In a letter to the public, Thurston commissioners pledge to ‘institutionalize equality’

In a letter to the community Friday, Thurston County commissioners pledged to look at ways to “institutionalize equality” across county government, listing three specific concepts they’re considering.

The letter follows a meeting Tuesday during which commissioners discussed ongoing, widespread demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

Commissioner John Hutchings, who serves as chair of the board, suggested the commissioners take a stand and join other public officials in making a statement directed at county employees and the community.

“In my head, I can be supportive of law enforcement and still condemn racism and condemn institutional bias and institutional racism,” Hutchings said.

The letter, signed by all three commissioners, was made public Friday afternoon and can be read in its entirety online.

“Like many people around the world, we are shocked and horrified by the senseless death of George Floyd while in police custody,” it begins. “We join in mourning and send our deep and heartfelt condolences to those who are left to mourn his loss for a lifetime.

“This tragedy has brought to the surface systemic inequalities existing in our society, specifically among people of color, from which we cannot walk away. To be comfortably numb to these issues is completely unacceptable. Now is the time for us to unite and work together to create a more equitable and just community. We all bear this responsibility.”

In the letter, the commissioners pledge to work with employees and elected leaders to develop “local policies building up support systems to foster understanding and inclusion” and to look at ways to “institutionalize equality” across county government.

It mentions three specific concepts under consideration, two of which directly echo ideas for reform mentioned by Commissioner Tye Menser, the only commissioner who hasn’t worked as a law enforcement officer in the past, at Tuesday’s meeting.

One: “Conducting a comprehensive re-assessment of our organizational mindset, policies, and procedures.”

An example of such a re-assessment could be a YWCA program referenced by Menser, which he explained would assess the government’s mindset toward cultural differences then create a workshop series with a goal of “institutionalizing equity.”

The second item mentioned in the letter: “Re-establishing a council on equality and human rights comprised of a cross section of individuals from diverse backgrounds in our community.”

Menser told The Olympian Friday that the council, officially named the Thurston Council on Cultural Diversity and Human Rights, was reportedly in place for a handful of years in the 1990s but was disbanded and hasn’t been in place since.

The council is laid out in county code, which states its purpose as “to promote multicultural diversity and human rights education, support diverse cultural activities and provide a forum for interaction between diverse cultural groups.” It would include members from each commissioner’s district along with 12 at-large members and representatives from Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater, Tenino, Rainier, Bucoda, Yelm, and the Nisqually Indian Tribe.

The third item under consideration, according to the letter is “Supporting increased training opportunities for our law enforcement personnel.”

Commissioner Gary Edwards, who was Thurston County Sheriff for two decades, told The Olympian he signed the letter because he’s “a realist,” we don’t live in a utopia and can always do better.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ve got a good group of professional law enforcement officers here, but, you know what, we’re no different than any other segment of society. ... We’re going to have some bad actors in law enforcement,” Edwards said.

“You’re going to have some bad actors as teachers and preachers and doctors. It bothers me that all of the officers are getting painted with this broad brush,” he said, adding “99% of them have worked their whole career to do good.”

He said the commissioners, as a group of county executives, need to work with everyone in the criminal justice system to serve the public better. He said they must recognize society asks a lot of officers, citing a paragraph in the letter:

“We expect so much from our law enforcement,” the letter reads. “We ask them to be mental health experts, substance abuse experts, and a myriad of other professions — all while continuing to protect and serve our community. They also need our support.”

Not mentioned in the letter are other ideas Menser posited Tuesday, including allocating money with mass incarceration in mind and restarting the county’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. Menser included a local statistic among national numbers on mass incarceration: Black people make up 3-4% of Thurston’s population and 12% of its jail population.

The LEAD program, modeled after a program in Seattle, was piloted in 2017 and would allow people arrested for minor offenses to enter a treatment pipeline with intensive case management instead of jail, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting. The LEAD program stalled out here, but in a phone interview Friday, Menser said the county has submitted a grant application to restart it, and is in discussion with the state on the details of the proposal.

Unlike in local cities, the county Sheriff and his department’s policies and practices are not under the control of the Thurston County Commission, Menser said Tuesday, so people who want to bring specific policy issues to the fore should engage with Sheriff John Snaza directly.

But, he told The Olympian Friday, the commission does allocate funding.

“I don’t want to build jails,” Menser said. “I do want to build up the supporting systems, I do want to support training in de-escalation, cultural equity for law enforcement — I want to build up their tools in terms of supporting funding for training for those types of things.”