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Letter: HB 1951 reshapes law sensibly

The Columbian
Published: February 27, 2015, 12:00am

I support Washington state House Bill 1951, sponsored by Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, which clarifies our state law on the use of unmarked vehicles in law enforcement. Her proposed bill clarifies that county sheriff’s offices and local police departments can use unmarked police cars for official duties.

The vast majority of police cars are marked because they’re used in day-to-day police work responding to 911 calls, but not every deputy sheriff or police officer is assigned to patrol. Detectives, support staff, and management drive regular cars. It just makes sense that people not in uniform, not wearing a ballistic vest, not equipped to respond to 911 calls, should not be driving fully marked police cars.

Our elected sheriffs and police chiefs should have the ability to manage their vehicle fleets based on their own local needs.

Mike Cooke

Vancouver

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