Sheriff Swank slams law enforcement oversight panel: ‘They don’t understand what’s at stake here’

Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank found himself in a firestorm of controversy after stating his opposition to stricter eligibility requirements for becoming a sheriff or another law enforcement leadership position.

“I don’t recognize your authority to impose these controls over me and when you try to remove me from office, thousands of Pierce County residents will surround the County-City Building in downtown Tacoma and will not allow that to happen,” Swank told the Senate Law and Justice Committee. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I, and they, are prepared. Are you prepared?”

KIRO host John Curley invited Swank to explain himself further after legislators interpreted his comments as “threatening.”

“Sheriff, what are you doing to me? The last time I had the honor to talk to you, I said, ‘Swank, just watch it. Watch what you say, watch what you do,’ because they’re out gunning for you all the time,” Curley said.

“I didn’t step in it, John,” Swank responded. “Do you know that my speech has been seen by over four million people, maybe five million now, and a lot of people are calling me up and emailing me and saying, ‘Sheriff, thank you. Thank you for standing up for us and giving us a voice.'”

On Thursday morning, the Senate Law and Justice Committee held a hearing on SB 5974, a measure billed as “modernizing” law enforcement standards by creating eligibility requirements for police chiefs, marshals, and sheriffs, among other things. It would also give the Criminal Justice Training Commission more oversight of police agencies by removing elected sheriffs from office if the commission revokes its law enforcement certification.

“This group, the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, has 22 people on it. They’re appointed by the governor,” Curley said. “On a scale of one to five, how much confidence do you have that people who are appointed to a commission would not be politically leaning to the left, one to five?”

“Negative 100,” Swank answered. “They don’t understand what’s at stake here. They don’t understand, like I do, [that] you’re going to pass this qualification bill for law enforcement, but you won’t hold yourselves accountable. Therefore, I propose everyone who runs for an elected office go through a background check, a social media review, a polygraph, a psychological test. But Democrats won’t agree to that because you have convicted felons who are elected officials here.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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