The Enumclaw Police Department hopes it is getting close to putting the kibosh on a crime spree that has plagued local residents and businesses over the last several months, but officers are frustrated about what they see as a revolving door at King County’s Juvenile Detention facility.
At hand is a group of minors, perhaps as large as five, that are suspected to be the cause of “the majority of all the vehicle prowls and vehicle thefts that have been happening in town” this summer, said EPD Records Specialist Sarah Taylor.
At least two of these minors have already been arrested and charged with felonies, but after being released from the juvenile detention facility, went on to allegedly commit more crimes.
One of the juveniles, a 16 year old EPD believes is the “ringleader” of the group, was put onto the EPD’s radar during the school year, but when school let out, his behavior started “intensifying”, said Detective Amanda Reeves.
Last July, he was arrested with a 17 year old for allegedly burglarizing Griffin Brewing.
The 17 year old, lacking any prior charges, was released before his first court hearing, but the younger minor was booked at the juvenile detention facility on July 18.
However, after pleading not guilty at his arraignment, he was released back in Enumclaw on July 24 pending trial.
The 16 year old was arrested again, this time with a 13 year old, when the two allegedly stole five vehicles from Fugate Ford on Aug. 24; according to Fugate Ford Partner Kevin Kranc, they were able to eventually locate four of them.
Again, the 16 year old was booked at the juvenile detention facility; King County prosecutors successfully argued to a judge he should be held pending his arraignment on Aug. 30, though it is unclear if he will continue to be detained afterward.
However, the 13 year old was released from custody back into Enumclaw, where he was arrested on Aug. 25 with a 14 year old and 17 year old after several alleged car prowls and stealing a vehicle out of Black Diamond. According to the EPD, the 17 year old arrested in this incident is not the same as the one arrested in July.
Though this is one case in many, EPD Chief Tim Floyd said it is a “perfect example” of how recent legislation — specifically, a law that now requires minors to talk with an attorney before speaking to police and a law that prevents police from pursuing vehicles unless suspected of a violent crime — is failing to keep communities safe.
“These juveniles were recently booked for a felony commercial burglary in Enumclaw, only to be released to commit more commercial burglaries, vehicle thefts, car prowls and the like,” he added. “Vehicle theft has skyrocketed in the past two years in our state. Although most people think a stolen vehicle is ‘just a property crime’ they are used to mask much larger crimes such as burglaries and drive-by shootings. Without measures in place to hold suspects accountable, the trend will continue as there is no fear of consequences.”
Reeves, who has been a lead investigator in these incidents, expanded on how the new law requiring minors speak to legal counsel before law enforcement has made police work more difficult.
“Prior to being in investigations, I was in the school as the school resource officer prior to this legislation. I found that I was able to either clear juveniles from being suspects in crimes to being able to get statements from them as to why they committed crimes,” she said. “Ever since the legislation passed, it’s basically put a massive speed bump in how we would conduct our work, to be able to get juveniles into custody for serious crimes that they have committed, which ultimately has made it more difficult to arrest juveniles for said crimes.”
CITIES CRITICIZE KING COUNTY’S JUVENILE CRIME APPROACH
King County started a new juvenile restorative justice program — the Restorative Community Pathways program — in 2021, with the goal of diverting low-level, first-time youth offenders away from the traditional prison system, opting instead to try addressing underlying issues by connecting the juvenile with community services for mental health, homelessness, and more.
The program was met with pushback from some south King County cities like Auburn, Renton, Federal Way, and Kent in 2021, alleging treating juveniles this way will encourage more crime; other cities like Enumclaw and Black Diamond joined a growing list of concerned cities that penned a joint letter to county and state officials in 2022 about rising crime.
In addition to addressing changes in legislation that year that made it harder to prosecute drug possession and pursuit vehicles, these cities were concerned about “A felony prosecution system where juveniles and soon adults have their criminal charges deferred, yet treatment and restorative justice programs required of participants are difficult to find, are accompanied by costs that price low-income offenders out of programs, and there is limited accountability for failures in program compliance,” the letter reads, adding that “there is a need for improved and timely juvenile and adult felony criminal accountability at the County level.”
“… while the Cities support efforts to reform criminals and stop the revolving door of incarceration by treating the underlying conditions that lead to criminal activity, services must be available and proven, must be accompanied by real consequences for failure, must be equitably available, and the safety of the community must be the most important consideration,” the letter continues.
However, King County has held that the Restorative Community Pathways program is working as intended, claiming that out of 145 juveniles that participated in the program between Nov. 1, 2021 and Aug. 18, 2022, only 8% went on to be charged with another crime.
Conversely, 21% of juveniles that went through the traditional court system went on to be charged with another crime in that same eight month period.
It should be noted that in the case of the recent Enumclaw arrests, King County prosecutors have argued to keep the minors recently arrested in Enumclaw with prior criminal history detained at the juvenile detention facility.
