Desolation Ghosts Preface about police reform laws

I added a preface to the book explaining how politics created and corrected the conditions for the real-life events the book is about. I also updated the dedication.

Preface

After a police officer kneeled on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, suffocating him to death in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, police reform laws were passed in the United States of America. In Washington state, HB 1310 was signed into law May 18, 2021, with the intent of reining in use of force and increasing de-escalation strategies.

Unfortunately, in the aftermath of "defund the police", and starting in the rumor stages well before the bill even passed, some police agencies interpreted it to mean they could no longer legally detain people who were "belligerent, suicidal, or out of their minds" unless they were committing a crime. They began going hands off. They stopped taking people unable to care for themselves or at risk of harming themselves into protective custody.

One Washington state county sheriff's department summed up their new policy in response to HB 1310 as:

1. Show up
2. Is there a crime?
3. If no, walk away

People died.

In a quick response to the misinterpretation, Washington state passed HB 1735 on March 4, 2022, clarifying that officers were authorized and expected to use force, as needed, in addition to de-escalation, to help detain or transport people in behavioral health crisis.

This story is based, though fictionalized, on the true story of a person in crisis during this time who died because of the upheaval in law enforcement. There were others.

Though the problem was addressed, people in behavioral health crisis continue to be charged with crimes, harassed with misdemeanors, and sent to jail instead of mental health facilities.

New dedication:

For Emily O'Grady, Christopher Jarman,

Alexander Pisch, Ritchie Collins,

Doug Tangen, Nate Knight, Worth Allen,

Sage Adams

and all the other ghosts of

North Cascades National Park