Before we can talk about affordability, parks, schools, or economic opportunity, we have to answer a simpler question:
Do people feel safe where they live?
Over the past few years, public safety has become one of the issues I hear about most from Snohomish County residents. Whether I’m talking with parents, small business owners, neighborhood associations, or seniors, the concern is remarkably consistent. People want communities where they feel safe raising a family, starting a business, taking a walk through the park, or simply coming home at the end of the day.
I believe we can build those communities, but we are not there yet.
I also believe we’ve made this conversation more complicated than it needs to be.
Last year, I spent several hours on a ride-along with one of our Sheriff’s deputies and an embedded crisis responder. Going in, I expected to see a day defined by crime. Instead, what struck me was how few of the calls fit neatly into any one category.
Over the course of a few hours, we encountered multiple people struggling with homelessness, severe addiction, and mental health crises. We spoke with frustrated neighbors who had called for help more than once. The deputy worked to keep everyone safe. The crisis responder worked to de-escalate situations and connect people with services. Everyone was doing their job well, yet it was obvious that no single agency could solve the problems we were seeing.
That afternoon reinforced something I’ve come to believe after six years on the County Council.
Many of our public safety challenges don’t begin as law enforcement problems. They begin as addiction problems. Mental health problems. Housing problems. Family problems.
They’re all still public safety problems. But recognizing where they begin changes how we solve them.
Some believe we can arrest our way out of these challenges. Others believe enforcement should rarely be part of the answer. From what I’ve seen, neither approach is enough by itself. Lasting progress requires treatment, prevention, accountability, and public safety working together.
Compassion and accountability aren’t competing values. They depend on one another.
Last month I shared some of my own family’s struggle with addiction. That experience is one reason I care so deeply about expanding access to treatment and behavioral health services. Addiction destroys lives, tears apart families, and leaves lasting scars. People deserve every opportunity to recover.
We also have to be honest about what isn’t working.
Good intentions don’t automatically produce good outcomes. If someone cycles through addiction for years without intervention, that’s not compassionate. If neighborhoods absorb repeated criminal activity while residents are told to simply be more understanding, that’s not compassionate either. If parks become places families avoid, we’ve failed the people who rely on those spaces just as surely as we’ve failed those living in crisis.
Real compassion asks us to care about everyone affected.
The person battling addiction.
The child who no longer feels comfortable walking through the neighborhood park.
The small business owner whose storefront has been vandalized again.
The deputy answering the same call for the tenth time.
The corrections officer watching the same individuals cycle through the jail because the help they need still isn’t available.
Government has a responsibility to all of them.
One challenge that receives far too little attention is our public safety workforce itself.
Over the past several years, one thing I’ve found broad agreement on is that recruiting and retaining qualified deputies has become increasingly difficult. A strong public safety system depends on having enough well-trained people willing to do some of the hardest jobs in our community.
This hiring challenge isn’t new. Law enforcement agencies are now entering their fifth consecutive year of recruiting shortages, and Snohomish County isn’t unique.
Law enforcement agencies across Washington, and across much of the country, are struggling to recruit and retain qualified officers. The reasons are varied. Police work has become more demanding. Housing has become dramatically more expensive. Departments are competing for a shrinking pool of qualified applicants. Experienced officers are retiring. And yes, public attitudes toward the profession have changed considerably over the past several years. Our Sheriff’s Office hasn’t been immune to those same challenges.
Today, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has 48 vacant commissioned deputy positions out of roughly 244 authorized positions. That’s nearly one in every five deputies we should have serving our community.
No single sheriff, county council, or elected official created this challenge. And no one person will solve it alone.
It’s a challenge our entire community has a responsibility to solve together.
Staffing shortages like these don’t just exist on a spreadsheet.
They mean more overtime. Increased burnout. Fewer proactive patrols. Longer investigations. And growing difficulty recruiting the next generation of officers.
Those are realities our deputies, corrections officers, and Sheriff’s Office leadership are working through every day.
If we want outstanding public servants, we have to make public service a career people can realistically choose.
That means supporting high standards, expecting professionalism and accountability, paying people enough to build a life in the communities they serve, and ensuring the profession continues to earn the respect of the communities it serves.
