From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

from
https://mynorthwest.com/john-curley/seattle-san-francisco-drug-use/4206478

rCyEmpathy gone wrongrCO: Former city attorney says Seattle should follow
San FranciscorCOs tougher approach to drug use
Feb 20, 2026, 7:11 PM

BY JOHN CURLEY SHOW
Weekdays on KIRO Newsradio 3pm - 7pm
San FranciscorCOs mayor signed legislation to arrest drug users and put
them in the cityrCOs Rapid Enforcement, Support, Evaluation, and Triage (RESET) Center, ABC 7 reported Tuesday.

Former Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison told rCLThe John Curley ShowrCY on KIRO Newsradio that she liked the idea and urged lawmakers in Seattle to
use police power to clean up the streets.

rCLIt isnrCOt arresting your way out of it, but you have to say
accountability is a different form of compassion,rCY she said. rCLWhen
someone is not able to be their own guardrails for their own behavior,
what theyrCOre doing to themselves, to the public, in our shared
resources, when they cannot be that for themselves, we should give a damn.rCY

Davison reiterated that city leaders should act now instead of waiting
until what they deem is the right time.

rCLWe will not just say rCyWe feel bad about doing that, so werCOre just not going to do it, and werCOll just watch them deteriorate instead.rCO I donrCOt really care if you feel bad while you do it, because werCOre looking at,
we need to help them get out of that situation,rCY she said.

But Davison cautioned that SeattlerCOs situation is more complex. She said
she stopped to help a man out in the cold Friday, offering him a warm
place, but he refused. The man told Davison he preferred to stay in his
car. Even after she pressed, he declined and said he drank a lot, though
he thanked her for talking to him.

rCLThererCOs this place where itrCOs like, OK, whatrCOs best for that man? I mean, herCOs probably late 60s. ItrCOs not sleeping outside tonight. ItrCOs really cold. And so what are we doing when we just say, rCyWell, werCOre
going to wait until herCOs now somehow ill, and an ambulance comes, and we take him to the ER,'rCY she said.

rCLWe all take that cost on, and so I think itrCOs just a lack of connection with understanding rCo when you donrCOt let systems work, because you think that you feel bad when the systems work, you actually make the
dysfunction go into other systems as well, and clog up so much. Some of
itrCOs a lack of political courage, frankly, which is what I felt like we
had, and some of it is empathy gone wrong,rCY she continued.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 rCo 7 p.m. on KIRO
Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.




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