-free,” Urquhart said.

“The only people who would be more unhappy” with this than the Sheriff’s Department, Urquhart said, are those who will be burglarized.

With the cost of living outpacing revenue growth, King County has projected a $68 million deficit in the general fund making it impossible to continue to support county agencies at their current levels of service.

Collectively all of King County’s law enforcement agencies have been asked to make proposals for cutting $33 million from their budgets. Mandatory agencies are to make proposals for cutting 8.65 percent of their budgets, and discriminatory agencies, like Parks and Recreation, and Health and Human Services have been asked to cut one-third of their portions of the general fund.

Representatives of the Sheriff’s office have stated they may have to cut up to 75 positions, including staff and officers in order to reduce their budget by $10 million.

This would lead to the reduction in investigations of property crimes. There could also be fewer investigations of identity theft, fraud, and bad checks. There could be cuts in homicide detectives, and special case detectives to investigate child abuse and sex crimes.

The Sheriff has also proposed eliminating cold case investigations. These are cases that are reactivated after 10, 15, or 30 years. Urquhart explained that a case can be looked at with new eyes, new detectives, and new science. These investigations, Urquhart said, “are very effective, primarily due to the advances of science.”

In addition, according to Sheriff Sue Rahr, “Certain drug investigations, police storefronts, youth and crime victim outreach programs will all be in jeopardy.”

“When you have a limited amount of funds you have to prioritize what you do,” Urquhart said.

“I’ve been a police officer for 28 years,” Rahr said at a June 6 press conference. “Never in those 28 years have I seen an event that will so significantly change how the Sheriff’s Office responds to crime.”

While unincorporated areas are expected to feel the brunt of the effects, cities like Burien and SeaTac, which contract their police services from the county won’t be directly affected.

“It doesn’t have an affect on our contract,” said Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer. “We’ve been told that there are no staffing cuts that would affect our service.”

It is, however, possible there will be less police back-up out of unincorporated areas, into cities. “We could see some impact in response time,” said SeaTac Police Captain Rob Mendel.

But, into the unincorporated areas, short of an emergency call where back-up is needed, the officers of SeaTac and Burien are dedicated to their respective cities. Mendel said, “We don’t pull resources out of the city.”

19 June

The piece on the Sheriff’s Office was finished and sent off to the Highline Times today. When it hits the website, I’ll provide a link. There is plenty of fodder in it to spin off a few more stories, but since the proposals for each agencies budget cuts aren’t due until July 7, they can wait.

What I’m interrested in, now, and what never gets any press, is the local protest culture. I’m going to feel around for some leads. If you have any contacts in the Seattle area, let me know. I’m looking for anyone actively involved in using their voice or actions in opposition of the war. I’d like to hear their stories.

I submitted the final version of this story to the Highline Times, but it won’t be published until June 25. This gives me a little more time to work on it. One thing that I believe it is important to understand is, why the law enforcement agencies have been asked to reduce their spending.

It comes down to the difference between 5 and 7 percent. Revenues into the general fund are expected to grow by 5 percent. The county will have more money to spend, but… expenditures by the agencies this fund supports are expected to go up by 7 percent. The cost of living is outpacing revenues. The price of gas, food, labor, and cost-of-living wage increases are on one side. On the other, most of the county’s income is capped by law. I’ll get into the specifics of that later, but what it adds up to is…

The 2 percent difference equals $68 million.

 It is illegal for a county to operate at a defecit. At the end of the day, so to speak, everything has to balance out to zero.

If all the county agencies continued to provide the same level of service they are providing this year, the 2 percent difference would remain in place and there would be a $68 million deficit. It’s like driving 100 miles with 80 miles worth of gas - and no coasting allowed.

So why does a portion of the burden fall on law enforcemet? 71 percent of the county’s general fund goes to law enforcement agencies. I was talking with Bob Cowan, the director of King County’s Office of Budget and Management yesterday. He said they looked at the figures for a situation where the law enforcement agencies would have been given a budget where they could continue to operate at their current levels. If they did this, every other agency would have to cut their budgets by 40 percent. In the same situation, but saying all other mandatory agencies only had to cut 10 percent, discretionary agencies, like the parks department and health and human services would recieve 75 percent less from the county.

“We don’t think that’s acceptable,” Cowan said.

What is limiting the county’s revenues? Sales tax and property tax are about 60 percent of the county’s income. Property taxes are limited to 1percent growth per year. Without being able to raise this all other revenue sources would have to go up by 13 or 14 percent to keep up with expenditures.

Also the county has no control of the fees it charges. These are set by the state legislature. Fees for license tabs, and court filing have remained the same while the cost of processing them has gone up.

According to Cowan: “Basically all of our taxing authority derives from the state.”

