Antediluvian jail release
Noah, the Bible tells us, filled his ark, two by two, with the world's creatures when the Deluge arrived. But King County has its own evacuation issue: how to move inmates in case of flood.
On Oct. 26, the County Council announced that if flooding forces the relocation of inmates from the Maleng Regional Justice Center (MRJC), located in Kent, that Pierce and Kitsap Counties have agreed to house local prisoners. At maximum capacity, MRJC can hold up to 1,300 felony and misdemeanor inmates. If floodwaters strike the facility, necessitating evacuation, Piece County has agreed to take 168 prisoners and Kitsap, 114. The King County Correctional
Facility, in downtown Seattle, will accept up to 200.
Flooding has become a real possibility since sinkholes were discovered next to the Howard Hansen Dam, sited in Auburn, last January. Heavy rains pose a major threat to the weakened dam. If the Green River crests its banks and floods the valley below, where the MRJC sits, the county predicts the facility could wind up under four feet of water.
The county offers no word on what would happen to the remaining inmates.
--Rosette Royale
SPOG stands down
The Seattle Police Officers' Guild (SPOG) won't challenge a new ruling by a state employment board that lets the city's civilian review committee see internal investigators' case files.
A 2006 city law allowed the seven-member Office of Professional Accountability Review Board (OPARB) to see case files for investigations into police misconduct that named the officers involved. SPOG filed a grievance with the state Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC), alleging that the city had changed officers' working conditions outside of the union barganining process. The PERC sided with the city in an Oct. 6 decision, noting that OPARB members sign a confidentiality agreement that bars them from releasing officers' identities [Just Heard, Oct. 14-20].
In an Oct. 21 press release announcing the decision not to appeal, SPOG president Rich O'Neill said that new language in the Guild's one-year-old labor contract with the city will keep review board members from releasing reports that identify officers accused of misconduct.
O'Neill blamed previous review board members, including City Attorney candidate Pete Holmes, for having a "'hidden agenda' to expand their role" that damaged the police's "confidence and trust" in Seattle's 10-year-old civilan-led review process.
--Adam Hyla