Police ask for taxpayer help to fight drugs, crime in Snohomish County

 

 

 



Just off a busy Everett road, not far into the woods, there are trails littered with trash, used needles, and tents.

A new Snohomish County Sheriff’s unit is in those woods, but not to issue tickets or make arrests. They are offering a helping hand, for treatment, housing, and even work.

“As soon as you decide this isn’t working for you anymore, give us a call,” said Lauren Rainbow to a homeless man living in a tent.

Rainbow is part of the unit and one of two embedded social workers covering all of Snohomish County. She says it can feel overwhelming at times.

“We take it one case at a time and it is one success story at a time,” said Rainbow. “We can’t help everybody.”

The sheriff’s office wants a lot more embedded social workers and several more deputies to tackle what it calls a heroin epidemic, and a growing homeless problem across the county.

“It’s all over the county,” said Mark Roe, Snohomish County Prosecutor. “It’s not just the unincorporated areas. It’s in the cities too.”

Roe says there is no longer enough money or resources to handle the problem, and he is one of the vocal supporters of Prop 1, on the ballot for August, which asks voters to agree to a tax increase.

If approved, sales tax in Snohomish County would go up 0.2 percent. Residents would essentially pay 2 cents on every 10 dollar purchase in the county. Supporters say it would raise $25 million a year. That could pay for up to 35 new deputies on the street.

“The single biggest deterrent to people committing these crimes is visible police presence and right now it’s not there,” said Roe.

Roe believes more deputies on the street will help stop the spike in drug related car prowls and break-ins all over the county.

“That’s how people hustle to survive or what not,” said Katie, an admitted heroin and meth user living in the woods who came in contact with the sheriff’s office special unit. “Like, I’ll steal from the stores if I’m hungry.”

The deputies and social workers who work those camps hope to add Katie to the numbers on their office wall that represent success stories. They are people in treatment, off the streets, and not committing crimes. But it’s a future Katie is not sure she can see.

“I just kind of take it as the day goes,” she said before walking out of the woods, and down the road.