Let King County voters decide on sales tax increase for public safety

When you call 911 to report a crime, you expect an immediate response from the police. When you read about a dangerous criminal who has been arrested for a violent crime, you expect the person will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. You expect there will be a jail cell for the offender, and that courts and public defenders will be available to uphold the due process guarantees made by the Constitution that protect all of us.

These are reasonable expectations, and ones we have always met in King County, but they are also public services that are today imperiled and can no longer be taken for granted.

As King County councilmembers debate whether to ask the voters to increase the sales tax by two cents on a $10 purchase for public safety purposes, we, the elected leaders of the criminal justice system, offer our own two cents:

• First, at a time when crimes of violence are on the rise, we come into this debate already having taken large cuts in our operations over the last two years, cutting 96 employees of the Sheriff's Office, 27 from the Prosecutor's Office and court staff throughout the county.

• Second, the money raised by this measure will go to each city throughout the county, to help avoid drastic cuts in basic police and municipal court services. Wherever you live, you will benefit from this new support for public safety.

• Third, without additional funding, we will be forced to cut vital public safety personnel — an additional 70 deputy sheriffs, 36 deputy prosecutors, the entire probation department that watches over DUI and domestic violence offenders, and other essential court and jail programs. That is just for 2011; the cuts to follow in 2012 will be even greater.

Cuts of that magnitude will delay 911 response times, eliminate the investigation of many crimes, clog the court system and require us to make untenable choices about which criminals get punished, and which ones we no longer have the capacity to handle. Pressure on the court system only benefits the people who commit the crimes — the rest of us suffer when cases are dismissed, plea bargained for short sentences, or sit on large stacks awaiting attention from an overloaded staff.

We acknowledge the understandable anti-tax concerns voiced by some citizens, but we also know that most people strongly support the difficult job done by police officers, sheriff's deputies, corrections officers, prosecutors, judges and probation officers. These are the real jobs that are at stake in this debate.

Last week voters in Arizona were faced with a similar ballot measure and decided to raise their sales tax to protect public safety. Public safety is truly the one government service that benefits all citizens, and safe neighborhoods promote economic growth and attract new families and businesses.

The tax measure being debated will surely contain a limited duration designed to put pressure on county leadership and unions to make radical changes in our business model. That's fine — keep that pressure on, but don't throw out our public safety infrastructure in the rush to condemn past business decisions.

Citizens have asked the police and courts for help in the past; now it is our turn to ask for your support. We can offer our two cents to protect public safety, or we can force the dismantling of our system of justice and community protection. All we are asking is for the council to have the courage to let the voters decide for themselves.

King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer and District Court Presiding Judge Barbara Linde contributed to this article.