The future of the King County sheriff: will position be appointed instead of elected?

SEATTLE -- King County residents could be voting in November on whether their sheriff should be elected by the people of the county, or appointed by officials.

In King County, like every county in Washington state, the sheriff is elected. Now, four King County council members are pushing to make sheriff an appointed position instead.

"It really boils down to this: do you want to be limited in your selection of professionals with only those people who live in the area, or do you want the best person?" says Kinnon Williams, one of the commissioners on the King County Charter Review Commission who's proposing the change.

Williams says there are several reasons why it would benefit the county. Current law requires the sheriff to be a resident of that county in order to be elected. If the sheriff were appointed, they could come from anywhere in the country, giving officials a lot more options to fill the position.

"We don't force the Seahawks to only pick people within the state of Washington, the Seahawks can go all over the country and find the best people," Williams says.

Williams says make no mistake, he thinks Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht is excellent, but he says there's no guarantee the next sheriff after will be. He says in the past when the county has had a sheriff people weren't happy with, it was near impossible to get them out of the position.

While some county council members back this, others are already highly opposed.

"I think it's 180 degrees in the wrong direction," says Reagan Dunn, vice chairman of the King County Council.

Dunn says continuous reform and progress within the sheriff's department is key, but making this drastic change isn't the way to go.

"What I don’t want to see is a puppet sheriff to what has always been a downtown Seattle elected executive, and remember, the King County Sheriff doesn’t police Seattle, it polices the unincorporated areas of King County," Dunn says.

Dunn says he believes elected officials who would appoint the sheriff may not have the same values and viewpoints as the residents the sheriff will serve.

"I don't think folks in Enumclaw, in Duvall, or even Bellevue are going to want a downtown Seattle appointed sheriff. I think they’re going to want to be able to vote for their own person," he says.

He also worries an appointed sheriff could potentially lead to decreased funding for the law enforcement agency, which could affect crime rates. Williams, however, says no one is discussing defunding the sheriff's office.

What they both can agree on is: There's a lot more to learn and a lot more public outreach needed if it's going to be on the November ballot.

There's no date on when the council could vote on whether to place the measure on the ballot.