Make government prove it when they claim to be out of money

Just a few days ago I told you about a new program by King County. It was a catch-and-release program where King County jailers would turn away many suspected felons accused of non-violent crimes.

They would arrest suspected felons who were caught car prowling, or committing fraud and ID theft, they’d schedule them for an arraignment, then they’d send them on their merry way.

King County said they did this because they needed to cut jail costs, according to a December memo highlighted in a report by KING 5:

“Titled ‘King County Jail Capacity Management Plan,’ county officials write in the memo that they will create a “release list” of specific non-violent felony crimes that will no longer automatically land a suspect in jail. Instead of waiting in jail until they see a judge, the memo says the suspect “…will be fingerprinted, checked for outstanding warrants and interviewed by a PR screener, after which they will be released.”

At the time, we spoke out against it because you’re sending the message that the crime isn’t serious, and you’re just releasing people likely to re-offend back on the streets.

But, alas, we were told they needed to do this. They had to because they just didn’t have the money to house these felons.

Yeah, well, about that, we learned late Wednesday that King County Executive Dow Constantine has killed the program.

As The Seattle Times writes: “On Wednesday, Constantine sent a letter to county criminal-justice leaders explaining that he will delay the book-and-release plan until June 1 to allow them to come up with other ways to reduce the jail population.

“The delay also gives the county time to secure revenue sources with the state Legislature, the letter said.”

So let me get this straight: We were told that this had to happen, there is a budget shortfall, this would save millions of dollars, and is absolutely necessary and there are no real concerns with these felons because they’re non-violent, but now, after five days of criticism, you take it back?

I thought it was necessary to save money. Presumably, all other options were considered and this was a last resort plan. How is it that all of a sudden it’s not 100 percent necessary and can easily be delayed while you look for other ways to handle the jail population?

Why didn’t you look at all those other options first? Because apparently you have until at least June 1, rather than a hastily produced deadline of Feb 1?

Is it possible that we were misled? Is this part of a pattern?

We were told at the time of the inevitable, imminent Metro Transit bus cuts that if you didn’t pass Prop 1 in King County, all these bus routes would be canceled, poor people would be hurt, and then after it doesn’t pass, because voters were smart enough to say no, all of a sudden those drastic inevitable cuts didn’t actually happen.

They lied then, and they lied now.

How do they keep thinking they can get away with it? Probably because they get away with it more than you and I know.

Whenever any government agency says they’re out of money, they need to prove it. They need to actually show us they’re using our money efficiently because chances are, they’re not. That’s seldom the case. It’s not because government is bad, but it’s because it’s huge and they’re working with a ton of money and it’s hard to keep track of it, and they don’t have an incentive to keep track of it because it’s not their money.