In House Bill 1064, police officers are let off the hook for unjust use of deadly force; While they receive ‘training’ to use deadly force only when needed, Washington state Seattle PD had been court ordered to reduce aggression and found guilty of “constitutional violations regarding the use of force that result from structural problems, as well as serious concerns about biased policing” (Department of Justice) and “Officers and activists alike offer mixed reviews on the impact of the court order” (Seattle Times). These concerns were supposed to be addressed but the Seattle PD is still nationally known for their unnecessary violence. Washington State still has “good faith” and “malicious intent” clauses. These clauses are meant to protect cops, but are too lenient and keep cops from being held accountable for their actions. They are “an almost perfect defense to a mistaken use of force has kept police officers out of court as defendants” (King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg). This is especially problematic when “...a disproportionate number of the 213 [deaths due to police encounters from 2004 - 2013] were African Americans” (The Seattle Times). You might think 213 deaths over 9 years isn’t enough for it to be that big of a problem, but these deaths are only ones that were notable enough to be covered by the media or reported in periods where there wasn’t anything major going on in the world and doesn’t include numbers victims of police brutality that lived. 213 victims of police violence in WA is an incredibly inaccurate and conservative number. We need to hold police accountable for acts of senseless violence in Washington State and we can’t until these malevolent clauses are repealed!