SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
King County Sheriff’s Office chief demoted for posting officers’ vaccination status
Sep 2, 2021, 12:37 PM | Updated: Sep 3, 2021, 6:47 am
(Photo courtesy of the King County Sheriff's Office)
(Photo courtesy of the King County Sheriff's Office)
The Dori Monson Show has received information that a chief with the King County Sheriff’s Office has posted to the King County Intranet all King County Sheriff’s officers’ names and vaccination status.
The chief has since been demoted. Dori has been told there are multiple deputies involved in an expected lawsuit.
The King County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on this matter as it’s “under internal review.”
Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht has sent an internal memo to the staff announcing the replacement, effective Monday, of the employee who was demoted.
King County employees are required to be vaccinated by the Oct. 18 deadline that King County Executive Dow Constantine announced last month in a news conference, alongside Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. The governor and mayor announced similar employee mandates at the state and city levels, respectively.
If county employees are not vaccinated by the Oct. 18 deadline, they face the possibility of losing their jobs. Read more.
It’s unclear how many employees across the county will refuse to get vaccinated. As of Aug. 31, 77.6% of people age 12+ in King County have been fully vaccinated and 83.8% of residents have received at least one dose, according to Public Health — Seattle & King County.
Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
