Letter to the Community, June 2020

Monday, June 8, 2020

To Our Carnation Residents:

The recent events of the past weeks have affected all of us in the community and nation very deeply. Your City Council and local King County Sheriff's Office strongly condemn the actions that led to George Floyd's death. The tactics utilized by the Officers in Minnesota were extreme and highlight the continued inequality for people of color in our country, as well as the importance of proper police training and accountability.

The City of Carnation contracts with the King County Sheriff's department, and here is a statement that Sheriff Mitzi G. Johanknecht shared with us:

"The King County Sheriff's Office is a model agency for training in our State. While the State requires our deputies to receive 8 hours of Crisis Intervention Training, we require them to have 40 hours. Another important component of reducing use of force in the field is something called De-Escalation Training. The basic principle of De-Escalation is creating physical distance between a combative subject and our personnel, when possible, and using verbal skills to calm emotions, bringing the subject into compliance and creating a better outcome."

"Since I took office, we have also spent considerable time strengthening and improving our use of force policies and the process for reviewing internal and community complaints about uses of force and potential misconduct. Further, all members of the Sheriff's Office are required to attend 8 hours of Implicit Bias Training."

We want to reassure our Carnation community that we are in constant communication with our local Deputy as well as surrounding cities. We totally support peaceful protesting, but cannot condone the unlawful rioting and looting. See something? Say something. Dial 9-1-1.

Letter to the Community, June 2020 PDF