My View – Wayne Snoey

I was honored to serve on a Domestic Violence Work Group brought together last year by State Representative Roger Goodman   The Work Group consisted on dozens of individuals connected in some way with trying to solve Domestic Violence problems.  The participants ranged from DV Court Judges and administrators, defense attorneys, prosecutors, Attorney General representatives, DV counselors, DV children’s advocates, sexual assault organizations, police and victims.   The knowledge, capability, experience and determination of every member in the group  to protect victims of DV and provide real treatment for first time offenders was crystal clear from day one.

The Work Group was tasked with coming up with as many changes to DV laws and procedures, as possible, with the caveat that the changes could not cause a budget increase.  With lives at stake, this might seem to be an odd and unnecessary limitation.  Unfortunately, with the State budget billions of dollars short last year and more billions short this year, there is not money available.  Thousands of felons have been released from prison in the last year because there was not enough money to keep them behind bars.  It is difficult to add to prison populations no matter how noble the reason.

What the Work Group tried to do was to isolate the most important problems and hinderances in the system and make the most effective changes.  One obvious target is the small number of violent, serial offenders.  Most DV offenders are amenable to counseling.  Putting serial offenders behind bars for the long term, away from current and future victims, should cost less than the on-going costs of dealing with them time and time again.  This legislative change will be put forward with the support of the Attorney General.  Your Legislators need to hear from you that you support long-term incarceration of these violent, serial offenders.

Another important goal was to address the tragic problem of victims being arrested.  This happens far too often.  Can you imagine being assaulted by a larger person and, in the process of defending yourself, cause superficial wounds to the face or arms of the abuser?  Many serial offenders know that they can cause pain without obvious evidence.  When the police arrive, they have to make the tough decision based on what they see.  How awful for the real victim, who ends up handcuffed, in jail and in the “system”.  Recommendations were made that, if enacted, would provide the police with more information about serial offenders and give them more latitude to make the “right” arrest.  If enacted, many victims will be spared the mental grief of being arrested and the serial offender will not be rewarded for their violent cunning.

Dozens of other changes to the system were also researched, debated and recommended.  Until one gets this many people in a room together it is impossible to understand how many components there are to this single part of the criminal justice system.  As a former law enforcement officer, I had training and exposure to the “system”.  However, that was years ago and things have changed in the DV arena.  Over time, the community has recognized that DV is incredibly destructive not only to the victims, but to the families connected to both the perpetrator and victim.  Children are especially susceptible and need protection and counselling. 

There is not room in this Blog to cover all the areas discussed and recommended.  Suffice it to say that an amazing group produced some great possibilities.  Some can be implemented quickly.  Others will take time.  Some will take some money to implement and were put on hold.  The hope is that a later Phase 2 of the Work Group might make recommendations to the 2011 Legislative Session when the economy has turned around and resources might be available.  The dedication of Rep. Goodman, the members of the Work Group and the many unsung heros in the DV arena deserve your thanks as they labor to save lives and create healthy families.

Welcome to my new Blog along with my welcome to 2010!  Another year has gone by very fast and it seems to get faster the older I get.  It was a year of good news and a year of very bad news, especially at the end.  I guess that almost every year has some elements of both, but it is so easy to forget.  It seems like a pretty important year, but the long perspective is that it probably was not at top of the list.  As humans, we tend to make the year we just lived the most important of all time, forgetting hardships and triumphs of prior generations.  Life requires living and sometimes the old adage of the alligators up to you know what keeps all our concentration on now.

The whole year was occupied by the Recession, or Depression, the severity really depending on whether you still have a job or not.  The good news is that our area is about 90% employed in some fashion.  This is not really good news to the other 10% except that the employed can reach out to make life easier for the unemployed by being generous to the many charities in our community.  The 90% figure is deceiving as there is another 5-10% that are underemployed.  This means part-time, lower wage, fill-in jobs and so forth.  The bad news is that it will likely get worse in early 2010.  If you are fully employed, decide to help your community more in 2010 by giving of your finances and time.  Help make it a better, or at least tolerable year for those not so fortunate.  Then maybe they will have good news by 2011,

Transportation issues had ups and downs in 2009.  The good news is that traffic is slightly better.  The bad news is that it is because of unemployment.  If 10% fewer people are going to work, that is not cause for celebration.  I have worked hard over the last two years trying to learn more about our transportation issues and how to try and solve some of them.  I will be reporting on this on a regular basis in the future.  

More good news is that there are a lot of very smart people trying to figure out how to fix and improve traffic in the Puget Sound area.  The bad news is that there is not enough money in current funding sources.  It is not true that there is “plenty of money if government would just be more efficient”.  The “Free Lunch” ended some time ago!  The numbers are truly staggering and it is about time we stop passing the buck, known as “debt”, to our children and grandchildren!

I can only start with bad news when I think about the multiple tragedies affecting our law enforcement community.  Note that I said “our” not “the”.  We is them, so to speak.  As a community, these multiple tragedies affect all of us in one way or another.  As a former law enforcement officer from way back, I felt the pain just like I was still in uniform.  Inexperienced people say it is like war, as our soldiers face this every day in some parts of the world.  The fact is, it is not the same.  While police officers get extensive training, it is one thing to be carrying weapons at the ready, all the time expecting to be shot at, and another to be patrolling in your own community when it is at peace.  We are not supposed to die serving our community in peacetime.  The fact is, we do not want our police officers acting like they are at war.  It clashes with the idea that we are a “civilized” society. 

Good news is not easily found now, at this sorrowful time, in our law enforcement community.  I hope the good news will come in the next Legislative Session, which begins this month.  Already, several Legislators have proposed some changes to laws to fix what is broken.  Good for them!  Violent, career criminals need to be out of  “our community” and kept in “their community” (prison), away from our families.  Sometimes, you have to throw away the key.  The bad news is that this is going to cost money.  That means taxes, folks!  Are you willing to pay a few dollars more a year?  I hope so.  In 2009, thousands of career criminals were released back to “our community” because there was not enough money to keep them in “their community”.   More on this later!

Notice how good news and bad news are so often inexorably linked together?  Most of us prefer to focus on the good news.  There is another old saying along the lines of one person’s good luck is another person’s bad luck.  Well, this might well be true on the card table, but it does not have to be true in our community.  Spend a little time over the next few days asking yourself how you can help create some good news in our community in 2010.  Thanks for your time!