If Kent Police arrest someone for a felony crime, the officers take that person to be booked at the King County jail at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.
But the proposed 2017-18 county budget by County Executive Dow Constantine would eliminate jail bookings in 2018 to save costs. Anyone arrested for a felony, such as rape, armed robbery, burglary and sales or distribution of illegal drugs, would need to be transported to the county jail in downtown Seattle.
“We strongly oppose that position,” Police Chief Ken Thomas said in a Oct. 11 report to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee. “We have a fully operational jail in our community for housing and accepting felons and that’s what the facility should be used for. If we arrest a felon, it will take an officer off the street to drive to downtown Seattle to book that felon and it could take one to two hours depending on traffic.”
The county jail in Kent would still be used to house inmates serving sentences of one year or less as well as those awaiting trial. But immediate jail bookings would only be at the county jail in downtown Seattle.
“Our community approved having the RJC in our community,” Thomas said. “It’s our position it should be fully operational and open for booking 24 hours a day.”
Thomas said Kent already went along with county cutbacks that reduced booking hours at the RJC to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
“Now they are proposing to cut that completely,” he said.
The city of Kent operates its own jail for those arrested for misdemeanor crimes, such as drunk driving, domestic violence, minor assaults and petty theft.
Thomas also opposes the county’s proposed cutting of the King County Sheriff’s Office marine and air units. He said Kent receives a lot of support from the Guardian One helicopter to fight crime in the city. The boat units help with rescues in rivers and lakes.
Thomas and Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke also testified at a county budget hearing on Oct. 18 to oppose the jail booking cuts.
In a county media release, County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert talked about the challenges of what to include in the budget and what she heard from people during the public hearings.
“Public safety is a basic and vital priority of government,” Lambert said. “I was so glad to hear citizens at the hearings reinforce the need to make preserving community safety one of the county’s top priorities. Funding public safety continues to be a challenge due to the 1 percent cap on property taxes, which because of inflation over the last eight years has been more than 1 percent and has squeezed the general fund portion of the budget. Almost 75 percent of the general fund goes to pay for justice and public safety. There are so many needs also such as roads.”
The county council’s Budget Committee will consider the testimony as it continues its deliberations on the $11.3 billion proposal, which is expected to be adopted in mid-November. Written comments can be left on the council’s budget website at kingcounty.gov/council/budget.
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