June 27, 2025
Dear Executive Sidhu and Council Members,
Re: Justice Project’s Implementation Plan status
The Riveters Collective follows the Justice Project and appreciates the quarterly summary updates. As residents and sales tax payers in Whatcom County, we are attentive and concerned about how our tax dollars are being spent toward the new jail, behavioral health center, and pro-active programs to reduce jail sentencing.
We continue to encourage county leadership to develop a justice system that has off-ramps to keep people out of jail whenever possible and create a humane facility with programs that provide inmate health care and post-jail support so they can integrate back into our community.
As we follow the progress of this work, we have identified the following significant issues:
- We lack data regarding our justice system, which makes it impossible for the County to make informed decisions. We want:
- A system that collects data during each stage of the justice system, including every interaction with What-Comm dispatch, law enforcement, courts, jail, and one’s release.
- A publicly-viewable data dashboard that informs decision-makers.
- Without justice system data, the County cannot use data to determine the best size for the jail facility. We do not want a “build it and they will come”-sized jail.
- We are not confident the County tracks jail sales tax dollars closely enough to ensure they are only spent on Justice Project activities. We want clear tracking of sales tax income, which is transparent to the public.
- We’re unclear how the County measures its performance in following the Justice Project’s Implementation Plan and understand Village Reach will provide recommendations on how to measure and collect data to help with this. We strongly urge the County to hold town hall meetings to discuss the findings from this assessment and provide a status update.
Sincerely,
Justice System Committee
Riveters Collective