Monroe adopts SODA ordinance to help fight drug crimes

The City of Monroe recently added a new tool to its crime-fighting kit, one that Washington cities are increasingly turning to — a SODA program.

RELATED: The tool Seattle is ignoring to prevent drug crimes

“In Monroe, we recognized that in .5 percent of our city, about 57 percent of our substance-related calls were occurring,” Monroe Mayor Geoffrey Thomas told KTTH Radio’s Jason Rantz. “… It was important to make certain that we were doing what we could to give relief to this section of town, by adopting this SODA ordinance.”

SODA stands for “stay out of designated area” or “stay out of drug area.” Monroe passed an ordinance establishing its own SODA program in June. Generally, an area with documented drug-related crimes is outlined. A person convicted of a drug-related offense is then prohibited from entering that area by a court order. They can be instantly arrested if they are found within the area over a period of time.

Marysville has had similar programs in the past. Arlington started a SODA program in 2017 to combat crimes in its Smokey Point neighborhood. In Seattle, they are not common.

Monroe’s SODA program

In Monroe, judges are using SODAs as a condition of release. They also use them when a person is going through the court  process. The city is increasing police patrols within the SODA program area. The mayor also says that, over time, they hope to connect offenders with social workers and other services.

“This is us finding a way to keep people already arrested, waiting to go to court, from returning to the area where we may have caught them buying, or using, or distributing substances …” Thomas said. “We don’t want them going back to where we picked them up and continuing the behavior they were involved in.”

Common offenses in Monroe include possession and manufacturing of drug paraphernalia, delivering paraphernalia to a minor, burglary and vehicle prowls. Mayor Thomas says that police are monitoring crime statistics. If they see the drug-related offenses moving to other areas of town, they will adapt and could establish a SODA program there, too. The mayor could also simply expand the prohibition borders to include new neighborhoods.

“Our police department is on top of these types of calls and we’ll make adjustments if we need to,” Thomas said.

“We need to make sure the businesses in our downtown, when people show up for work in the morning, they don’t have needles on the ground, they don’t have people at night walking around looking for drug paraphernalia,” Thomas said. “We need to give relief to neighborhoods adjacent to downtown where there are higher incidents of burglary and vehicle prowls.”

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