Community Government Police & Fire
State board investigating seven cases involving Sheriff Keith Swank
The Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission opened and is investigating seven cases against Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank, as a result of 15 complaints filed against him.
“It’s a complete witch hunt,” Swank said of the cases, which are based on things he said or did in public.
“People that don’t like me think that they can file these complaints and then a board that’s appointed by the governor can decertify me and then that will remove me from office,” he continued, referring to a bill the Legislature passed that would allow the training commission to remove decertified sheriffs.
Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank
He said that if the training commission removes him, he hopes the people who “support voting for their sheriff and are against this … engage in lots of peaceful protests with a whole bunch of people.”
“That would be really good to bring the attention … that might be needed to it from the federal government. We might need some intervention here,” Swank said of the legislative measure.
He said he would not be the one to bring the federal government’s attention to the matter. He also said that the U.S. Department of Justice should investigate the training commission.
Commission reviewing the information
David Quinlan, the training commission’s communications manager, said that the commission doesn’t comment on open cases. However, he acknowledged that the cases are in the intake review phase.
“In general, when a complaint is received, the commission reviews the information to determine whether an investigation is warranted under state law,” Quinlan said. “If an investigation substantiates allegations that fall within the commission’s authority, the matter may be referred to the CJTC Certification Hearing Panel, which determines whether action should be taken regarding an officer’s certification.”
He said the possible “outcomes can include suspension, probation, retaining or revocation of certification, depending on the findings and applicable statutes.”
Six of the seven training commission cases against Swank involve either discrimination, ethics and professionalism, or a combination of the three. One also involves dishonesty.
Alleged alteration of records
The case involving dishonesty regards allegations that Swank altered public records handed over to the Pierce County Superior Court in an ongoing case, in order to hide crude remarks in text messages he made against Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett, and Michelle Luna, a deputy prosecutor. Altering records is illegal under the state Public Records Act.
“I have no problem saying that I spoke poorly or that I called Michelle Luna and Mary Robnett incompetent,” Swank said. “I stand by it anyhow, so I wasn’t hiding anything. They thought I was trying to hide something, to try to hide what I said, but I don’t mince my words.”
Swank actually called Robnett and Luna “m—–f—–s,” not “incompetent.”
Swank said that because he eventually turned over the records, the issue had been “fixed.” He framed the records alteration as an error on his part.
“I’m not an expert on technology, so I would take a screenshot, send it to an email, then email it to their email at public disclosure,” he said. “Things got lost along the way, and then we figured out a better way to do it, which really was time-consuming and laborious, which really sucked, and I had to take a picture of the phone with another phone and then send it electronically, email it to there, and then it got to the judge, and everything’s fine. So that was all blown out of proportion.”
Comments about transgender people
Other cases allege discrimination related to Swank’s many disparaging comments about the LGBTQ community, specifically transgender people. Those comments include that transgender people are mentally ill and raising the question of whether they should own guns. He commented that a school shooter in Canada “must have been transgender.”
Complaints about Swank’s public comments by vince.dice
Swank said he intended the latter post to force “the left” to decide whether to support transgender rights or gun rights.
“If people even knew anything about me, then they would know that I was doing that to [force] the left to have to make a decision: ‘Okay, do we support gun control or do we support transgender rights?’ And if they say so, then we have to come out and say, ‘We’re for guns, for people having guns.’ And some of them did, which is right what I wanted them to say,” he said.
Swank confirmed in an interview with Gig Harbor Now that he believes transgender people are mentally ill, citing the standard manual for diagnosing mental health disorders, the DSM-5. He said he is qualified to make this diagnosis because he has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington.
“Transgender is called ‘gender dysphoria.’ I have a psychology degree,” he said. “It’s still in the DSM-5 listed there as a mental health disorder, so it is a mental health disorder. If you think you’re a giraffe and you’re a human or some other animal, that’s a mental health disorder. If you think you’re a girl whenever you’re a boy, it’s a mental health disorder.”
