As a reminder, the city of Renton does not have policing issues…. this letter from the Sheriff affects those crimes that are under the jurisdiction of King County Sheriff –primarily in the unincorporated parts of King County–
–So don’t even THINK about committing these crimes here 🙂
Public Safety
in Peril
In March of this year the King County Executive told me that the Sheriff’s Office would need to take an 8.6% budget cut, roughly equaling $7.5 million for 2009. I have been working closely with my command staff and all of our employees for several months to identify potential areas for reductions. We have carefully evaluated every possible scenario to minimize the impact to the level of service provided by the Sheriff’s Office.
Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to take such a hit without affecting the way we do business. If the budget situation is not resolved, it is clear that we will have to make drastic cuts to our existing service levels. This will significantly impact service levels in the following areas:
- Domestic Violence
- Narcotics & Organized Crime
- Cold case Investigations
- Neighborhood Storefront Centers
- Victim Outreach
I will also have to raise the threshold for investigating property crimes. Although we will respond to the scene and take a case report, any property crime with a loss of $10,000 or less will not be investigated. I was forced to choose between investigating property crimes and investigating person-related crimes such as rape, robbery, assault and homicide.
We have been moving aggressively to scrub the budget and to ‘tighten our belts’. The following are some of the immediate measures we have taken to save money:
- Reducing overtime by 15% in each Division
- Reducing the number of pool vehicles available at each Precinct
- Purchasing gas at pre-selected low cost stations
- Developing a virtual block watch through the use of email groups
- Developing online incident reporting
My commitment is to keep you informed and engaged in the budget process and any ensuing decisions. I intend to be out in the community with my criminal justice colleagues from now until November, talking to you about the budget crisis. As your elected Sheriff, it is my responsibility to protect your safety. That is my highest priority.
Your ongoing participation and communication with your elected officials is critical. To find out more about how these cuts could impact services and what you can do to help, please visit my website at:
www.kingcounty.gov/safety/sheriff








I have appreciated all the recent comments from readers lately… there are online discussions occurring on many topics from the last few weeks. Your comments are often more interesting than anything I have to say 🙂
Please peruse the comments on past articles to see what I mean.
Here are the most recent ones from the last few hours.
Thanks again!
Randy
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Somebody in Free speech perhaps? Second Berlin visitor to see Hitler figure decapitates it
Try nearly 73 million deaths in WWII: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties (Link) (Reply)
Somebody in Friends and relatives join us to help celebrate my middle-son’s eighteenth birthday
Nice pic Randy – rock on ! (Link) (Reply)
Somebody in Some candid writing about the night helicopter rides that have generated countless complaints
There is another pressure point that the City has used before. When does AirO’s lease expire? The City has refused to renew leases of problem tenants at the airport in the past, and this tenant is certainly asking for the same. They should underst (Link) (Reply)