Will Seattle Renew Its Essential Crime-Solving Fingerprint Levy?

Tomorrow, Tuesday, 2/22/25. Seattle voters get to vote on whether to continue funding a fingerprinting system that helps the Seattle Police Department solve crime. The levy being voted on, if renewed, would last for seven years and cost approximately 2.75 cents per $1000 of property value in 2026. It would ensure that the Seattle Police Department and all King County police departments would have access to AFIS. (Automated fingerprint identification system). 

According to axios.com,
‘The Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is used by all King County cities and unincorporated areas, storing nearly 3 million records that can be matched to incoming or unidentified prints.
The program pays for terminals that record fingerprints and palm prints at police stations, mobile devices that officers can use to identify people in the field, and staff who help process crime scene evidence, among other services.’ 

To put this into perspective the average home In King County is assessed at about $850,000. The money that would be assessed to help provide funding for the fingerprint system would be approximately $23.00 from the levy next year. 

It seems to me that it is a small price to pay In order to facilitate King County Police Department's ability to solve crime. Don't tell me you want to get tough on crime and then not want to pay the 23 bucks next year. 

If you look at the King County voters' pamphlet you will notice a nice paragraph in favor of the levy. But nobody has put in any kind of Statement against the levy. I mean, really. To be against the levy, that means you would be for more crime, right? 

Good luck with that.
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