OLYMPIA, Wash. — Governor Inslee’s Executive Order on federal immigration law enforcement went into effect a week ago, and now police can no longer use social security numbers to identify people, something they say is dangerous.
Steve Strachan, the Executive Director of the state Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, says police run the last four digits of a person’s social security number through the Department of Licensing database to positively identify someone.
“If there’s not an exact match and social security numbers can lead to that exact match, there may be people getting firearms licenses who should not have, had there been social security there,” he said.
Strachan tells KOMO without that tool, he says getting a person’s true identity and learning if they have a history of violence or warrants is much more difficult and innacurate.
“If we aren’t using information in the best way there may be violent and dangerous criminals who are not caught and who are not charged,” he said.
KOMO reports the Governor’s office is hiring a special assistant to help with the order and strike a balance with law enforcement.