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Power grab in session now….

Washington State Legislative ALERT OPPOSE – BEFORE 12:30pm on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 WA ATTORNEY GENERAL BROAD PLAN TO TAKE FULL CONTROL OVER LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTION: Sign in, vote “CON” (oppose), and submit your testimony in OPPOSITION. Sign in “CON” – app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Testifier/ Submit written testimony in OPPOSITION – app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Testifier/ SB 5066 – to grant state authority over local law enforcement. This bill would grant WA Attorney General authority to investigate and charge local law enforcement. The WA Attorney General does NOT have blanket authority to investigate and charge. The Washington constitution says the WA Attorney General must be delegated specific duties by the legislature. This bill does that in spades. It not only grants the WA Attorney General the authority to investigate and charge local law enforcement criminally, but it also grants civil authority. Criminal charges must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, whereas civil charges only need to be proven by a preponderance of the evidence (51% likely). SB 5066 is part of a larger move to take over local law enforcement. – Grants a permanent authority. – Gives WA Attorney General the authority to initiate investigations on its own initiative as opposed to acting on a complaint. – This is ripe for political abuse. – The State Patrol and other state agencies are excluded. – The provision to prosecute civil actions is a gross abuse of power. – To add insult to injury, an emergency clause has been added to the bill.

“Democrats want to destroy Washington State”

Democrats want independent prosecutor to handle cases where police use deadly force

America First
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Washington Democrats are trying again to give the state additional power to prosecute cases when police use deadly force.

Currently, those investigations would go to the county prosecutor. But if lawmakers pass Senate Bill 5584, the evidence would be forwarded to the independent prosecutor, who would review the case concurrently with the local prosecutor.

f both file charges, it would be a judge’s job to decide whose prosecution “will best promote the interests of justice.”

The idea of the state bringing charges against police officers who use deadly force isn’t entirely new.

In late 2023, a jury found three officers not guilty of criminal charges in the killing of Manuel Ellis in Tacoma in a case handled by the attorney general. In that case, the Washington State Patrol investigated Ellis’ death and turned its findings over to the attorney general.


Democrats can never be trusted


But the bill looks a bit different this time around compared to past years.

The previous version made the Office of Independent Prosecutions a division in the attorney general’s office.

But then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson argued that prosecuting these cases could be a conflict of interest for the attorney general’s office. The agency serves as legal counsel for state law enforcement, including the Washington State Patrol.

Former Gov. Jay Inslee raised similar concerns about conflict of interest if the office was housed under the governor.

“We were without options,” said Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, the prime sponsor of past legislation to create the office.

But now with a new administration in town, lawmakers plan to relaunch their push for the independent prosecutor, this time in the governor’s office.

Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, filed a bill Tuesday to add a statewide prosecutor to an existing law enforcement oversight agency.

Proponents say it makes sense to place the prosecutor under the governor’s jurisdiction, as part of the Office of Independent Investigations lawmakers created in 2021. The agency would be renamed the Office of Independent Investigations and Prosecutions.

Sheriff

Sheriff

Robert R. Snaza

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