Important News
WASHINGTON STATE SHERIFFS’ ASSOCIATION
3060 Willamette Drive NE
Lacey, WA 98516
Phone (360) 486-2380
Fax (360) 486-2381
12/12/2024
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Sheriffs Are, and Should Be, Qualified (and Disqualified) by Voters
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The Washington Coalition for Police Accountability (WCPA), a group that claims credit for recent Washington laws restricting law enforcement, has announced that its legislative priorities for 2025 include qualifications for, and restrictions on, the office of Sheriff. The Washington State Sheriff’s Association (WSSA) opposes the WCPA’s proposal and is recommending alternatives that empower our communities and invest trust in our electoral process.
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The entire legislative record and agenda of the WCPA are rooted in distrust of law enforcement professionals. And WCPA’s response to this distrust is always the same: take options and authority away from local communities and law enforcement and instead increase the power and control of state government. Their proposals for Sheriffs’ qualifications follow this recipe.
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The WCPA’s proposal would require any candidate for Sheriff to submit to a background check by a state-appointed commission before a candidate could file for office. Most members of that commission, including those who are also on the Board of Directors of the WCPA, have never worked in law enforcement.
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This state-appointed commission could also overturn any county’s certified election of its own Sheriff, using remarkably subjective standards—such as whether a Sheriff “jeopardizes public trust or confidence in the law enforcement profession.”
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The WCPA’s proposal opens the door to a potential political chokehold over counties’ electoral choices and gives state appointees the power to silence the voice of voters. This kind of threat is exactly why our state constitution puts Sheriffs’ elections in the hands of county voters: to disperse control of law enforcement and keep it as close as possible to the communities it serves. Local law enforcement is a community responsibility, not an exercise of state power, and local voters should be able to choose candidates that reflect the needs and priorities of their communities.
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Some recent media and publications claim elections for Sheriff just can’t be trusted. Jessica Pishko (The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy) says county voters don’t know enough about either law enforcement or Sheriff candidates to conduct competent elections. Pishko and others also claim voters can’t get rid of Sheriffs they don’t approve of; but electoral history proves this isn’t true, at least in our state. Washington voters routinely unseat Sheriffs in competitive elections, and even use emergency recall elections to replace Sheriffs in the most critical cases.
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The WCPA’s proposal would go beyond tampering with the electoral rights of counties and reduce Sheriffs’ authority to fulfill their constitutional duties. Sheriffs would lose the historic authority to deputize citizen volunteers or train reserve deputies, vital connections between many Sheriff’s Offices and their communities. Once again, the state’s power and control would increase, and the options available to Sheriffs and their communities would diminish.
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Washington Sheriffs support professional standards and accountability and are working with legislators to craft more appropriate proposals than the WCPA’s. The Sheriffs’ proposal would put background investigations in the hands of law enforcement agencies that understand the job. And if a state commission revokes a Sheriff’s peace officer certification, their individual law enforcement authority would be impacted; but it would remain up to the voters who put that Sheriff in office to retain, un-elect, or recall them.
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The point isn’t job security. It’s the freedom of county voters to chart their own course by electing a Sheriff who enforces the law in line with their values and priorities. Sheriffs don’t work for the state; they work for the people of their counties. Washington’s Sheriffs have been clear on this matter: elected Sheriffs are and should remain accountable to the law and to the voters of their communities, full stop.
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The WCPA’s webpage on Sheriffs’ qualifications sends readers to Jessica Pishko’s book for further information. Those who read Pishko learn she has a solution to the problem of Sheriffs, whom she considers “uniquely harmful, historically and in the present day” (373):
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I am of the opinion that policing in this country ought to be reevaluated and, indeed, reduced as much as possible... Eliminating the sheriff’s office is not a difficult call at all. (374)
Pishko describes Sheriffs as prone to extremism and aligned with extremists. But the extremist voice here is the one seeking to abolish all law enforcement, starting with Sheriffs; and the WCPA has aligned with and guided citizens toward that extremist view.
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The WCPA’s proposals for Sheriffs’ qualifications chip away at electoral rights and at the authority of our only elected law enforcement office. Their proposal trusts a state commission to know what’s good for Washington’s counties better than the people who live in them.
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In reality, community-based law enforcement demands a knowledgeable, committed relationship with the people being served. Elected Sheriffs know this, are empowered by the trust of their communities, and know they must perform to earn and retain that trust.
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Please share your thoughts, whatever they may be, with your Sheriff’s Office and your representatives in our state legislature.​​
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BILLS
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