They’ve both made careers as cops.
One is from inside the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. One is from outside the department.
Both say they have what it takes to be sheriff and the county’s chief law enforcement officer.
In just two weeks, it will be up to voters to decide whether sheriff’s Chief Tom Greene is the right man for the job or if John Lovick, a retired Washington State Patrol sergeant and state representative, is the best choice.
Greene said the job shouldn’t be left to an outsider who he thinks will need to spend the first term learning how to be sheriff. Lovick doesn’t know what it takes, Greene said.
“He’s a traffic cop turned politician who wants to be sheriff,” Greene said. “I’m a career law enforcement officer. I’ve spent 35 years preparing for this.”
Lovick said he believes it’s time for a change at the sheriff’s office. He has the vision and experience to build on the strengths of the department and return it to a full-service agency, Lovick said.
“Tom will tell you a few things need to be tweaked. Tweaking isn’t the problem. There are major changes that need to be made and there needs to be an example from the top,” he said. “Nothing about this job is about me. It’s about the people we serve and the men and women we lead.”
The sheriff oversees a $49 million budget and about 250 deputies, plus 70 noncommissioned staff. Law and justice costs, including the sheriff’s office, account for about 71 percent of the county’s general-fund budget. By state law, the sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county.
After nearly 12 years, Sheriff Rick Bart is stepping down from the job. Term limits prevent him from running again. The winner of the Nov. 6 election takes office in January.
Lovick earned the most votes in the primary election in September. Greene came in second.
Voters in Snohomish County decided in 1996 to make the position nonpartisan. Yet the race between Greene and Lovick is charged with partisan politics.
State and county Democrats have been lining up to support Lovick since he made known his intentions to run for the position, even as he was running a re-election campaign to the state Legislature.
Greene has been racking up Republican endorsements, including support from Dino Rossi, who was the Republican candidate for governor in 2004. Greene gave short speech at the Illegal Immigration Summit in July in Everett, organized by Minutemen American Defense and The Reagan Wing, both Washington, D.C.-based conservative groups.
Sheriff’s Lt. Rob Beidler was bumped out of the race in the August primary. He has since given his endorsement to Lovick.
“The bottom line is that our administration, including Tom Greene, are the reason I ran in the first place,” Beidler said. “I actually believe that John Lovick will move us forward, whereas Tom will not.”
Beidler had earned the endorsement of the police unions around the county as well as the Deputy Sheriff’s Association. In their endorsement for Beidler, association leaders said they didn’t support an outsider, nor did they want someone who was part of the current administration. The association has made no endorsement in the general election. Union officials said their best candidate — Beidler — was cut out of the race because of partisan politics.
Lovick insists that the race isn’t about party lines. It was never his intention to run a partisan race, and he believes neither candidate has made partisan politics an issue, Lovick said.
“Frankly, you go where your support is,” he said. “I have support from both parties, and I’m sure Tom does, too.”
Greene said he believes the race is “nonpartisan in name only” and blames the county Democratic Party because it chose early on to endorse a candidate in a nonpartisan race. He said he is endorsed by many individuals who are Republicans, but the county Republican Party told Greene it wouldn’t get involved in a nonpartisan race.
“Clearly I have support from the conservative side of the spectrum, but I’ve tried to make it nonpartisan,” Greene said.
Greene is endorsed by his boss, Rick Bart. He also has the backing of other county sheriffs in the state and police administrators. Lovick has support from some of the county’s top criminal justice leaders, including Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis and Everett Police Chief Jim Scharf. He’s also endorsed by County Executive Aaron Reardon.
Greene, the sheriff’s office insider, said he has the education and experience and knows what it takes to do the job.
Lovick, the outsider, said he is a proven leader with the most diverse background.
It will be up to voters to decide who will help make Snohomish County safe.
Tom Greene
Greene, 56, has an undergraduate degree in criminology from California State University, Long Beach, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.
