City Attorney Davison swears in, pledges advocacy for ‘powerless’ crime victims

Ann Davison has officially been sworn in as Seattle City Attorney.

An often overlooked election which caught headlines in 2021, it was fought between candidates with diametrically opposed perspectives on prosecution: Challenger Nicole Thomas Kennedy largely couched misdemeanor crime as a function of poverty, pledging to stop prosecuting “people with the lowest income,” per her campaign’s website.

Davison often echoed the plight of store owners and community members who struggle to maintain their quality of life in the face of loitering and petty theft (Davison often quotes the owner of Seven Stars Pepper Szechwan Restaurant and how an “open air drug market” just outside has put them on the brink of closure).

Davison ultimately won out by a 10% margin (55% to Thomas-Kennedy’s 44%), and on Tuesday, she clarified her office’s priorities in an acceptance speech at her swearing-in ceremony.

Underwritten by a refrain of “powerlessness” and “fear,” much of the speech painted a grim picture of Seattle.

“When you talk to people in Seattle today, you hear about fear,” Davison said.

“Communities are afraid to use their parks,” she continued. “People are afraid to walk down Third Avenue. Parents are afraid to send their kids to wait for the bus. Many feel powerless powerless to save their businesses, powerless to make it safe for their employees to come to work, powerless to stop bullets from flying through their windows.”

Davison’s solution lies with a more aggressive prosecution of crime, saying “our legal system must be used as a tool to stand up for victims.”

Complicating the issue, however, is that the Seattle City Attorney’s criminal division only handles misdemeanor crimes, and much of the office’s responsibilities lie with representing the city in civil litigation. For example, the office recently defended the city against a Seattle Chamber of Commerce lawsuit against Seattle council’s Jump Start payroll tax, and helped dismiss a lawsuit against Seattle’s hazard pay requirement for grocery workers in March of 2021.

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Despite that, Davison highlighted one policy point in her speech: more aggressively prosecuting crime, both in the form of drug crime and gun offenses.

“It is the duty of the city attorney’s office to prosecute weapons charges and take guns off the street, so misdemeanor gun offenses don’t lead to felony homicides,” Davison continued.

Unlawful possession of a firearm is a felony charge. One of the few misdemeanor gun charges in Washington state is that of carrying a concealed firearm without a permit.

“Every case that comes to the city attorney’s office tells a story,” Davison added. “A story like Young’s from Seven Stars, a business owner with no advocate struggling to survive. A story of a son lost to a story of the vulnerable preyed upon by drug dealers. But this election showed that people are powerful and they are demanding that we enforce our laws.”

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