It's time we got SMART about managing offenders

Last year, felons who recently had been released from prison and were under the supervision of the Washington state Department of Corrections (DOC) killed three local police officers.

According to the Department of Corrections' own statistics, in the past four years, "supervised" felons — those on probation — committed more than 100 violent crimes in Washington, and the state paid out more than $22 million in damages to victims.

On Feb. 23, the Corrections Department released 65 felons with instructions to report back the following Monday. Only 25 had reported back, five were rearrested and 27 were still missing in the ensuing days ("Snohomish County offers inmate cells" Times Local News, March 6). This lack of accountability is simply unacceptable.

As more offenders are released in the coming months and years, police departments, the State Patrol, sheriff's offices and federal agencies must find ways to support and work collaboratively with the Department of Corrections to keep our communities safe. It is unrealistic to think that the DOC or any one agency can effectively manage growing numbers of individuals under supervision in every corner of our state. Experience has taught us that success can most effectively be achieved through collaboration, sharing of resources and effective partnerships.

There are partnership tools available to us now that could be utilized to help the DOC manage offenders in our community.

One of the most promising tools is the SMART (Supervision Management And Recidivist Tracking) program. This is an information-sharing system that was developed through a state pilot fund several years ago. However, this nearly completed program was shelved in 2003 due to state budget cuts.

SMART creates the mechanism for every police contact with a supervised offender to be documented and electronically transmitted immediately to that individual's DOC community corrections officer (called a probation officer in other states).

Contacts between police and supervised offenders occur thousands of times a year all across the state. They occur during traffic stops, disturbance calls, suspected drug transactions and nearly every other type of police incident.

Most do not result in arrest for a new criminal offense; however, many reveal probation violations such as use of alcohol, being under the influence of drugs, association with other offenders, curfew infractions and other behaviors prohibited under the conditions of supervision. These are often the same behaviors that coincide with or precede serious criminal conduct.

Armed with the information about these contacts and violations, community corrections officers can intercede, in many cases before serious new crimes are committed.

SMART enables every member of every law-enforcement agency to use technology to bridge the information gap between police and community corrections, and become the "eyes and ears" for the understaffed Department of Corrections. The SMART program is a force multiplier that will improve supervision of released offenders and result in holding them truly accountable to their conditions of release.

Effective accountability is key to the successful integration back into society of those who truly wish to conform, and the necessary re-incarceration of those from whom we all need protection.

SMART is a tool we should be using. The Legislature had the vision to launch SMART several years ago. We urge the current Legislature to take action now to bring this important public-safety tool to life — before another citizen's or police officer's life is lost.

Susan L. Rahr is the King County sheriff. Steve Harris is chief of the Redmond Police Department. Reagan Dunn is a member of the Metropolitan King County Council, representing District 9.