Another important experience I recently had was when I toured the Snohomish County Jail and spent time talking with corrections officers. One theme came up repeatedly: many of the people entering the jail are struggling with untreated addiction or mental illness. Corrections officers are increasingly managing the downstream consequences of failures elsewhere in our behavioral health system.
We can’t ignore that reality.
None of these challenges were created overnight, and none will be solved by any one elected official, department, or political party. They’ll require sustained leadership, honest conversations about what works, and a willingness to invest in the people doing some of our community’s hardest work.
Public safety is about more than responding after something has gone wrong. It’s about preventing crises before they happen and helping people change the trajectory of their lives.
For me, that means focusing on four priorities:
Support our public safety workforce. Recruit and retain outstanding deputies and corrections officers by providing the resources, training, and compensation needed to build a strong workforce.
Expand behavioral health and addiction treatment. Recovery should be available when people are ready for it, with real pathways toward long-term stability.
Protect our neighborhoods and public spaces. Families should feel comfortable enjoying parks, trails, libraries, and business districts without accepting disorder as inevitable.
Invest in prevention. The best crime is the crime that never happens. Early intervention, youth mentorship, gang prevention, and strong community partnerships save lives while reducing future costs.
Public safety shouldn’t be viewed as a conservative issue or a progressive issue.
It’s a community issue.
It’s a community issue.
Every resident deserves to feel safe. Every person struggling deserves the opportunity to recover. Every neighborhood deserves to thrive. Those goals aren’t in conflict. They’re what a healthy community looks like.
I don’t believe we have to choose between supporting law enforcement and investing in mental health. I don’t believe we have to choose between helping people in crisis and protecting the people around them.
The strongest communities do both.
That’s the kind of Snohomish County we should strive to build. How do you feel we could improve public safety in Snohomish County?
About Snohomish County Council member Jared Mead
Jared Mead has served on the Snohomish County Council for the past six years. He was born and raised in Snohomish County, and his wife Krystal—an Everett Public Schools teacher—and he are raising their four children in South County. He writes this newsletter to stay connected with the people who call Snohomish County home and to encourage an honest conversation about its future.
COMMENTARY DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Lynnwood Times nor any of its affiliate
Commentary: What Does It Take to Feel Safe in Snohomish County?
What Makes a Community Feel Safe?
By: Snohomish County Councilman Jared Mead
Before we can talk about affordability, parks, schools, or economic opportunity, we have to answer a simpler question:
Do people feel safe where they live?
Over the past few years, public safety has become one of the issues I hear about most from Snohomish County residents. Whether I’m talking with parents, small business owners, neighborhood associations, or seniors, the concern is remarkably consistent. People want communities where they feel safe raising a family, starting a business, taking a walk through the park, or simply coming home at the end of the day.
I believe we can build those communities, but we are not there yet.
I also believe we’ve made this conversation more complicated than it needs to be.
Last year, I spent several hours on a ride-along with one of our Sheriff’s deputies and an embedded crisis responder. Going in, I expected to see a day defined by crime. Instead, what struck me was how few of the calls fit neatly into any one category.
Over the course of a few hours, we encountered multiple people struggling with homelessness, severe addiction, and mental health crises. We spoke with frustrated neighbors who had called for help more than once. The deputy worked to keep everyone safe. The crisis responder worked to de-escalate situations and connect people with services. Everyone was doing their job well, yet it was obvious that no single agency could solve the problems we were seeing.
That afternoon reinforced something I’ve come to believe after six years on the County Council.
Many of our public safety challenges don’t begin as law enforcement problems. They begin as addiction problems. Mental health problems. Housing problems. Family problems.
They’re all still public safety problems. But recognizing where they begin changes how we solve them.
Some believe we can arrest our way out of these challenges. Others believe enforcement should rarely be part of the answer. From what I’ve seen, neither approach is enough by itself. Lasting progress requires treatment, prevention, accountability, and public safety working together.
Compassion and accountability aren’t competing values. They depend on one another.
Last month I shared some of my own family’s struggle with addiction. That experience is one reason I care so deeply about expanding access to treatment and behavioral health services. Addiction destroys lives, tears apart families, and leaves lasting scars. People deserve every opportunity to recover.
We also have to be honest about what isn’t working.
Good intentions don’t automatically produce good outcomes. If someone cycles through addiction for years without intervention, that’s not compassionate. If neighborhoods absorb repeated criminal activity while residents are told to simply be more understanding, that’s not compassionate either. If parks become places families avoid, we’ve failed the people who rely on those spaces just as surely as we’ve failed those living in crisis.
