The Island County Sheriff's Office recently earned an inauspicious distinction when it became the sheriff's office with the lowest staffing level in the state based on commissioned officers per 1,000 population.
In a recent article in
A few years ago, the office had three deputy prosecutors handling cases in district court, but now it's down to just one. To help with the estimated 1,200 cases a year, Banks said he's had to assign a couple of the more senior deputy prosecutors to handle a share of the work. As a result, he and Deputy Prosecutor Eric Ohme will handle more felony cases.
Banks said he's going to try to limit the one full-time district court deputy to 700 cases a year, but that's still a huge load. In comparison, the county's contract with a defense firm limits defense attorneys to 350 cases a year in district court.
Banks said he's been working with law enforcement to limit the kinds of cases that are sent to district court, but has encountered some resistance. He suggested that officers stop handing out infractions for routine driving while license suspended cases, which account for about 350 cases a year. He points out that state lawmakers have considered de-criminalizing such cases because criminal charges usually don't prevent people from driving without valid licenses, but just make it harder for low-income people to get valid licenses.
But Banks said the state patrol won't go along with the idea because of a statewide policy. Instead, he's looking at other ways to deal with suspended license cases. One idea is just to drop the cases after the first hearing, unless the deputy prosecutor decides it's an especially egregious example.
Yet the deputy prosecutors in district court, Banks said, will continue to give priority to DUI and domestic violence cases.
For more: http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/whidbey/wnt/news/114385959.html
Editorial: First, the Island County District Court prosecutor is an exceptional attorney, works very hard, and is respected by all that deal with her. She is definitely one of the best going. However, comments that imply that 700 cases a year overload the Island County Prosecutor's office bewilder me. When I was a prosecutor I dealt with more than 150 new criminal cases a month (nearly 1500 a year). I also dealt with several hundred infraction cases a month (these were easy). Truthfully I was overworked and it was a struggle giving the time necessary to each case. But 700 cases a year in District Court is not work overload in a District Court – at least not in other Counties.
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