(The Center Square) – In 2021, the Washington State Legislature enacted Senate Bill 5259 funding a statewide police use of force database which would receive data from local law enforcement agencies on a regular basis.
While the project struggles to get off the ground due to a variety of setbacks and delays, a new state law enacted this legislative session now gives law enforcement officers greater incentives to comply by making new grant funding dependent on it.
Sponsored by Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Kent, House Bill 2015 creates a Local Law Enforcement Grant Program run by the Criminal Justice Training Commission. The grants are to be used by LEOs to hire, train, and retain new officers. Under the law, grant money can cover 75% of entry-level salaries and fringe benefits of full-time local officers for a three-year period.
Money for the program will come from a .01% local sale and use tax that cities and counties can impose; it is not known how much revenue the tax will generate.
However, to qualify for the grants local jurisdictions must meet a variety of requirements, including “implemented use of force data collection and reporting.”
For proponents of HB 2015, the law is a way to increase the number of law enforcement officers in Washington, which currently ranks last in the nation in terms of officers per capita, at a time when the Legislature faced a significant budget shortfall despite record revenue levels. Legislators ultimately sought to close the deficit by enacting the largest tax increase in state history.
Among those to testify in favor of the bill was the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which under the bill must submit a report regarding the number of peace officers employed in Washington from 2020 through 2025. Also in favor of the bill was the Association of Washington Cities and Washington State Association of Counties.
However, the bill passed in both chambers along party-line votes.
Under SB 5259, LEOs were supposed to begin reporting data once WADEPS became operational. However, according to its website “the Office of the Attorney General will determine the start day for law enforcement agencies to begin reporting the required use-of-force data to WADEPS. Agencies will have 90 days to comply.”
Among the challenges faced by Washington State Data Exchange for Public Safety has been obtaining data user agreements for certain types of information, such as computer-aided dispatch data from 9-11 call centers, which some have argued would violate federal law. Although a database page has been set up, it currently does not display at use of force data.
