Decisions coming out of the Pacific Northwest have a lot of people scratching their heads lately wondering what exactly is going on. It’s come to the point where Portland and Seattle are basically volleying bad ideas back and forth.

The latest head scratcher comes from the Emerald City of Seattle, where they are talking about legalizing most misdemeanor crimes. This idea comes as the city recently updated plans to install heroin-injection sites and lay off more police in a department that already has record low staffing.

Seattle council member Lisa Herbold is in favor of the new misdemeanor legalization policy, which she feels unfairly targets the homeless or those who suffer from mental illness. The policy would allow criminal acts to be dismissed if the perpetrators showed symptoms of substance abuse or if their crime was related to their homelessness or poverty.

The offenses that would be dismissed by this new ordinance, if passed, would include basically anything below a felony, other than DUI or domestic violence.

Former Seattle public safety advisor Scott Lindsey chimed in on the proposal on Twitter, saying “It is hard to over-state the impact that this proposed Council legislation would have on public safety in Seattle. The perpetrator of any misdemeanor assault in Seattle could claim anxiety disorder and be un-prosecutable and un-arrestable. Seattle would be lawless by design.”

The Seattle city council is expected to vote on the motion later this month. If passed, the city will probably look forward to discussing their incredibly low crime statistics next year, while also trying to figure out why businesses and residents are fleeing the city in droves

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