Book explores our own slice of paradise, D6
ETHAN WELTY PHOTO
SUNDAY, 10.12.2014
Online reporting available for minor crimes
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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$1.50 (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)
Dueling initiatives
The system will save time for officers and victims, but some jurisdictions will keep the personal contact intact. By Eric Stevick and Rikki King Herald Writers
EVERETT — In many ways, it’s simply a matter of time and a sign of the times. The Snohomish County Sheriff ’s Office and several local police agencies have started using a new online crime reporting website they hope will save victims of minor crimes time while freeing up patrol officers. Instead of waiting hours for an officer to stop by the house, the report quickly can be filed online. Consider the case of a smashed mailbox, Lake Stevens police Cmdr. Dennis Taylor said. The case is cold, and there are no suspects, and the average cost of sending an officer out on the road runs up to $80 an hour, once fuel and equipment are accounted for, Taylor said. His agency has received about 20 online reports so far. The site — www.mycrimereport.us — also is being used by the sheriff ’s office, Darrington, Everett, Granite Falls, Gold Bar, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Snohomish, Stanwood and Sultan. Lynnwood uses another service to accept reports through the city website. Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo and Brier police don’t See REPORTS, Page A6
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IAN TERRY / THE HERALD
A Washington Arms Collectors gun show in Monroe in September provides plenty of options for Grant Bledsoe (center) as he looks at handguns for sale at Big J’s Outdoor Store’s booth.
Gun measures with opposing aims present voters with a choice By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
Voting begins this week to decide a long-brewing duel of ballot measures involving guns — one to require background checks on the buyers involved in nearly every weapon sale in the state, the other to block expansion of existing law. In all, more than $10 million is being spent in the nation’s only electoral combat between backers of gun rights and gun control this year. Most of the money, and nearly all the attention, is on Initiative 594, which would expand state law to require background checks on private sales of firearms, such as transactions conducted online and at gun shows.
Just above this measure on the ballot is Initiative 591, which would bar the state from enacting rules on background checks that exceed the requirements of federal law. In other words, it would prevent everything that I-594 sets out to do. State and federal laws require background checks to buy a pistol and other types of guns from federally licensed firearms dealers but are silent on purchases from private sellers. Initiative 594 sponsors say that the unregulated private market is where criminals and those barred from buying a weapon — because of a mental illness or a domestic-violence protective order — do their shopping. Closing what they deem a loophole in the law will make
IAN TERRY / THE HERALD
Attendees walk through the aisles of a Washington Arms Collectors gun show in Monroe.
it harder for felons and other potentially dangerous people to evade a background checks and obtain guns, said Geoff Potter of the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility, the committee conducting the pro-594 campaign.
If passed, I-594 won’t prevent people from buying a gun online or at a private gun show, said Kristin Meilicke, of Edmonds, at an Edmonds City Council hearing on Tuesday. See GUNS, Page A6
FUNCTIONAL ART
FUMBLES AND SACKS
HOLE IN THE WALL
Pot law change suddenly makes glass artist’s job legit. Good Life, D1
Huskies hold Bears to a single touchdown in crushing victory. Sports, C1
Local runners do well at 31st annual cross country invitational. Sports, C1
Irregular 61/52, C10
SUNDAY
VOL. 114, NO. 244 © 2014 THE DAILY HERALD CO.
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