Gov. Gregoire addresses law enforcement members at the Jim Saunders Memorial Golf Tournament

July 11, 2008

*As Written*

Good Evening, and thank you Tommy (Pillow) for
the kind introduction.

I�m very pleased to be here tonight.

I had originally planned to be in Philadelphia tonight for the National Governor�s Association. But I can honestly say�

�I would rather not be in Philadelphia tonight�

�Instead, I�m honored to be right here in Wenatchee with the Washington State Patrol Troopers Association. I want you know how much I appreciate our strong partnership.

It is no accident that the Washington State Patrol won top honors from the International Association of Chiefs of Police this past year as the best state police agency in the nation. And you all should be very proud � as should Chief Batiste.

And I want you to know I deeply appreciate this particular occasion � a golf tournament to raise funds for the Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation�

�And to honor Jim Saunders -- your much-loved fellow trooper who was killed in the line of duty in Pasco almost nine years ago.

Please join me in welcoming Jim�s parents -- John and Jan -- whom I will be recognizing further in a few minutes.

But first I�d like to say how pleased I am that in my time as Governor, the Troopers Association and I have been able to accomplish an awful lot together.

At the top of the list � in my opinion � is an accomplishment that has special significance here tonight�

�And that is the law I signed last year that makes sure spouses and children of a Washington State Trooper killed in the line of duty continue to have state health-care coverage, and at no cost to them.

I was extremely happy to support and sign that law, which is known as the �Steve Frink and Jim Saunders Law.�

While I�m at it, I want you to know I was extremely pleased to work with the troopers to accomplish several other goals.

Together, we have increased the salaries of state troopers by a cumulative 17.6 percent since I took office 3 � years ago.

Together, we managed to win geographic pay for troopers working in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties � something the Troopers have been seeking for many years.

Together, we won legislation to stabilize the contribution rate into the Troopers� pension fund.

And together, we won legislation to increase the retirement age of State Troopers to 65 � up from 60.

(Say! you guys really are gluttons for punishment.)

I also know the Troopers Association cares very much about what we�re doing to keep Washingtonians safe. And I�d like to assure you that we have made real progress on that front.

With the help of our partners throughout the law enforcement community, we have done a lot to keep our communities safer.

First of all, I want to congratulate all of you for the fact that fatalities on Washington highways are at an all time low when measured by miles driven.

We had 74 fewer deaths on Washington roads last year and so far we are doing 14 percent better this year than last year. You are a large part of this success.

We extended my Operation Crackdown � which was begun last fall -- to help local law enforcement track down and hold accountable sex offenders who violate the terms of their community supervision.

This operation is proving a real success � with nearly 280 arrests around Washington so far to make our streets and neighborhoods safer.

We have partnered with five cities around the state to keep closer tabs on all offenders who are out of prison and under community supervision, with the aim of improving public safety and reducing recidivism.

Our first experience with this partnership was in White Center. We paired state community corrections officers with King County Sheriff�s deputies, and asked them to work the neighborhoods� keep tabs on offenders�get guns off the streets�and do whatever it takes to make the community safer.

And you know what? It�s working. White Center residents have told us the streets are a lot quieter and a lot safer.

We are providing $5 million to pay for in-person verification that sex offenders are living where they say they are, and also to make sure every one of them has a DNA sample on file.

We ask and expect local law enforcement to do these things, but we don�t give them the resources. But this year, we did give them the resources.

And we are creating a unified sex-offender registry on the Web, which will be statewide and updated in real time.

This matters to Washington families. They use the Web to see if offenders are in their neighborhoods, and this unified registry will make sure the right information is available and current.

Two years ago, we passed offender re-entry legislation.

If we can help the offenders get the skills they need to succeed, along with transitional housing, we know from experience that fewer will cycle back through the system, saving us all money, and making our communities safer in the bargain.

Washington has a recidivism rate of about 44 percent, which compares to a rate of about 70 percent in California. We don�t ever want to get as bad a California. Instead, we want to reduce our rate to even lower than it is now.

I�d now like to say a few words about the man for whom this golf tournament is named � Trooper Jim Saunders

Jim left us way too early. He was only 31, and he and wife, Billie, and his small children, were just starting out. I did not know Jim personally. But I know from many who did know him that he was a very big man in every sense of the word.

He had a big, big heart, and he was the kind of man who made people smile, even when they were down.

Tonight we want to honor him and his parents � and would ask Jan and John to please join me here at the podium.

The law we signed in 2007 � the law that provides health care coverage for spouses and dependents of troopers killed in the line of duty � came at least partly from the tragedy that took the life of Trooper Saunders.

So tonight, we want to honor the passage of that law by presenting a framed copy of the law, along with a picture of the signing, to Jan and John.

Thank you for having me here tonight, and be safe out there.