OLYMPIA – A bill giving an unelected state board the power to fire elected county sheriffs would make Pacific County the first victim, says Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview.
Senate Bill 5974 would give the state Criminal Justice Training Commission the final say over county sheriffs, allowing the governor’s appointees to override voters if it doesn’t like the way a sheriff enforces the law. The bill, passed in the state Senate Thursday, also imposes a long list of qualifications on county sheriffs, police chiefs and town marshals. Law enforcement executives who don’t meet the new qualifications would be removed.
That’s bad news for Daniel Garcia, a Navy veteran elected in 2022 as Pacific County Sheriff on a write-in campaign without prior law enforcement experience. If the bill passes, he will be just shy of the bill’s mandate that he spend five years working in law enforcement. It also is bad news for the people of Pacific County, who ought to be able to pick their own sheriff without interference from state government, Wilson said.
In remarks Thursday on the Senate floor, Wilson said the situation breaks his heart. “I do not want Olympia to hire and fire our local sheriffs. That should be up to the local community and those voters.”
Despite united opposition from Senate Republicans, the measure passed the Senate on a party-line vote, 30-19, and has been sent to the House for further consideration.
From statehood to the present day, Washington voters have always had the right to pick their sheriffs and remove them if they desire. The sheriff, top law enforcement officer in each of Washington’s 39 counties, is a position created by the Washington constitution, which places no special qualifications on eligibility.
Thirty-eight of Washington’s county sheriffs are elected. King County, which operates under a special charter, allows the King County executive to make the appointment.
Because county sheriffs are independent elected officials not subject to state-government control, they frequently make their own judgments about police procedures and law enforcement issues. This has caused conflict as a liberal Democratic majority in the state Legislature seeks to impose its vision of policing on law enforcement agencies statewide.
In Adams County, for example, the Sheriff’s Department has been sued by the Washington Attorney General’s office for cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Although the Legislature passed a law prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from assisting immigration officers, Adams County questions the legality of state sanctuary policies and contends it has a duty to cooperate with federal agencies to protect public safety. Other sheriffs have found different ways to express their defiance, and some, like Pacific County’s Garcia, would fall afoul of the new state training and experience requirements.
Following the debate, Wilson described the bill as a high-handed attack on the rights of Washington voters.
“It’s bad enough that Olympia wants to take a one-size-fits-all approach to law enforcement statewide,” he said. “But when it appropriates the people’s right to determine a sheriff’s qualifications, or boot a sheriff out of office, it shows great disrespect to our constitution and voters across the state. If the people disapprove of a sheriff’s performance, they can collect signatures to force a recall election. Or they can wait for the next election and vote someone else into office.
“With this bill, we are putting sheriffs at the mercy of political appointees who will put the views of Olympia politicians first, and the people second. We don’t elect sheriffs to represent Olympia. We elect them to represent us.”