Surrounded By Family Members Of Slain Officers, Governor Chris Gregoire Signs Public Safety Bills At The Lakewood Police Department
The children of slain police officers in Washington will be able to go to state colleges and universities for free. And officers permanently disabled on the job won't run out of health benefits. Those are just two of the bills signed into law Wednesday that came in response to six police officer deaths late last year. The bill signing ceremony took place at the Lakewood police department. Last Thanksgiving weekend, four Lakewood officers having coffee were gunned down by an Arkansas parolee. An emotional Governor Chris Gregoire spoke directly to family members in the audience. “I know today is a bittersweet day. But out of this terrible tragedy something positive – this positive – has come. You have left a legacy to law enforcement throughout our state," she said.One of the new laws ups the penalty for rendering assistance to a wanted murderer. Another requires a top-to-bottom review of Washington's bail system. Brian Wurts is the Lakewood police union president and a Republican candidate for the state legislature. He said the new laws are a good start to improving public safety in Washington. But he said more needs to be done. For instance, as a police officer, he wants the authority to arrest probation violators even if they aren't committing a new crime.“They could be in violation of five major conditions, they're not even supposed to be in Western Washington and they're drunk and they're with their co-defendants, all of these things and I can't do a thing about it," he said.In addition to the bills signed by the governor, Washington voters will be asked this fall to amend the state constitution to make it easier for judges to withhold bail.
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