Sheriff’s detective honored for work to stop sexual assault

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, May 20, 2001

By Cathy Logg

Herald Writer

EVERETT — Snohomish County sheriff’s Detective Joe Beard became the first recipient of a new statewide award to honor people who work to stop sexual violence.

Beard received the Gerald L. Swain Award last week during the annual Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs conference in Eastern Washington.

The annual award was established by the coalition to honor the courage, perseverance and dedication of an individual whose work on behalf of sexual assault survivors or sexual violence prevention inspires others. Swain was the coalition’s senior member and staff accountant from 1995 until his death in April 2000.

Beard, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, has been solely responsible for the sheriff’s Sex Offender Unit since 1992. His duties include preparing community notifications of sex offenders in the community, conducting community meetings to discuss sex offender issues, tracking registered offenders and training people on the notification process.

In nominating him for the award, Julie Thomas of the Providence Everett Sexual Assault Center cited his tireless, yet quiet, efforts "to create a community where its members are safer and more secure."

"He works day in and day out, sometimes working 60- and 70-hour weeks to make a difference," Thomas wrote. "Detective Beard is a pioneer in the field of sexual assault who has been providing community sexual assault prevention education long before any sexual assault program espoused it. To try and count the number of lives he has positively impacted would be impossible."

Beard never seeks recognition, she said.

In 1997, he was appointed to the state Department of Corrections End of Sentence Review Committee in Olympia and has been a speaker for the U.S. Justice Department on sex offender notification.

He is the coordinator of the Countywide Critical Incident Debriefing Team and coordinator of the sheriff’s peer support team. Beard also is an instructor with the sheriff’s citizen’s academy and has served as an instructor for law officers at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission on sex offender notification. He often is called to testify before state Legislature committees on sex offender issues. Beard has received many commendations for his work in this particular field.

Beard is a father of seven and grandfather of four.

You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437

or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.