In conclusion, from the information Mr. Cowan provided, it looks as if the only way for agencies which reicieve money from the county’s general fund, to continue providing the same levels of service they do now, is for there to be changes by the state legislature to allow the county to raise taxes.

-SSands

As the County tightens it’s purse strings to offset the growing deficit in the general fund, mandatory agencies must cut 8.65 percent of their budgets. The Sheriff’s Office, Prosecutor’s Office, the Superior Court, District Court, and the King County Jail must collectively cut $33 million from their budgets.

Sheriff Sue Rahr’s notes for the June 5 press conference describe what the Sheriff’s Office predicts the impact will be on county law enforcement. Here are some excerpts.

“As we stand before you today, the King County justice system is in jeopardy.  The proposed $33 million cut to criminal justice agencies is unprecedented in King County history.  The worse news is that this is not something that is transitory.  Over the next three years that shortfall is expected to continue to grow.  The impacts on the criminal justice system will be devastating.

Rahr also stated that the Sheriff’s Office has “already cut 21 positions this year because of budget reduction.” In addition, up to 75 more officers and staff will have to be cut “to achieve a cumulative reduction of $10 million for 2008 and 2009.”

Here is the Sheriff’s list of what the specific impacts could be.

·        If your car is stolen, unless the suspect is arrested inside the car, we won’t be able to follow up investigate.

·        If you house is burglarized, unless the loss is more than $10,000, we won’t have the resources to do anything more than document the loss.

·        If your identity is stolen, we won’t be able to follow-up and arrest the suspect.

·        We won’t be able to investigate cold-case homicides, of which our jurisdiction alone has over 150.

·        If your business is the victim of a bad check or other fraud, unless the loss is over $10,000, the Sheriff’s Office will be unable to investigate.

·        Certain drug investigations, police storefronts, youth and crime victim outreach programs will all be in jeopardy.

“Studies have shown that failing to respond to minor crimes, also known as the ‘broken windows theory’ will drive up the crime rate and reduce the quality of life in our neighborhoods. 

I’ve been a police officer for 28 years.  Never in those 28 years have I seen an event that will so significantly change how the Sheriff Office responds to crime.  Never in those 28 years have I had to ask the question, ‘Will the safety of the public be in jeopardy from the magnitude of these budget cuts?’ 

Unfortunately the answer is yes.”

Editor’s note: I made a few changes to punctuation and grammar for considerations of journalistic style. No information was distorted. – Ssands

King County recently projected a $68 million defecit in the general fund for 2009.

All county agencies that recieve money from this fund have been directed to make budget cuts from their portions.

Mandatory services, like the Sheriff’s department, are to cut 8.65 percent of their budget. Virtually 100 percent of the Sheriff’s budget comes from the county’s general fund.

On June 5, representatives of the county’s criminal justice agencies announced their proposed cuts. See the story in the Post Intelligencer. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/365914_countycuts06.html

The piece that I am writing this week is on the affects to the Sheriff’s Department and specifically to the Burien area. However, since the cuts to law enforcement will be felt the most profoundly in the unincorporated areas of King County, this piece is relevant to the whole county. This is being written for the Highline Times in Burien.

Both Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer, and Sgt. John Urquhart, spokesman for the King County Sheriff’s Department, have told me that the Sheriff’s budget cuts will have little if any affect on city police, including those like Burien and Sea Tac who contract their police services from the county.

However, Urquhart said the cuts will have a “significant affect on unincorporated areas.” These are areas of the county that are not part of the cities and do not have their own city police forces. Law enforcement falls solely on the county. He described the unincorporated area near Burien as being approximately from SW 128th St, north to SW Roxbury St.

(I am currently looking for a map of the unincorporated areas and a list of the communities within them.)

Sheriff Sue Rahr, with the advice of division chiefs, is responsible for which cuts in services will be made. None of which, according to Urquhart, are for certain yet. “We are interested in what the public thinks is important,” he said.

Up to 75 staff and officers of all ranks could be let go. Services that could be diminished include:

·     Investigations of property crimes under $10,000. A uniformed officer will still respond to the 911 call. They will dust for prints, conduct primary interviews, and write a report. But if the value of the stolen property is under $10,000, the report will be filed away and no investigation will take place.

·     Cold case investigations, which are cases that were closed when there were no more leads to follow are reactivated. The use of DNA evidence and other scientific advancements are key factors in the success of these investigations.

·     There could be fewer homicide detectives.

·     Fewer special case detectives, who investigate sex crimes and child abuse cases

·     Some neighborhood sheriff stations could be closed.

I will post more tomorrow. I should have a complete list of the proposed cuts.

I will also write a little about the county’s deficit, and the reasons for it according to the King County Office of Management and Budget.