First day of Seattle’s new drug law brings push by police, arrests

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Hours after Seattle’s new law against public drug use and drug possession took effect Friday, police officers swept through two neighborhoods and made about two dozen arrests, police Chief Adrian Diaz said.

Police handed out flyers Friday morning in an effort to educate people about the controversial new law, then returned Friday afternoon to enforce the gross misdemeanor offenses, Diaz said in a news conference at the Seattle Police Department headquarters.

The operations targeted the vicinity of 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street in the Chinatown International District’s Little Saigon neighborhood and Third Avenue and Pine Street in downtown. Both areas have seen prominent public drug use for years.

Ten people were put into jail, mostly on outstanding felony warrants for offenses that included rape, domestic violence and assault, Diaz said. Two of the 10 were jailed on new offenses, including possession of drugs with intent to deliver and possession of a stolen firearm, the chief said. Police “might not have come into contact” with the suspects if not for the new drug law, he said.

An additional 15 people who were arrested were almost immediately referred to case workers, and 13 accepted those referrals, Diaz said. Some people were released directly from an SPD precinct, without going to jail, he said.

Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess later described the arrest and referral numbers that Diaz shared as preliminary and subject to change.