King County’s top cop, prosecutor and judges are rightly taking a stand – albeit a natural and plainly obvious one – against proposed budget cuts in the countywide criminal-justice system.

Sure, it’s what you’d expect out of the people who voters pick to keep tabs on public safety and criminals. But compared to the alternative, it’s best when elected officials link arms in a joint effort to right a wrong before it happens. It’s an effort that the public should note and act upon.

Sheriff Sue Rahr, Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg and Bruce Hilyer and Barbara Linde, who as presiding judges are the titular heads of the county’s Superior Court and District Court systems, respectively, issued a clear warning a week ago about the negative impacts they envision if about $33 million in budget cuts are made in law and justice.

They said the combined cuts, which County Executive Ron Sims has requested in order to balance the county budget, would rob the public of services that most effectively catch and punish lawbreakers of vafying degrees of seriousness. Within the Sheriff Department alone, as many as 100 deputies’ jobs would be eliminated and investigation of Internet crime, identity theft and fraud would be curtailed. An already shorthanded staff of prosecutors would be hard-pressed to keep up with cases. And the courts wouldn’t be able to continue programs that help offenders avoid reoffending and, in the long-term, reduce court caseloads.

“It’s our obligation,” Satterberg said, “to say we are in trouble” if the criminal-justice funding gets carved like a Thanksgiving turkey.

County officials want the state’s help righting the financial ship. According to Sims, services mandated by the state are part of the pinch on the county’s budget.

One way or the other, deep cuts in spending on law and justice must be avoided. The public can help by demanding nothing less.

Editor Pat Jenkins