Kent mayor says Legislature needs to act as city struggles to address crime

KENT, Wash. — Homicides, assaults, smash-and-grab break-ins, and other crimes are taking their toll in Kent, and city leaders said it’s becoming a struggle to keep pace as public safety resources get tapped out.

Mayor Dana Ralph said despite committing extensive resources to fight crime, she still needs to hire more officers, expand community court, and increase diversion opportunities. The money that is already invested is playing a crucial role, she said, but it doesn’t go far enough.

“That's one of the other questions I keep getting, ‘Can't you just find it somewhere else?' The reality is I'm underfunding just about everything else in the city,” the mayor said.

A pair of bills in the state Legislature would allow cities and counties to increase the local sales tax by 3 cents for every $10 purchase, so long as the revenues generated are spent on public safety. The increased tax could be imposed without a vote of the people.

In Kent, HB 2211 and its companion bill, SB 6076, could potentially add up to $10 million more a year for crime-fighting efforts, which Ralph said could address some immediate needs.

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“We would be somewhere around 30 to 35 additional officers. We would be able to expand our co-responder model so we could connect people with social workers,” Ralph said. “We’re also talking about expanding community court.”

However, HB 2211 and SB 6076 are both stalled in their respective committees and could die for good by a Tuesday deadline.

“This is a plea from me on behalf of my community for the Legislature to realize they are the ones that control whether or not we have the ability to keep our community safe, and I need them to do something,” Ralph said. “At this point, the message my residents are hearing from the Legislature is they don't care. They don't care if people are safe. They don't care if they are victims of crime."

The mayor pointed to the disturbing increase in homicides, with 19 people killed last year compared to four in 2019. Violent assaults have shown a similar upward trend.

No proposal is ever truly dead in the state Legislature until the session ends but at this point, the sales tax bill is a long shot. The mayor hopes that in the 11th hour, she can shake things up.

“Our residents, they deserve better, and they deserve to live in a city that can address these issues and these concerns,” she said.