S-4552.1
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6032
State of Washington 68th Legislature 2024 Regular Session
By Senate Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Braun,
Dozier, Warnick, and J. Wilson)
READ FIRST TIME 01/31/24.
1 AN ACT Relating to community engagement with law enforcement at
2 nonprofit religious schools; and amending RCW 43.330.545.
3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
4 Sec. 1. RCW 43.330.545 and 2023 c 189 s 1 are each amended to
5 read as follows:
6 (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
7 specific purpose, a project is created in the department to foster
8 community engagement through neighborhood organizing, law
9 enforcement-community partnerships, youth mobilization, and business
10 engagement. The department shall administer the project. The project
11 must include funding for programs delivering services in a range of
12 rural and urban counties across Washington.
13 (2) The department shall adopt policies and procedures necessary
14 to administer the project including: (a) An application process; (b)
15 disbursement of the grant award to selected applicants; (c) tracking
16 compliance and proper use of funds; and (d) measuring outcomes.
17 (3) Eligible applicants must:
18 (a) Be a public agency or nongovernmental organization;
19 (b) Have demonstrated experience with community engagement
20 initiatives that impact public safety;
21 (c) Include community engagement in their services;
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 1 (d) Have established or be willing to establish a coordinated
2 effort with committed partners, which must include law enforcement
3 and organizations committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion of
4 community members, including organizations whose leadership
5 specifically reflects the communities most impacted by racism; and
6 (e) Have established priorities, policies, and measurable goals
7 in compliance with the requirements of the project as provided in
8 subsection (5) of this section.
9 (4) A law enforcement agency applying for a grant award shall not
10 be considered an eligible applicant unless there are no other
11 eligible applicants from the community or county the law enforcement
12 agency serves.
13 (5) The grant recipient shall:
14 (a) Lead and facilitate neighborhood organizing initiatives,
15 including:
16 (i) Empowering community members with tools, skills, confidence,
17 and connections to identify, eradicate, and prevent illegal activity;
18 (ii) Making neighborhood improvements to deter future criminal
19 activity; or
20 (iii) Educating community members regarding how to connect with
21 city, county, and law enforcement resources;
22 (b) Build substantive law enforcement-community partnerships,
23 including:
24 (i) Building trust between community members and law enforcement
25 by facilitating purposeful antiracist practices and the development
26 of policies that lead to equal treatment under the law;
27 (ii) Establishing clear expectations for law enforcement to be
28 competent to practice fair and equitable treatment including
29 facilitating dialogue between law enforcement and community members
30 to increase understanding of the impact of historical racist
31 practices and current conflicts;
32 (iii) Community members regularly informing law enforcement,
33 through presentations, workshops, or forums, on community perceptions
34 of law enforcement and public safety issues;
35 (iv) Educating community members on the role and function of law
36 enforcement in the community;
37 (v) Clarifying expectations of law enforcement and of the role of
38 the community in crime prevention;
39 (vi) Educating community members on the best practices for
40 reporting emergency and nonemergency activities;
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 1 (vii) Recognizing community members for effective engagement and
2 community leadership; ((and))
3 (viii) Recognizing law enforcement officials for efforts to
4 engage underrepresented communities, improve community engagement and
5 empowerment, and reform law enforcement practices; and
6 (ix) Partnering with off-duty law enforcement officers to provide
7 hate crime prevention efforts, including at nonprofit religious
8 schools;
9 (c) Mobilize youth to partner with neighborhood groups and law
10 enforcement to prevent violence by:
11 (i) Helping them develop knowledge and skills to serve as leaders
12 in their communities;
13 (ii) Focusing on prevention of violence and substance abuse; or
14 (iii) Empowering youth to bring their voice to community issues
15 that impact healthy police-community relations;
16 (d) Engage businesses to help prevent crimes, such as vandalism
17 and burglaries, through safety training and other prevention
18 initiatives;
19 (e) Provide training and technical assistance on how to implement
20 community engagement, improving law enforcement and community
21 partnership, youth engagement, and business engagement;
22 (f) Identify and maintain consistent, experienced, and committed
23 leadership for managing the grant, including an administrator who
24 acts as an available point of contact with the department; and
25 (g) Collect and report data and information required by the
26 department.
27 (6) The department shall, in consultation with the Washington
28 state institute for public policy, develop reporting guidelines for
29 the grant recipients to measure whether the project had an impact on
30 crime rates and community engagement with, and perceptions of, law
31 enforcement. The department shall report to the appropriate
32 legislative policy committees by December 1st every odd-numbered year
33 with details on the implementation of the project and the outcomes of
34 the reported data and information.
35 (7) This section expires January 1, 2029.
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Statutes affected:
Original Bill: 43.330.545
Substitute Bill: 43.330.545