Police shootings may lead to laws

OLYMPIA – The slaying of five police officers and this week’s shooting of two more have lawmakers thinking about more than a looming budget deficit as they prepare to return to the state capital in January.

A handful of bills sparked by the recent shootings have already been prefiled in advance of next month’s start of the 60-day legislative session, and more are expected.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has called on law enforcement groups to meet next week to compile a list of potential changes to state law, policy or the state constitution, and to meet with her on Jan. 8. And one lawmaker already has a public hearing scheduled to discuss the circumstances surrounding one of the shootings.

“The bottom line is we owe it to our law enforcement personnel to do everything we can to make sure they’re safe and secure out there,” Gregoire said.

“When you have a tragedy of this magnitude, you’ve really got to be thoughtful, you’ve really got to be deliberate,” she said. “Your impulse is to just go enact legislation, but good intentions don’t necessarily bring about good results. So I defer to those who have boots on the ground.”

The rash of shootings began in October, when Seattle Officer Timothy Brenton was killed as he sat in his patrol car Halloween night. Christopher Monfort, 41, has been charged with aggravated first-degree murder in Brenton’s death.

Less than a month later, four Lakewood police officers were shot and killed at a coffee shop. After a two-day manhunt, suspect Maurice Clemmons was shot to death by a Seattle police officer.

Clemmons had a criminal history in both Washington and Arkansas. His 108-year prison sentence for armed robbery and other offenses was commuted by then-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2000. Six days before the shooting, he had posted bail on charges of raping a child, a charge that could have potentially put him in prison for life under Washington state’s “three-strikes” law.

Rep. Mike Hope, a Republican from Lake Stevens and a Seattle police officer, has introduced a bill to change the state constitution to exempt potential three-strike offenders like Clemmons from being able to post bail.

Another measure, sponsored by Rep. Troy Kelley, D-Tacoma, would exempt people from bail if they are potentially dangerous and had a prior felony sentence commuted or pardoned by a governor of any state.

Kelley also has introduced a bill that would waive all tuition and fees at state colleges for children of police officer or firefighters who die or become totally disabled while in the line of duty.

The most recent shootings were Monday night, when two sheriff’s officers were shot after they were called to a domestic disturbance at a home near Eatonville.

The officers killed the gunman before they were rushed to the hospital. Sgt. Nick Hausner, 43, is in serious condition at Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma, and Deputy Kent Mundell, 44, is in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center.

Don Pierce, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs, said that with lawmakers facing a $2.6 billion projected deficit, cuts to things like mental health treatment and community services could hinder any measure that is passed.

“If we don’t have the money to fix those things, let’s not make ourselves feel good by passing legislation that doesn’t do anything,” he said.