«For decades, Whatcom County has struggled to strike a balance between prevention and incarceration in its approach to public safety. From the early days following the completion of the Whatcom County Jail in 1984 until now, there have been two consistent needs: 1. To have a jail that is safe for those in it, with the services needed to support successful community re-entry, and 2. To more appropriately respond to lower-level offenses through the provision of incarceration prevention, diversion, and alternative services, including reducing the number of people who are incarcerated and have behavioral health issues. Identifying system, service, and facility needs and developing recommendations to meet these two objectives has been the work of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) over the past year. «