Real compassion asks us to care about everyone affected.
The person battling addiction.
The child who no longer feels comfortable walking through the neighborhood park.
The small business owner whose storefront has been vandalized again.
The deputy answering the same call for the tenth time.
The corrections officer watching the same individuals cycle through the jail because the help they need still isn’t available.
Government has a responsibility to all of them.
One challenge that receives far too little attention is our public safety workforce itself.
Over the past several years, one thing I’ve found broad agreement on is that recruiting and retaining qualified deputies has become increasingly difficult. A strong public safety system depends on having enough well-trained people willing to do some of the hardest jobs in our community.
This hiring challenge isn’t new. Law enforcement agencies are now entering their fifth consecutive year of recruiting shortages, and Snohomish County isn’t unique.
Law enforcement agencies across Washington, and across much of the country, are struggling to recruit and retain qualified officers. The reasons are varied. Police work has become more demanding. Housing has become dramatically more expensive. Departments are competing for a shrinking pool of qualified applicants. Experienced officers are retiring. And yes, public attitudes toward the profession have changed considerably over the past several years. Our Sheriff’s Office hasn’t been immune to those same challenges.
Today, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has 48 vacant commissioned deputy positions out of roughly 244 authorized positions. That’s nearly one in every five deputies we should have serving our community.
No single sheriff, county council, or elected official created this challenge. And no one person will solve it alone.
It’s a challenge our entire community has a responsibility to solve together.
Staffing shortages like these don’t just exist on a spreadsheet.
They mean more overtime. Increased burnout. Fewer proactive patrols. Longer investigations. And growing difficulty recruiting the next generation of officers.
Those are realities our deputies, corrections officers, and Sheriff’s Office leadership are working through every day.
If we want outstanding public servants, we have to make public service a career people can realistically choose.
That means supporting high standards, expecting professionalism and accountability, paying people enough to build a life in the communities they serve, and ensuring the profession continues to earn the respect of the communities it serves.
Another important experience I recently had was when I toured the Snohomish County Jail and spent time talking with corrections officers. One theme came up repeatedly: many of the people entering the jail are struggling with untreated addiction or mental illness. Corrections officers are increasingly managing the downstream consequences of failures elsewhere in our behavioral health system.
We can’t ignore that reality.
None of these challenges were created overnight, and none will be solved by any one elected official, department, or political party. They’ll require sustained leadership, honest conversations about what works, and a willingness to invest in the people doing some of our community’s hardest work.
Public safety is about more than responding after something has gone wrong. It’s about preventing crises before they happen and helping people change the trajectory of their lives.
For me, that means focusing on four priorities:
Support our public safety workforce. Recruit and retain outstanding deputies and corrections officers by providing the resources, training, and compensation needed to build a strong workforce.
Expand behavioral health and addiction treatment. Recovery should be available when people are ready for it, with real pathways toward long-term stability.
Protect our neighborhoods and public spaces. Families should feel comfortable enjoying parks, trails, libraries, and business districts without accepting disorder as inevitable.
Invest in prevention. The best crime is the crime that never happens. Early intervention, youth mentorship, gang prevention, and strong community partnerships save lives while reducing future costs.
Public safety shouldn’t be viewed as a conservative issue or a progressive issue.
It’s a community issue.
It’s a community issue.
Every resident deserves to feel safe. Every person struggling deserves the opportunity to recover. Every neighborhood deserves to thrive. Those goals aren’t in conflict. They’re what a healthy community looks like.
I don’t believe we have to choose between supporting law enforcement and investing in mental health. I don’t believe we have to choose between helping people in crisis and protecting the people around them.
The strongest communities do both.
That’s the kind of Snohomish County we should strive to build. How do you feel we could improve public safety in Snohomish County?
About Snohomish County Council member Jared Mead
Jared Mead has served on the Snohomish County Council for the past six years. He was born and raised in Snohomish County, and his wife Krystal—an Everett Public Schools teacher—and he are raising their four children in South County. He writes this newsletter to stay connected with the people who call Snohomish County home and to encourage an honest conversation about its future.
COMMENTARY DISCLAIMER: The views and comments expressed are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the Lynnwood Times nor any of its affiliate
Author: Lynnwood Times Contributor