Seattle must deliver real, lasting police reform — and our country’s most progressive criminal justice system

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”

With those words from the 19th century, Fredrick Douglass frames the opportunity — and moral obligation — for our city today:

Will we keep building real, lasting police reform, have our country’s most progressive criminal justice system, and, most importantly, honestly address the inequities in our criminal justice system?

It will not be easy.

To bring about meaningful change, our city will have to expand prevention efforts that address some of the root causes of crime. We will have to get better at supporting interventions that reduce violence and divert people from the criminal justice system. We will have to ensure our police departments throughout the state are more accountable. And we’ll have to do much better at helping those who been incarcerated to reclaim and rebuild their lives.

And throughout all of this, we’ll need the input and guidance from Seattle’s neighborhoods and communities — who not only live the consequences of our current systems, but best understand and know what solutions work for their communities.

I had the honor of meeting with leaders of Rainier Beach’s “A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth” initiative that identifies and addresses place-based causes of youth victimization and crime and increases non-arrest interventions. This was a program that the U.S. Department of Justice helped fund when I was U.S. Attorney. We will prioritize effective strategies that dramatically reduce youth detentions and prevent youth violence, particularly the community-based and community-led efforts and neighborhood networks that have been built over many years.

I released today detailed plans for continuing to build meaningful and lasting police reform and a progressive justice system centered on proven prevention and intervention policies. The focus is in four areas: (1) continue to build an accountable, diverse police department, (2) focus on young people with a spectrum of support and opportunities, especially for those disconnected from school or in the justice system, (3) provide more effective alternatives to incarceration, and (4) restore rights and assist with re-entry.

(Last week, I also put out specific policies that will help make sanctuary real for DREAMers, immigrants and refugees in Seattle.)

But it starts with all of us, regardless of what neighborhood you call home, being honest about some painful realities.

We must be honest that in our country and here in Seattle there are undeniable inequities in policing, juvenile justice, and criminal justice.

We must be honest that institutionalized racism and other bias play a deep-seated role in our criminal justice system.

And we must be honest that our criminal justice system is too often the holding cell for our failure to provide real, equitable opportunity or invest in prevention and intervention strategies. As a result, it plays an outsized role in condemning too many people of color to poverty, homelessness, and an endless, vicious cycle of incarceration and dashed hopes.

We all share a responsibility to do something to fix this.

And together we must resolve to act.

As a criminal defense attorney, advocate, and U.S. Attorney, that’s what I have done.

As an advocate for progressive change, I worked to improve sentencing laws so drug defendants could get treatment instead of prison. When that wasn’t successful, I joined with then-King County prosecutor Norm Maleng and others to create King County’s drug court and mental health court to provide alternatives to incarceration. Later, after President Obama appointed me U.S. Attorney here in Seattle, I worked with Attorney General Eric Holder, Sally Yates and other Department of Justice leaders to craft broad criminal justice reform initiatives President Obama championed — reforming sentencing guidelines to eliminate unfair disparities, reducing unwarranted sentences, and avoiding draconian mandatory minimum sentences. I supported re-entry efforts and worked with the public defenders to establish here in Seattle one of the first federal drug courts in the country.

I insisted on a Court-monitored consent decree that required badly needed reforms, like new use of force policies and training that emphasize de-escalation, a new approach to how officers interact with people in mental crisis, robust supervision, meaningful community input, and honest reforms in biased policing.

But one of the most important things I did as U.S. Attorney was partner with community groups to finally push reforms at the Seattle Police Department. Our strategy? Get meaningful transformation that changed not just the policies, but the culture, too. With strong community support, I insisted on a Court-monitored consent decree that required badly needed reforms, like new use of force policies and training that emphasize de-escalation, a new approach to how officers interact with people in mental crisis, robust supervision, meaningful community input, and deep and honest reforms in biased policing.

These changes were necessary to improve our police department. As the court’s monitor has recently noted, policing has improved, including decrease in uses of force overall — including a 60 percent reduction of the most serious uses of force — and a significant decline in force used against people in crisis.

But our work is not done. The inequities in our system remain. As we have seen recently , we must rigorously and honestly review what works and doesn’t work, and revamp policies, training and actions accordingly. And we still need discipline with real accountability and no loopholes.

Before I went to law school, I lived and taught for two years in a small Yup’ik village in Alaska. Suicide, homicide and drug/alcohol related deaths claimed the potential of too many of my former students.

My life’s best work has been about protecting vulnerable communities, defending civil rights, and delivering systemic change. Before I went to law school, I lived and taught for two years in a small Yup’ik village in Alaska. It was a village where most lived below the poverty line and lived a subsistence culture. We had higher rates of students who graduated than most schools like ours and many went on to college. But the odds were stacked against them. Suicide, homicide and drug/alcohol related deaths claimed the potential of too many of my former students.

I grew up believing in fighting for the underdog. I became a defense lawyer and represented people in our community who do not always get a fair shake. I spent 25 years building a practice as a criminal defense attorney, representing victims and injured workers and on cases that improved our community. I fought for fair elections, and to make sure every vote is counted. I was at SeaTac airport the day that Donald Trump issued his Muslim travel ban, and worked to get a federal court order to make sure people who arrived here lawfully could stay.

Those values will drive me as Mayor. I will be an ally to and advocate for the incredible people and community organizations doing the critical place-based, community-led work to support young people, and reduce violence. I will continue to demand and deliver systemic change. I will bring people together so Seattle can continue to build an accountable, diverse police department. I will ensure we focus on giving young people — especially for those disconnected from school or in the justice system — the support and opportunities they deserve. I will work to provide more effective alternatives to incarceration. And I will make sure that in Seattle, we work to restore the rights of those who have been incarcerated and provide true opportunity and support so they can reclaim and rebuild their lives.

Creating real change that creates a positive culture is hard. It requires honesty, sustained political will, combined efforts and the ability to get things done. If we do that, then I believe one day we will be able to say that we put our progressive goals into action, delivered meaningful change, and created more just and fair systems.

In these dark political times, we have a chance to lead on these issues, and to craft a better future. I hope we Seattleites seize that chance.