Budget proposal prompts calls to defund sheriff's office
EVERETT A Snohomish County budget amendment on Wednesday became a flashpoint in a national debate over whether money thats now devoted to law enforcement should instead be put toward other programs that support community health and welfare.
In more than six hours of public testimony via online video conference, dozens of local activists called on the Snohomish County Council to defund the Sheriffs Office. Other county residents shot back, arguing that the agency that performs what is perhaps the governments most important function protecting its citizens is already stretched thin.
The council unanimously passed a budget revision meant to offset the fiscal toll of the coronavirus crisis. Under the measure, county departments will face across-the-board cuts of 3.5 percent, instead of 4.25 percent, as was originally proposed.
Councilman Sam Low drew the ire of activists when he pitched amendments to the spending plan that would have partially exempted the sheriffs office from the full 4.25 percent cuts that the other county departments would have faced.
The national conversation right now is about how ineffective policing has been in ensuring public safety about how police officers in every department have been brutalizing citizens with impunity for decades, public defender Erika Bleyl told the council. Yet during this time, we are hearing that Snohomish County instead proposes to shield the Sheriffs Department. This is completely reprehensible.
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