Forum: Sheriff Standards Law ensures well-trained professionalism

Published 1:30 am Saturday, April 18, 2026

As a peace officer, you learn that authority does not depend on how forceful you are but how deeply your community trusts you. Great leaders lead by example, embodying the dignity of their office. Great law enforcement leaders embrace, rather than evade, the highest standards of conduct and accountability.

Between us, we have almost 50 years of law enforcement experience. As a state trooper then the Snohomish County Sheriff and a local law enforcement agent then a U.S. Customs Inspector, and our decades in state and local government, we have dedicated our lives to keeping Washingtonians safe. Our work to pass SB 5974 was rooted in that commitment to protect our communities and uphold the integrity of the profession by increasing public trust in local law enforcement.

SB 5974 is about public safety, ensuring that everyone with the power to detain, arrest, or use deadly force is well-trained, highly prepared and professional. The bill adds basic certification standards, strengthens law enforcement leader qualifications, ensures no history of felony convictions or misconduct, and requires at least five years of law enforcement experience and that those decertified for misconduct step down so the locally elected government can appoint a replacement.

Far from subverting the will of the voters, as some claim, this bill is extremely popular among all demographics. Emerson College found that 75% of likely voters support its provisions. Many people are surprised to learn that — unlike every other Washington law enforcement officer — police chiefs, sheriffs, and marshals need not be certified. Currently, our law enforcement leaders aren’t just held to lower conduct standards than those of rank-and-file officers, they’re held to no standard at all.

Our most prominent law enforcement officials should be highly qualified. Antiquated laws — some nearly 200 years old — proscribe few eligibility requirements to become a police chief or marshal and none to become a sheriff. Those same laws permit the dangerously outdated practice of deputizing untrained individuals to enforce the law.

An 18-year-old convicted of felony hate crimes could leave prison, become sheriff, and deputize his friends to enforce the law. A law enforcement leader with no training and a history of serious misconduct leading a “posse” of untrained individuals with access to law enforcement databases and legal power over Washingtonians is so obviously dangerous that it sounds absurd. But until SB 5974 is signed, this scenario is completely legal.

We hear concerns over the decertification process, but some critics have repeated misinformation and misunderstandings. Decertification hearings would be a rare occurrence. They are judged by fellow law enforcement professionals, a police chief or sheriff and an officer, alongside a civilian Commissioner, a member of the public and a police accountability expert. This hearing board applies clear and objective standards written in state law. Most importantly, no officer is ever decertified for being “unpopular.” Decertification occurs only when an officer commits serious misconduct — domestic abuse, sexual assault, perjury — and can no longer be trusted to prioritize public safety.

Everyone currently electing their law enforcement leaders will continue to do so, this bill doesn’t change that. As the poll clearly shows, voters do not feel disempowered by the promise that their law enforcement leaders have no history of criminal misconduct and that candidates are well-qualified professionals. Community members should not be burdened with the job of reigning in a dangerous, decertified sheriff. They should not have to publicly campaign in a lengthy, expensive recall election to ensure basic accountability. Decertified officers will have gone through a process that determined they cannot be trusted to prioritize the safety of our families and communities.

Ending the practice of deputizing untrained individuals to enforce criminal or civil immigration law establishes a guarantee that, no matter where you live, those with a badge and gun enforcing the law in your neighborhood are trustworthy, well-trained, and responsible.

The bill also clarifies that law enforcement leaders must uphold state law and the constitution. Those in our immigrant communities, people seeking reproductive care, those who need a firearm removed from a domestic abuser should not have to worry about their sheriff’s opinion of the law or willingness to enforce its provisions.

Public trust is the foundation of good policing. That trust is earned through excellence and accountability. When trust erodes, when standards and accountability are absent, we do not increase public safety, we jeopardize it. SB 5974 fosters trust, ensuring everyone we trust to detain, arrest, or use deadly force is properly trained, highly prepared, and professional.

Sen. John Lovick (D-Snohomish County) is the sponsor of SB 5974 and served in the Washington State Patrol for 31 years and as Snohomish County Sheriff. He represents the 44th Legislative District.

Sen. Mike Chapman (D-Port Angeles) served for 12 years in law enforcement, as a local law enforcement officer and as a federal customs agent. He represents the 24th Legislative District.