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Democratic lawmaker wants to fix "glitch" in new police reform laws


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OLYMPIA, Wash.--New police reform laws continue to cause a lot of confusion in law enforcement right now.

Local police departments say new legislation prevents them from keeping people safe.

Action News spoke with Democratic Representative Roger Goodman who says they’re hard at work right now to put clarity in the law, specifically regarding the use of less lethal force.

"It's a glitch that got into the law and is not clear and we are clarifying that now,” said Goodman.

That glitch led to police departments across the state hanging up their best and most effective less lethal option, the 37 mm launcher.

Something police say would have confined an incident from July 26th to the Kennewick police parking lot.

Instead, after slashing police tires, a woman armed with a knife was able to run for several blocks.

Leading police on a foot pursuit, without police being able to use their less lethal launcher.

The incident finally ended when the woman got to a Kennewick daycare and police were able to use an approved less lethal device brought in from Pasco.

Now we’ve learned from Democratic Representative Roger Goodman that he and others are trying to right this wrong.

He says the Criminal Justice Training Commission has the authority to publish rules on an expedited basis and they’ve already clarified the 37mm can be used.

"Everybody knows that’s what the legislature intended, the commission is not going to take any action to investigate, or sanction or get any police in trouble for using less than lethal force that's what we want," said Roger Goodman.

While it wasn’t the intent, it did ban weapons larger than .50 caliber, something Representative Goodman says everyone glossed over while writing the legislation.

Rep. Roger Goodman says, "No one noticed it. When we were putting the legislation together with police at the table, all interested parties, no one pointed this out.”

Goodman says lawmakers are working with WA State Attorney General Bob Ferguson and submitted a series of questions to come up with rules and guidance to give police peace of mind and certainty with how to respond.

He also wants to clarify; police are still able to respond to mental health calls.

He defends against any accusations that these laws were poorly written and rushed.

"I do not believe this was rushed at all. We passed over a dozen bills, and we're only having to refine and clarify maybe three or four provisions, that's pretty good."

Rep. Goodman says right now he is touring our state to speak with crisis responders, mental health professionals, and police chiefs to gather input on how to continue to address any ambiguities there are in the law.

For now, Kennewick police have removed the launchers from their vehicles and don't plan on having them on hand until there is more legal clarification.

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