King County Council could control, defund sheriff via charter amendments

The King County Council, via charter amendments five and six, would have the ability to hire and fire the sheriff rather than leaving the position up for election by voters. The council could also have the power to define the duties of the sheriff.

King County Council looking to appoint rather than elect sheriff

Stan Seo is a captain with the King County Sheriff’s Office and spokesperson for the “Save our Sheriff” campaign. Seo told the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH these amendments would change the duties and scope of the sheriff’s office if passed.

“But more importantly, it also takes away from voters rights, the ability of our voters, which is the ultimate form of accountability, to elect their law enforcement official, in this case in King County,” Seo said. “And then, moreover, it also will directly impact public safety and the duties and services we provide to the great residents of King County.”

Charter amendment five, Seo explained, takes away the ability to vote for an elected sheriff.

“If people want accountability, accountability starts with being able to vote and elect — or recall if necessary — your elected official, in this case, the sheriff,” he said. “For residents of King County, for our partners that we provide contract services for, it will potentially mean a reduction in services because, ultimately, I believe this is a defunding measure, essentially created by the King County Council with a fringe group of activists that are pushing for these types of measures.”

“And so ultimately this veiled form of charter amendments is really about defunding, and defunding the sheriff’s office,” Seo added.

Seo explained that charter amendment six would allow the council to direct the duties of the sheriff’s office, including abolishing the office.

“They could essentially eliminate the sheriff’s office,” Seo said. “And specifically describe the duties that are performed so they could dictate what we will and will not respond to, how we will respond to various calls, as opposed to letting an elected official, a law enforcement professional, make those types of decisions in providing public safety services to the citizens.”

The defunding, he says, could be in the form of less personnel available to respond, changes in how to investigate, or even if the sheriff’s office investigates certain types of crimes at all.

“When you combine both charter amendments, appointing versus electing and then the ability to, again, direct duties and then ultimately morph the sheriff’s office into or under another department, it really limits the scope and creates a huge amount of power for 10 officials as opposed to the voters of King County,” Seo said.

All counties in the state of Washington currently have an elected sheriff system.

So what can people do to push back against these amendments?

First, Seo says, visit the campaign website for more information before the election. There’s also a petition that can be signed at the website, opposing both charter amendments, and a donation link.

“We believe that King County voters are overwhelmingly against defunding, and we know this,” Seo said. “That’s why we need people to act and sign our petition, visit our website. If they’re so inclined, make a donation to help our efforts to, again, fight the politicians and the activists’ attempt to defund the sheriff’s office.”

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3 – 6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.

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