A year after their passage, police accountability bills in Washington state are showing signs of success.

An ACLU Washington analysis found a 62% drop in police killings through November 2021, compared with the previous two years.

Rep. Jesse Johnson, D-Federal Way, was the prime sponsor of two bills last year updating use of force by police in the wake of George Floyd's death. He said he has seen a change, especially among new police recruits.

"You can just see the officers coming in with an entirely different kind of 'guardianship' mindset, versus this 'warrior-cop' mentality in our communities, and I think that's great," Johnson observed. "They're asking more questions before going to physical force. They are doing deeper investigations."

But Johnson noted there has been criticism from some officers, who say the new standards are too restrictive. He is sponsoring a bill which allows for physical force in certain situations, such as transporting people to mental-health treatment.

The measure has received support from groups like the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, which supported reforms last year. Another measure, which allows force when a person flees questioning, has support from Johnson, but critics argued it could roll back last year's progress.

Johnson countered it is needed to clarify language in the laws. He added there are still checks on force, which must be considered "reasonable" and with an emphasis on de-escalation.

"Essentially, it said that law enforcement has to use available and appropriate less-lethal options," Johnson explained. "They have to de-escalate. They have to have time, distance and space between them and the suspect. They have to take all these considerations into account, the totality of the circumstances."

He added some of those factors include whether a person is pregnant, if English is their first language or if they appear to be having a mental-health crisis.

Johnson noted there was no universal standard for use of force in the state before last year's bills, so each community had a different standard. He emphasized said for some, like Seattle, the new standards did not change things much, but in rural Washington, it was not the case.

"When you have totally different standards across the state, and you put it all into one standard that everyone has to abide by, you're going to have people that challenge it because this is different from past practice, and others, it's not very different at all," Johnson concluded.

Some federal incentives to bring internet access to Indian Country neglected to require tribal participation, according to a new report.

The Federal Communications Commission's 2020 Rural Digital Opportunity Fund awarded more than $9 billion to cable and satellite operators, phone companies and others to deploy broadband in areas lacking it. The report from the Institute for Local Self Reliance showed the program included no requirement for tribal consent or engagement before companies placed bids.

Jessica Auer, tribal broadband policy analyst at the Institute for Local Self Reliance and the report's author, said it left some tribes, especially those with their own broadband projects, in what she called a "bureaucratic boondoggle," leading to "tension and confusion."

"They're required to spend resources and staff time trying to contest these awards, confronted by outside providers who feel that they have a mandate and a right to build on sovereign tribal lands," Auer explained.

Auer argued not including tribal nations at the table is, in many cases, considered a violation of tribal sovereignty. According to a 2022 study, households in tribal areas are about 24% less likely to have access to broadband internet than others.

In some cases, tribes are able to build the projects themselves. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe was awarded a $40-million grant to connect more than 1,500 tribal households with fiber internet access and an LTE wireless network.

Auer noted it is preferable to a company building infrastructure in unfamiliar terrain, which can be detrimental.

"I just can't think that it necessarily makes them the most long-term effective and sustainable answer, when they have so little knowledge and familiarity with local realities," Auer added.


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Iowa has enlisted the help of businesses across the state to take on human trafficking.

Tomorrow marks World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, and the state is calling on residents and employees alike to be aware of the signs that someone could be a victim.

The widepread use of social media has made it harder to corral sex traffickers in recent years.

Secretary of State Paul Pate launched the Iowa Business Against Trafficking Initiative in 2022, to ask 300,000 employees of 800 Iowa businesses to be the eyes and ears if they sense a person is being trafficked.

"Well, we're not asking anyone to be a hero here," said Pate. "What we're asking them to be is good neighbors. It's like a neighborhood watch program. You watch for suspicious or unusual behavior, activities that are going on, and let law enforcement know - because they can't be everywhere all the time."

Pate has enlisted the help of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security this year - which has started an initiative to remind people that if they suspect they spot human trafficking, they should say something to local authorities.

Tom Ruck is the senior engagement manager for the Department of Homeland Security's Blue Campaign against human trafficking, and has been in Iowa to boost Pate's efforts at confronting it.

He said it's important not to try to physically step in and rescue a person who appears to be a trafficking victim, even if that's the natural inclination of someone who wants to help.

"But we could put you at harm for doing something," said Ruck. "The trafficker may try to hurt you - and definitely the person being trafficked could be put in harm's way, down the road. So we say, 'Call your local authorities.'"

He added that traffickers often prey on young people who report feeling isolated, depressed, or estranged from their parents - and the criminals work those angles to make contact with prospective victims.




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A new survey shows there's been an increase in the number of police officers on the streets since the COVID-19 exodus, but some Americans are still behaving badly when they think no one's looking.

A survey by the Police Executive Research Forum shows more sworn officers were hired in 2023 than any of the previous four years, and fewer officers overall resigned or retired.

Lance LoRusso, founder of the Blue Line Lawyer Institute, said bad behavior is still evident in communities where not enough officers were available to patrol parks or other public spaces.

"There is a segment of the population that if they don't believe there's consequences for their actions, they will not act in a lawful manner," LoRusso asserted. "They don't, because there's nobody making sure that they're taking care of their obligations and they're treating each other in a civil manner."

More than 200 law enforcement agencies responded to the survey. It showed that while small and medium departments had more sworn officers than they did in January 2020, large departments are still more than 5% below earlier staffing levels.

In March, New Mexico's Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department announced a crackdown on drivers traveling at excessive speeds, which LoRusso said became a problem during the pandemic coast to coast and has not subsided in some areas. He says citizens should not hesitate to report such incidents.

"People racing cars is dangerous. It's completely anti-social, unlawful, dangerous behavior that shows a complete disrespect for the other people in your community. And yet, it's tolerated," he said.

Car break-ins also increased during the pandemic, which LoRusso said might feel like an isolated incident, but is usually indicative of a larger problem.