King County Sheriff’s Office on Supreme Court ruling: ‘We will not arrest based on the change in this law until other issues are addressed’; Mayor responds

In a 6-3 decision on the City of Grants Pass OR v. Johnson et al, the Supreme Court on Friday, June 28, 2024 upheld anti-camping laws, allowing cities to ban homeless individuals from sleeping in public spaces, including in Burien.

The court ruled that homelessness is not a status protected by the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment, even in communities lacking access to indoor shelters.

We reached out to the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) to see how this ruling will affect their police services via the Burien Police Department, and they sent us a statement referencing the City of Burien’s Ordinance 832, which is the basis for the county’s lawsuit (and city’s countersuit) over enforcing the homelessness issue in Burien.

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“We will not arrest based on the change in this law until other issues are addressed, such as an ordinance which includes prohibited camping locations and more precision on the conduct prohibited in designated no-camping zones,” KCSO said. “Our deputies are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and we remain steadfast in our position that Burien’s ordinance violates these rights.”

Here’s KCSO’s full statement:

“Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling does not change our current policy on enforcing the camping ban in Burien. We will not arrest based on the change in this law until other issues are addressed, such as an ordinance which includes prohibited camping locations and more precision on the conduct prohibited in designated no-camping zones. As noted by the Supreme Court, “the Constitution provides many additional limits on state prosecutorial power, promising fair notice of the laws ” (see opinion at p. 15).

“Our deputies are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and we remain steadfast in our position that Burien’s ordinance violates these rights.

“The King County Sheriff’s office and its deputies serving the Burien community will continue to enforce all other City of Burien laws.”

Burien Mayor Responds

Here’s a response statement Burien Mayor Kevin Schilling sent The B-Town Blog on Sunday, June 30, 2024:

“The City of Burien contracts with the King County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services. The King County Sheriff has not been enforcing our tent regulation ordinance since April, even after they had previously been enforcing it and, in fact, help craft it. The suit they filed against us in US District Court to determine the ordinance’s constitutionality has not been ruled on yet. We await that decision by the US District Court Judge.

“We know, however, that it is constitutional due to the US Supreme Court’s opinion on Grants Pass v. Johnson, as well as crafting it within the framework of Martin v. Boise. I would expect that every government follows the rule of law determined by a court, and that includes King County and the Sheriff, especially after King County Executive Dow Constantine praised the US Supreme Court ruling on Friday himself.

“Burien will continue to focus on keeping our community safe and accesible for everyone while working hard and compassionately toward getting people off the street and into services.”

Read our extensive previous coverage of this issue here.

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