He spent the 1970s working for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He was hired by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office in 1982 and has worked his way up to bureau chief. He is a graduate of the FBI’s law enforcement academy.
Greene said he believes people are generally pleased with service from the sheriff’s office.
“I think I need to raise the bar,” he said. “I don’t think the organization is broken.”
He believes he can make improvements through a strategic plan that will emphasize crime prevention, pursuing top offenders, investing in technology and measuring performance.
Greene likes the idea of using noncommissioned staff, such as cadets, to handle nonemergency calls. That will help ease the workload that deputies face and help boost morale, he said.
He also said he will bring back crime prevention officers.
The officers were cut in 2004 when the department was faced with a budget shortfall.
“We were not given enough to keep the same services rolling. It was a tight budget and part of it was (Bart’s) own priorities,” Greene said. “My priorities are more in line with crime prevention. I want to restore and strengthen the program.”
Greene wants to invest in technology to help the sheriff’s office run more efficiently. He also wants to add additional support staff. The office has added 110 deputies over the past decade, but not enough support personnel, he said. As a result, the office is months behind on police reports and in compiling crime statistics.
He proposes a system to add personnel based on sheriff’s office 911 calls.
When calls grow to the agreed-upon level, county leaders would be required to find the money to add deputies and fill other criminal justice jobs, including hiring prosecutors, jail guards and court clerks, he said. The money would come from sales and property taxes from growth in the county. As the population increases, the number of calls to 911 goes up, but so does the amount of taxes collected, Greene said.
He has been responsible for developing the sheriff’s budget and has been in charge of recruiting and hiring new deputies and overseeing the contracts with cities for police services.
The sheriff is not a street cop anymore, Greene said. He believes being a county sheriff is similar to being the chief executive officer of a company. Greene said his education and experience make him ready to run the office from his first day on the job.
“I have the readiness to step into the CEO position,” he said. “I will make my own mark. I come with a known reputation. Our troops know I’m different from Bart. I’m more reserved in the things I say. I’m a more contemplative decision maker.”
Greene said he is known for his integrity, and because he’s a straight shooter, he doesn’t deny that morale in the sheriff’s department needs improvement.
“Some may not like the current administration, but they like me,” Greene said. “I have a high degree of respect among the troops. They know it will be different with me.”
The community also can expect a different kind of leader, he said.
“I’m going to do my best to be more responsive. I’ll make decisions that are more customer-orientated, fact-based and data-driven, not decisions based on emotion. In the long run, that’s what’s best for the community,” Greene said.
He believes Lovick is at a disadvantage coming from the outside. He doesn’t know how the sheriff’s office operates and he has limited experience in police work, Greene said.
“When you’re an outsider, the new kid on the block, it takes a while to warm up to people. Cops are less likely to warm up to someone than the average person. You have to prove yourself before you’re accepted,” Greene said. “That’s exacerbated even more coming from the Washington State Patrol versus coming from a full-service law enforcement agency.”
Greene said the State Patrol is “an outstanding agency” but is limited in the services it provides.
“Their fundamental function is traffic safety, enforcement and collision investigations. John’s experience is based in traffic alone,” he said.
Greene believes he has a much greater depth of experience in law enforcement and has personally investigated murders, rapes and robberies, so he understands what goes into solving those cases.
Greene also believes he has the necessary management experience. He has hired and disciplined employees. He has written the department’s policies for risky police work and has negotiated labor agreements from both sides of the table.
“There’s an issue of continuity,” he said. “With me, people know what to expect. It doesn’t mean there won’t be change where change is appropriate and necessary. To me it’s crystal clear who is ready for the job.”
John Lovick
Lovick, 56, served in the U.S. Coast Guard and has an associate of arts degree in criminal justice from Shoreline Community College. He was a Washington State Patrol trooper for 31 years, retiring as a sergeant in 2004. Lovick has been a state representative for nine years and serves as the House speaker pro tem.
Lovick said that he has a broad background as a state trooper, a former Mill Creek City councilman and a state lawmaker.
