Seattle vows quicker charging decisions to deter petty crime

Seattle?s elected prosecutor on Monday promised quicker charging decisions to help tackle persistent low-level crime that?s plagued businesses downtown.

SEATTLE - Seattle’s elected prosecutor on Monday promised quicker charging decisions to help tackle persistent low-level crime that’s plagued businesses downtown.

City Attorney Ann Davison, a Republican who won election in November over progressive former public defender Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, said that her office will make charging decisions on all incoming cases within five business days.

"The best way to interrupt crime happening on the streets today is by quickly and efficiently moving on the cases referred to us by the Seattle Police Department," Davison said.

Making charging decisions more quickly will help the city avoid adding to a backlog of about 5,000 cases at the City Attorney’s Office, Davison said. Davison’s office reviews misdemeanors and more serious crimes are handled by the King County prosecutor.

"Starting today, we will no longer be adding cases to the back of the line; we are going to start looking at cases and making a decision in five working days going forward," said Davison.

Like many cities across the country, Seattle has experienced an increase in crime, especially violent crime, amid the pandemic and as the ranks of officers dwindled.

With retirements and resignations, the Seattle Police Department is down 350 officers following the 2020 mass protests for racial justice and talk of defunding police.

Additionally, the Seattle Municipal Court is currently operating at 75% of its pre-pandemic capacity. Roughly two jury trails are being heard in an average day, and the King County Jail won't book non-violent offenders and keep them in jail before their trial. All of this is because of COVID-19 restrictions and staffing issues at almost every level of the criminal justice system.

Davison last November was elected Seattle’s first female city attorney after a campaign in which she promised to get tough on low-level crimes. Misdemeanor prosecutions had been reduced throughout the 12-year tenure of her predecessor, Pete Holmes.

"The message has been, ‘Your case is not important, it can sit and wait for years’—we are changing that message today," Davison said.

Davison’s opponent in the election, Thomas-Kennedy, took an opposite approach, saying she would work toward abolishing misdemeanor prosecutions in favor of diverting cases to mental health, addiction or restorative-justice programs.

Some downtown businesses have pleaded for increased attention to crime that has helped drive away customers.

Restaurant owner Olga Sagan told The Seattle Times that she closes her bakery at 3 p.m. now due to rampant street crime, including break-ins, graffiti, public drug use, harassment and litter.

"I don’t want my employees here or leaving here after dark," Sagan said, adding that "businesses can’t operate unless someone does something about crime."

But not everyone is convinced that aggressively prosecuting low-level crimes is an effective way to deal with broad societal problems.

City Council member Andrew Lewis, a former assistant city attorney, said law enforcement should focus on bigger crimes, such as burglary and organized retail theft — which are felonies handled by the county prosecutor — rather than repeatedly arresting low-level offenders for crimes like shoplifting, which are easily prosecuted but carry light penalties.

The quality of prosecutions is more important than the quantity, he said, and many crimes are linked to homelessness, drug addiction or mental health issues. Providing shelter and services are cheaper and more effective than jail, Lewis said.

"For the systemic issues that we’re getting hit with downtown, once something gets referred as a misdemeanor, we’ve kind of already lost," Lewis said. "If they do go to jail, it’ll be for a couple of weeks, you know, a lot of people will kind of tolerate that part of ‘the business.’"

Davison said she’s had productive discussions with the Seattle Police Department and the office of new Mayor Bruce Harrell about addressing the problems with crime.

"We will not tolerate crimes targeting our most vulnerable people," Harrell said on Friday.

Harrell has promised a "holistic" approach to crime that would involve human services and outreach and would work with police to address crime hot spots.

FOX 13 asked the mayor if there was gap in his plan that doesn’t account for booking restrictions at the jail and habitual offenders who continue to commit misdemeanor crime.

"What I will do is stay in my space," Harrell said. "The city attorney and the King County prosecutor, their job is to prosecute; the judges, their job is to sentence people."

Judges at the Seattle Municipal Court have agreed to people sentenced for misdemeanors to start serving their time 60 days after the conviction, unless they are currently in custody at the jail. It’s intended reduce the inmate population in the jail.

Deputy Mayor of Housing and Homelessness Tiffany Washington said the mayor’s office will work to address systemic issues such as drug use that contribute to street crime.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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