VANCOUVER, Wash. (KATU) — The police officer’s union in Vancouver, Washington, is calling on residents to speak before the City Council tonight about a recent policy change on misdemeanor prosecution.
Last week, KATU reported that the city attorney’s office issued a memo announcing it is “limiting the types of cases that can be cited into court.” A full list of the impacted misdemeanors is below.
City Manager Lon Pluckhahn said in a Friday statement that the state’s public defender shortage, coupled with caseload caps set by the Washington Supreme Court, have forced the attorney’s office to drop criminal cases because of a lack of available criminal defense attorneys…