Behind the story with Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer

Ed Troyer was looking forward to watching the Super Bowl
Sunday like the rest of us, but all it took was one phone
call to change his plans and upend his life, again.

As the official spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff’s
Department, Det. Sgt. Troyer is called almost the second
after any significant crime is reported. When dispatch
told him of the explosion at Josh Powell’s Graham home,
Troyer knew he was in for a whirlwind that won’t slow any
time soon.

“I’m on call all the time,” says the veteran cop.

He drops whatever he’s doing, jumps in the car, and
immediately gets details from dispatch as he races to a
crime scene, like Powell’s house.

“Then I call whoever the sergeant is on scene and get
whatever is going on, then I start doing phone updates
with the media,” he says.

When he arrives, he immediately goes behind the crime tape
and gets all the information so he can share it as soon as
possible.

“Our policy is we act as though nothing is a secret and we
don’t want anything to be a secret. We put out
information as fast as we can, accurately.”

It’s an intense job and Troyer’s been asked often how he
handles dealing with tragedy on an-almost-daily basis. He
says it’s because of his dedication to the people impacted
by the crimes. While he’s always professional, for Troyer
it’s often personal.

“I get to meet these families and get close to them,”
Troyer says. “Remember when the Snap-On-Tool guy was
killed? I still talk to his widow, and his daughters have
graduated from college, and I see them at events and
survivor victims things and they send me Christmas cards,”
Troyer says with pride.

He says ultimately, many in the department consider it a
duty to make sure the victims are never forgotten, even
after their stories are long gone from the headlines.

“You know those two boys are dead and Susan Powell’s
probably dead and we’re probably the only ones left that
are going to stand up and say something for them. If we
don’t stand up and say something for them, if we don’t
continue to work this, and push through this, no one else
is going to,” says Troyer.

Ultimately, he says he gets the most satisfaction everyday
serving the public, whether comforting a grieving family
member or providing the latest information to the media.

“It means the world to me when I tell you guys [the media]
something and you believe me, because you know I’m not
going to try and lie to you and you don’t need to go
search around and see if I’m giving you guys the story or
not.”

Unfortunately, while it’s often a story no one wants to
hear, it’s often a story the public needs to know.