Spokane-area leaders should be open to learning from the high-utilizer initiative used by Seattle's prosecuting attorney's office and its partners to reduce crime and restore order to its downtown core. Ideally, best practices from that program could be put in motion and help to make downtown Spokane safer and cleaner.  

Yes, Spokane has a high-utilizer program that's doing good things. And yes, we're aware of—and to a certain extent, share—resistance to the notion of Spokane being more like Seattle. 

That said, data suggests that what they're doing on the West Side is working. And for anyone who had seen how bad that city's downtown got during the pandemic and has witnessed the more vibrant core there in recent months, that data passes the eye test.  

Ann Davison, the citizen-elected city attorney for Seattle, spoke about the program at an event hosted by the Downtown Spokane Partnership late last month. The numbers were eye-opening. 

An analysis from Davison's department found that a mere 118 people were responsible for 2,400 misdemeanor crimes that landed on the prosecutor's desk, with a relatively small number of people placing an undue burden on the justice system.

Essentially, a high utilizer is a person who has been referred for prosecution at least 12 times in five years and at least once in the most recent eight months for misdemeanor crimes, not including domestic violence and driving under the influence. 

Keep in mind, those referrals for prosecution only occur when someone is caught committing a crime. And when someone actually calls the police. And when the cops are able to show up in a timely manner. And when the offender is charged with a crime. The point being, a number of steps need to occur before prosecutors have something to review, and it's likely, though not proven, that those individuals account for more crime than is actually recorded. 

We don't know what those numbers look like for Spokane, but it wouldn't be surprising to learn that a relatively small number of people accounted for a disproportionate volume of crime here as well. 

The Seattle initiative involves swifter case review, faster charging decisions, coordination with police and county prosecutors, collaborating with service providers for those repeat offenders, and prioritizing jail space. Ultimately, many of those high utilizers end up behind bars. 

After the program was implemented, cases against the average high utilizer fell by almost two-thirds. 

Spokane officials point out that the high-utilizer program here is focused on treatment and behavioral health services for people cycling through jail and social services, and we applaud any and all upstream efforts to help people improve their lives and become less reliant on a system. 

But there is a need for a greater criminal justice focus on those who choose to continue to break laws, laws that at the most basic level, we as a society have deemed necessary to punish dangerous and unacceptable behavior. 

Because while we want to see individuals get the help they need, we also want victims of crimes, even nonviolent misdemeanor crimes, to receive justice. 

Ultimately, both assistance and justice are needed to make our city safe and clean, and leaders should be receptive to learning what has worked well elsewhere to improve what's being done in Spokane.