The DSM-5 — the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, issued in 2013 — distinguishes between a mental health condition called gender dysphoria and being transgender. The manual does not label being transgender as a mental health condition.
Social media posts
The training commission is also investigating social media posts Swank made from 2023, when he was a Seattle Police officer. Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr said last January that she would have fired him over those posts if he had not left the department. Rahr called his comments on social media “biased, inflammatory” and “disrespectful.”
“I don’t post stuff that I don’t stand by,” Swank said. “I think about things before I post it, and if people don’t like it, then that’s their choice.”
Seattle Police Department complaints by vince.dice
Two other cases involve Swanks’ disparaging remarks about the Washington State Patrol after the agency apologized for accidentally disrupting a Pride celebration in Olympia; and his Senate testimony in January.
Swank testified about a bill that would bar law enforcement officers from obscuring their identities in most situations. He told lawmakers that his deputies “don’t wear masks. But once you pass this law that they can’t, I would not only allow them, but I would encourage them to do so just to see what you do.”
“I don’t recognize your authority to impose these controls over me and when you try to remove me from office,” he continued, “thousands of Pierce County residents will surround the County-City Building in downtown Tacoma and will not allow that to happen. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but I, and they, are prepared. Are you prepared?”
Many perceived his remarks as threatening.
“I stand by what I said. I stand for freedom of speech, and I can say whatever I want to say,” Swank said. “If the Criminal Justice Training Commission ends up decertifying me over my speech, I look forward to the fight in court.”
Records requests
Kristen Gledhill, who filed public records requests to obtain the records, told Gig Harbor Now that she and a small group of Pierce County residents are increasingly concerned about Swank’s actions and rhetoric. They believe Swank could ultimately place both county residents and the county government at risk.
Complaints related to public records request and testimony by vince.dice
“We care about the fact that he really is a big liability for the county, so, we’ve been filing some public records requests with the county to try to figure out, what is he doing with ICE?” Gledhill said. “How can we figure out what he actually is doing? And there were several other ones that we were filing just to figure out, where is he not telling the truth? And how can we find out more about what’s happening within the department?”
Gledhill said she sat on the records for about a month, trying to figure out what to do with them. Then she learned that the Legislature passed the bill allowing the Criminal Justice Training Commission to remove sheriffs it decertifies.
It is unclear whether the commission will decertify Swank, even if it upholds allegations against him in any of the cases. Gledhill noted, as legislators have, that this legislation could face legal challenges.
Swank said that the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is “discussing what steps they need to take.”
“The executive board will be making a decision on it. I’ll hopefully get to weigh in on it, too, a little bit,” he said. “And then hopefully we’ll have a united front and move forward that way to challenge this unconstitutional law that the Democrats passed.”
Swank called the association “a bunch of libtards” in text messages.
Charter Review Commission
Separately, the Pierce County Charter Review Commission may also consider making the county sheriff appointed instead of elected. Voters elect 21 charter review commissioners — seven from each Pierce County Council district — every 10 years to consider changes to the county’s charter, or governing document.
Pierce County operated with an appointed sheriff after voters approved a home-rule charter in 1980. Voters made the sheriff elected again in 2006, approving a charter amendment with nearly 66% support.
Gledhill testified at a March 2 Charter Review Commission meeting in support of changing the sheriff position to back appointed.
“We’re not talking about someone who is doing a good job,” she remembered telling the commission. “He’s not. He has cases against him. So I put it out there to them.”
She also has given public comment to the Pierce County Council regarding her concerns about Swank. She has also casually mentioned them to Councilmember Robyn Denson, who represents the peninsula. The council cannot remove Swank.
“My understanding is that [the Pierce County Council] can’t do anything about it anyway except for just note it as a potential other source of liability that he’s bringing to the county,” Gledhill said.
In response to questions of county liability, Pierce County spokesperson Maranatha Hay said that because the investigations are ongoing, “we are not in a position to speculate about hypothetical outcomes at this time. We will follow up if there are developments we are able to speak to.”