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| Jail Crowding Blamed for Higher Crime in Wash. County |
| By Bellingham Herald |
| Published: 08/06/2003 |
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The jail was built for 148 inmates in 1983, but 20 years later its population averages 80 to 100 more than that most days. In March, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office reported that the jail booked and admitted 398 people, but at least 511 were turned away. Sheriff Bill Elfo says the actual figure was probably closer to 800, since no record was made of many jail rejects. Police and prosecutors say the word is out on the street: people cited for misdemeanor crimes are unlikely to be sent to jail - even if they skip their court dates and warrants are issued for their arrest. The result: laws against urinating in public, sitting or lying on the sidewalk, small-scale shoplifting, drinking in public, fighting and other misdemeanor crimes have no teeth in Bellingham or anywhere else in Whatcom County. Downtown shopkeepers say this kind of activity on Railroad Avenue is hurting their business, and they are frustrated by the lack of progress toward a solution. ' These kids down here, they laugh at the police,' said Robert Grimm, who operates robertjude realbeauty , a hair salon at 1321 Railroad Ave., with his wife Jude. 'They tear up the citations and throw them away. ... People are really tired of the same old answer - There's nothing they can do because there's no room at the jail. That's really unacceptable.' Elfo agrees. 'We're in a real crisis,' he said. 'They (lawbreakers) know they can do these minor street crimes. ... This is a very critical issue for the quality of life in Whatcom County.' The county needs an all-new jail, Elfo said, but that could be three to four years away. He said he's not willing to wait that long to attack the problem. 'We need something we can open up within months, rather than years,' he said. In June, at Elfo's urging, the Whatcom County Council approved spending $25,000 to study use of a Port of Bellingham building at 3873 Airport Way as a temporary jail with about 70 beds. Rough estimates place the cost of that project at about $500,000. Results of the study are expected soon. If all goes well, the facility could be accepting prisoners by early 2004, Elfo said, adding that he wished it could be sooner. So does Mayor Mark Asmundson. He praised Elfo for taking aggressive action on a problem that existed long before Elfo took over as sheriff in January, after former Sheriff Dale Brandland was elected to the state Senate. 'We cannot make serious inroads on the kind of crime we're dealing with downtown and in some of our neighborhoods until the county addresses their jail responsibilities,' Asmundson said. But the mayor promised that he and the Police Department brass wouldn't be sitting on its hands waiting for the county to act. Asmundson acknowledged that in the past, some downtown business people have been made to feel that city officials think their worries about downtown crime were exaggerated. Asmundson said he doesn't share that view. 'It (the crime problem) is every bit what people downtown say it is,' Asmundson said. 'Downtown is not an unsafe neighborhood, but it's not anywhere near as safe and free of crime as I want it to be.' In the coming weeks, Asmundson said he plans to ask the City Council to approve installation of surveillance video cameras in crime trouble spots. The idea was first floated last summer when Railroad Avenue drug dealing appeared to be getting out of hand. Asmundson acknowledged that the idea makes some civil libertarians uncomfortable. But he said the use of such cameras is commonplace in Great Britain. The cameras also have been used in crime trouble spots as close to home as Everett. Three years ago, a $100,000 camera system helped clean up drug dealing around a downtown transit terminal, Everett police report. Asmundson said the video screens could be monitored by police and volunteers operating out of a police storefront planned for the 1400 block of State Street, in the shop space in front of the city-owned parking garage there. The money to pay for the cameras could come from money police have seized in drug raids, he added. Assistant Police Chief Todd Ramsay said police already have put four more patrol officers and two more detectives on the street by eliminating the police in the schools program. In the weeks ahead, he added, crime prevention officers will be working with property owners to eliminate the hiding places that provide safe havens for drug dealing in and around downtown buildings. Ramsay said citizens need to help police fight crime downtown and everywhere else. He urged people to pick up the phone and call 911 whenever they see illegal or suspicious activity. A few weekends ago, after police noticed an upsurge of prostitution problems, they launched a two-night sting operation that resulted in the arrests of five women and two male customers. But in the weeks leading up to the sting, only one person had bothered to call police to report prostitution activity, Ramsay said. 'Nobody was telling us about it,' he said. |
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