‘Stupid policy’: Jake, Spike clash over whether WA’s pursuit ban was anti-cop or just badly marketed

Washington was once among the worst states in the country for stolen vehicles, a trend that accelerated after the Legislature passed House Bill 1054 in 2021, which barred police from pursuing suspects in most property crimes.

Initiative 2113, passed by voters in 2024, restored the “reasonable suspicion” standard for vehicular pursuits, giving law enforcement broader authority to chase suspects.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, agreed the policy was a disaster, but couldn’t agree on why it happened in the first place.

Jake calls it anti-cop, not well-intentioned

Jake said the pursuit ban wasn’t a good-faith effort that went wrong; it was an ideological project driven by people hostile to law enforcement.

“It’s because of stupid policy by people who were not thinking. I don’t believe it was best intentions,” Jake said. “I think that was people who were anti-cop, letting people run amok.”

He tied the policy directly to the defund-the-police movement and said at least one prominent Seattle politician was part of that wing.

“Was it the defund the police wing?” Jake asked. “I can name a politician who happens to be fairly prominent in Seattle right now who was in that wing.”

Spike says it was the worst branding of a reasonable idea

Spike pushed back hard, arguing that the people behind the pursuit restrictions and the broader police reform movement were not “pro-crime”; they just packaged their message in the worst possible way.

“I’ve said this a thousand times now, 1,001 times. Defund the police was the worst marketing campaign of all time,” Spike said. “What was intended was to reexamine law enforcement, reapportion resources to become more efficient.”

“You think those people had good intentions?” Jake asked.

“I do. I really do,” Spike responded. “I don’t think they were pro-crime.”

“They were anti-cop,” Jake said.

“To a degree, anti-bad cop,” Spike replied. “Which we all are, right?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3