OLYMPIA, Wash. – A Washington State House Bill is going through the state legislature.
HB 2442 would create a committee to add names to the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial. If it passes, a committee of different law enforcement agencies will be added to the Behind the Badge Foundation.
According to the Behind the Badge Foundation website, it decides what names will be added to the memorial.
The foundation provides support to Washington’s law enforcement agencies, families and communities after an officer has died or suffered a severe injury in the line of duty.
Karen Shuey the widow of Daryl Shuey a Pierce County officer who died of a heart attack while at a crime scene in 2020, testified on February 1 in support of the bill.
“Those who are in charge of making a decision and voting are voting with the mindset of what they believe in a line of duty death,” Shuey testified. “I don’t want any family to go through what my family went through.”
She told lawmakers she reached out to State Representative Spencer Hutchens and asked what can be done about this.
Rep. Hutchens proposed a committee of law enforcement organizations along with the Behind the Badge Foundation to determine whose names could go on the memorial.
Katie DeRosier’s husband, Cowlitz County Deputy Justin DeRosier, was shot in the line of duty in April of 2019.
DeRosier testified in opposition to the bill, saying that changing the way they decide who can and can’t be on the wall would affect the wall’s integrity.
“The perceived leniency of inclusion it offers jeopardizes the purpose of the memorial,” said DeRosier. “A disservice to those already engraved in its surface.”
According to Rep. Hutchens, the bill will not call for changes to the criteria in place but would add more voices from law enforcement.
