Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison has launched the “High Utilizer” initiative to focus prosecution resources on those people who are arrested repeatedly. The initiative also bars high utilizers from the Community Courts, which usually release accused offenders and provide them access to services. The City Attorney’s office initially identified 118 repeat offenders as high utilizes.

The next critical step is improving access to quality services in the King County Jail. As Deputy City Attorney Scott Lindsay told The Seattle Times, “[w]e really need to work with the jail to create meaningful interventions and meaningful re-entry plans” to help people break the cycle of reoffending.

The alarming rise in highly addictive fentanyl on downtown Seattle streets has exacerbated these problems. Fentanyl is cheap, plentiful, and, often, lethal. Its use on Metro buses is so common that one frequent bus rider told KIRO-7 News, “It’s (happening) on every other bus, I’d say, to be honest with you.”