CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT
ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5353
Chapter 327, Laws of 2021
67th Legislature
2021 Regular Session
LAW ENFORCEMENT—COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT—GRANTS
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 25, 2021
Passed by the Senate April 14, 2021 CERTIFICATE
Yeas 48 Nays 0
I, Brad Hendrickson, Secretary of
the Senate of the State of
DENNY HECK Washington, do hereby certify that
President of the Senate the attached is ENGROSSED
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5353 as
passed by the Senate and the House
of Representatives on the dates
Passed by the House April 9, 2021 hereon set forth.
Yeas 97 Nays 1
BRAD HENDRICKSON
LAURIE JINKINS
Secretary
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
Approved May 18, 2021 11:52 AM FILED
May 18, 2021
Secretary of State
JAY INSLEE State of Washington
Governor of the State of Washington
 ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5353
AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE
Passed Legislature - 2021 Regular Session
State of Washington 67th Legislature 2021 Regular Session
By Senate Law & Justice (originally sponsored by Senators Conway,
Darneille, Nguyen, and Wilson, C.)
READ FIRST TIME 02/12/21.
1 AN ACT Relating to creating a partnership model that facilitates
2 community engagement with law enforcement; adding a new section to
3 chapter 43.330 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an
4 expiration date.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
6 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that community
7 engagement is a foundational principle of successful community
8 policing practices. When individuals and neighborhood groups are
9 encouraged to partner with law enforcement, a powerful alliance can
10 be built on mutual trust and respect and mitigate polarization
11 between police departments and community groups. A successful
12 community-police partnership leads to the achievement of shared goals
13 of improving safety and quality of life and ensuring that public
14 safety services are tailored to the needs of local communities.
15 The legislature recognizes current efforts in Washington to
16 mobilize communities to insist on equitable and accountable practices
17 that will result in community participation in public safety efforts
18 as well as establish cooperative lines of communication between
19 civilians and law enforcement. Laudable community engagement models
20 such as the safe streets campaign in Pierce county, safe Yakima in
21 Yakima county, and the Okanogan county community coalition are
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 1 recognized to mitigate crime trends by engaging the community and law
2 enforcement in cooperative efforts to improve public safety.
3 The department of commerce intends to foster community engagement
4 with law enforcement officers through the creation of a community
5 engagement project in 15 communities across the state of Washington
6 with a mix of urban, rural, and suburban areas to facilitate
7 community-law enforcement partnerships and improve police-community
8 relations. The department will implement a project evaluation to
9 measure and examine the impact of local initiatives on community
10 engagement, neighborhood safety, and positive community-police
11 relations.
12 The funded projects will facilitate the empowerment of
13 communities to engage in crime prevention efforts through
14 neighborhood organizing, law enforcement-community partnerships,
15 youth mobilization, and business engagement.
16 NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.330
17 RCW to read as follows:
18 (1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this
19 specific purpose, a project is created in the department to foster
20 community engagement through neighborhood organizing, law
21 enforcement-community partnerships, youth mobilization, and business
22 engagement. The department shall administer the project. The project
23 must include 12 to 15 grant awards in those counties that have
24 demonstrated their commitment to programs that promote community
25 engagement in public safety including the following counties:
26 Spokane, Pierce, King, Okanogan, Yakima, Cowlitz, Clark, Chelan-
27 Douglas, Walla-Walla, Benton-Franklin, Grant, and Snohomish.
28 (2) The department shall adopt policies and procedures necessary
29 to administer the project including: (a) An application process; (b)
30 disbursement of the grant award to selected applicants; (c) tracking
31 compliance and proper use of funds; and (d) measuring outcomes.
32 (3) Eligible applicants must:
33 (a) Be a public agency or nongovernmental organization;
34 (b) Have demonstrated experience with community engagement
35 initiatives that impact public safety;
36 (c) Have community engagement;
37 (d) Have established or be willing to establish a coordinated
38 effort with committed partners, which must include law enforcement
39 and organizations committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion of
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 1 community members, including organizations whose leadership
2 specifically reflects the communities most impacted by racism; and
3 (e) Have established priorities, policies, and measurable goals
4 in compliance with the requirements of the project as provided in
5 subsection (5) of this section.
6 (4) A law enforcement agency applying for a grant award shall not
7 be considered an eligible applicant unless there are no other
8 eligible applicants from the community or county the law enforcement
9 agency serves.
10 (5) The grant recipient shall:
11 (a) Lead and facilitate neighborhood organizing initiatives,
12 including:
13 (i) Empowering community members with tools, skills, confidence,
14 and connections to identify, eradicate, and prevent illegal activity;
15 (ii) Making neighborhood improvements to deter future criminal
16 activity; and
17 (iii) Educating community members regarding how to connect with
18 city, county, and law enforcement resources;
19 (b) Build substantive law enforcement-community partnerships,
20 including:
21 (i) Building trust between community members and law enforcement
22 by facilitating purposeful antiracist practices and the development
23 of policies that lead to equal treatment under the law;
24 (ii) Establishing clear expectations for law enforcement to be
25 competent to practice fair and equitable treatment including
26 facilitating dialogue between law enforcement and community members
27 to increase understanding of the impact of historical racist
28 practices and current conflicts;
29 (iii) Community members regularly informing law enforcement,
30 through presentations, workshops, or forums, on community perceptions
31 of law enforcement and public safety issues;
32 (iv) Educating community members on the role and function of law
33 enforcement in the community;
34 (v) Clarifying expectations of law enforcement and of the role of
35 the community in crime prevention;
36 (vi) Educating community members on the best practices for
37 reporting emergency and nonemergency activities;
38 (vii) Recognizing community members for effective engagement and
39 community leadership; and
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 1 (viii) Recognizing law enforcement officials for efforts to
2 engage underrepresented communities, improve community engagement and
3 empowerment, and reform law enforcement practices;
4 (c) Mobilize youth to partner with neighborhood groups and law
5 enforcement to prevent violence by:
6 (i) Helping them develop knowledge and skills to serve as leaders
7 in their communities;
8 (ii) Focusing on prevention of violence and substance abuse; and
9 (iii) Empowering youth to bring their voice to community issues
10 that impact healthy police-community relations;
11 (d) Engage businesses to help prevent crimes, such as vandalism
12 and burglaries, through safety training and other prevention
13 initiatives;
14 (e) Provide training and technical assistance on how to implement
15 community engagement, improving law enforcement and community
16 partnership, youth engagement, and business engagement;
17 (f) Identify and maintain consistent, experienced, and committed
18 leadership for managing the grant, including an administrator who
19 acts as an available point of contact with the department; and
20 (g) Collect and report data and information required by the
21 department.
22 (6) The department shall, in consultation with the Washington
23 state institute for public policy, develop reporting guidelines for
24 the grant recipient in order to measure whether the safe streets
25 pilot project had an impact on crime rates and community engagement
26 with, and perceptions of, law enforcement. The department shall
27 submit a preliminary report to the legislature with details on the
28 selected grant recipients and the reporting guidelines by January 1,
29 2022. The department shall submit a final report on the safe streets
30 pilot project, including an analysis of the reported data required
31 under this subsection, by December 1, 2023.
32 (7) This section expires January 1, 2024.
Passed by the Senate April 14, 2021.
Passed by the House April 9, 2021.
Approved by the Governor May 18, 2021.
Filed in Office of Secretary of State May 18, 2021.
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