CHENEY – Council codified a change to municipal code 9a.03.010 through an emergency ordinance (Y-40) at a regular council meeting. Council approved all three readings in one night as a matter of emergency provision.
This ordinance allowed the council to change the municipal code which pertains to the prosecution of individuals violating orders of protection.
“In July of 2022, the state of Washington consolidated the laws concerning no-contact orders (RCW 7.105), and the Cheney municipal code was not updated to adopt that revision.” City Administrator Mark Schuller said.
“So we couldn’t prosecute violations of no-contact orders.” Schuller said. “It was first pointed out by a defense attorney, so we wanted to move quickly to rectify that.”
For a an unspecified period of time, as a result of the municipal code not being updated, Cheney courts were unable to prosecute violations of protection orders.
Police Chief Rick Beghtol said “Domestic violence reports have been steadily increasing over the years. So, more domestic violence reports means more orders of protection.”
Beghtol said that, because of the emotionally charged nature of domestic violence cases, it is important that the police department is able to act efficiently in pursuing investigations.
“We do have a domestic violence follow-up program headed up by Cheyanne Walters.” Beghtol said. \
Walters contacts the victims and the suspects, individually, in order to explain their rights and the process in general. We hope that through education we can help reduce the number of these events.” Beghtol said.
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