Coming from outside the sheriff’s office, he will be better able to see the changes necessary to better serve the community, Lovick said. He doesn’t think the sheriff’s office provides all the services it should and believes it needs to do more to create partnerships with neighbors, business owners, schools and other police departments.
“The overall tone needs to go in a different direction,” Lovick said. “You honor the past and then there’s a time you have to move on and build on the good that’s there.”
He wants the community to feel it has a partnership with the sheriff’s office to fight and prevent crime.
He will encourage deputies to reach out to schools and get to know the students there. He wants them to be more involved in neighborhood block watches. Deputies need to have more of a presence in the community than just responding to emergency calls, Lovick said.
“I think the community needs someone to come in with a vision,” he said. “I talk to citizens of the county every day. Most will never call a police officer. When they do they want courteous and efficient service.”
People don’t feel like they’re getting that from the sheriff’s office, he said.
The deputies are “doing a good job with what they have. They are heroes. All the sheriff has to do is manage heroes. How difficult is it to manage a hero?”
Lovick said he will set a tone for service and hold all employees accountable.
“Those changes in attitude are what are needed,” he said. “It doesn’t cost a penny. It starts at the top.”
He supports the idea of using volunteers and cadets to handle nonemergency calls. Lovick believes it would help improve response times because deputies wouldn’t be handling as many nonemergency calls. He will discuss building partnerships with the community colleges to develop a criminal justice cadet program that would provide credits to students headed toward law enforcement jobs.
The sheriff’s office should restore its crime prevention officers, which would help 911 calls drop and give deputies more time to patrol the streets, he said.
Lovick is critical of Greene for allowing the crime prevention program to lapse under his watch.
“The sheriff’s office should be in the business of crime prevention, but the first person that was removed was the crime prevention officer,” he said. “There’s something wrong with that. I’ve worked on budgets. I know you can massage a budget. Those positions shouldn’t have been cut.”
Greene said he had to follow the chain of command at the sheriff’s office and support decisions he didn’t always agree with. That isn’t a free pass, Lovick said.
“Why hasn’t Tom done all of those things he says he wants done?” Lovick said. “If you’re a leader, you find a way to lead.”
Lovick has spoken with deputies who say they feel disconnected from sheriff’s administrators, including Greene.
“I think that’s why you see morale where it is. It’s not high,” Lovick said. “The command staff needs to take an interest in what the deputies are doing on the street. They need to show up for roll call. I plan to take an interest and maintain it. I think the deputies will take a bigger interest, too.”
The sheriff’s office needs to build on the good programs it has, such as Directed Patrol, a unit that targets prolific criminals. He said the sheriff’s office must take a hard look at the emerging gang problem and work with social service agencies, churches and youth groups to provide positive alternatives for kids.
The sheriff’s office must foster better partnerships with other police agencies, according to Lovick. Working closer with other departments could reduce response times and demands on overextended deputies, he said.
He won’t ask for more deputies until he can prove it’s necessary.
“I will show the county executive and County Council through a collection of data that the sheriff’s office is working as effectively and efficiently as possible on a daily basis,” Lovick said.
He said his broad experience working as a trooper and a state lawmaker has prepared him to be able to work with a diverse group of people. He plans to surround himself with a knowledgeable and hard-working group of people who have a heart for service.
Lovick is far from apologetic about having spent years working traffic enforcement with the State Patrol. He said that people he’s spoken with have complained that the sheriff’s office doesn’t do enough to slow down speeding cars and remove dangerous drivers. “I come from an agency where people come first,” he said. “You treat people and your staff with dignity and respect.”
The sheriff’s office is accountable to the community and should provide a high level of service, Lovick said.
“I will wear one hat. I have no desire to serve in another elected position,” Lovick said. “The tone I want to set is a public safety tone. There is an absolute respect for the office of sheriff. We should do no less than our best to serve the citizens of Snohomish County.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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