Pierce Co. Sheriff race pits longtime employee against former Seattle cop

TACOMA, Wash. - Pierce County residents have an important choice to make about who the next sheriff will be — Keith Swank or Patti Jackson.

Swank, an outsider to the department, is professing that he wants an overhaul of the current leadership team to an insider like Patti Jackson, who is a part of the team he wants to disband.

It’s been 35 years since Jackson started working for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

She’s been head of the department’s patrol division since January. Prior to that, for nearly nine years, she was the chief of another bureau within the department — the jail.

"I am proud of the fact that we were able to run a facility during a pandemic without losing life. I am proud that we're able to have individuals that come into our facility that know that while they're there, you know, a large percentage of individuals know that while they're there, they're going to be treated well," Jackson said.

Swank is a former captain with the Seattle Police Department and worked there for 33 years. 

 "I worked patrol for 15 years. I’ve been shot at, I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been punched, I’ve been kicked, somebody tried to run me over with a car before, I’ve been in pursuits. I’ve been all in all kinds of things, I’ve handled everything," Swank said.

One high stakes moment Swank says he is proud of is how he helped deescalate a hostage situation during a shooting at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle in 2006. 

"I was in the 911 center whenever they had the Jewish Federation shooting and I helped deescalate the suspect there," Swank said.

As an outsider to the sheriff’s department, FOX 13 Seattle asked Swank how he would compare to an insider like Jackson.

"Patti Jackson has never been a police officer, she doesn’t know how to be. She knows how to run a jail, which is important, but it’s different from being a police officer…I’m not experienced in the jail but it’s easier to learn about the jail than it is to learn to be a cop," Swank said.

"I find it ironic when people say that you can't translate a leadership role from one bureau to the next…when you are bringing the bad guys that they're taking down into the facility, and then what, somebody's got to watch those individuals. So the law enforcement piece that I oversaw were the men and women that were working in that small city to do just that," Jackson said.

During the interview, Swank brought up some of those same corrections deputies.  

"The corrections deputies have no confidence in Patti Jackson, they voted a no confidence vote just a few months ago," Swank said.

Corrections Guild President Bryan Buckingham confirmed with FOX 13 Seattle that around half of all corrections deputies in his union did make that no confidence vote back in March. It did not ask for her resignation, but instead their grievance was over the issue of a lack of training. 

Jackson says she was blindsided over the union’s vote, especially since right before that vote they had agreed on a plan for additional training. Jackson says she could not immediately agree to the union’s request to do all day training sessions outside the jail due to staffing limitations, but made it possible for deputies to get training inside the jail.

"Let’s build, let’s use one of our underused areas in that facility and build a training facility. It’s absolutely beautiful, they have started the situational training and scenario-based training, and people have done nothing but give good feedback to that," Jackson said.

Sheriff Ed Troyer is coming to Jackson’s defense, saying the buck stops with him.

He says the union never brought up their concerns to him. Buckingham is denying that the move was political, saying the no confidence vote was never meant to go public.

But from Troyer’s perspective, it was all political, considering the union was endorsing Craig Gocha, who failed to beat out Jackson and Swank in the August primary. Troyer is also applauding Jackson for successfully recruiting deputies while other jails are struggling to do so. The jail is budgeted for 300 deputies, and by the time Jackson left to head patrol, the jail, they say, only had around 40 vacancies.

Meanwhile, when asked about possible changes to the department if elected, Swank targeted Troyer and his leadership team.

"The first thing is the leadership of the department has to change. It’s been a good old boy system forever, Ed Troyer picked Patti Jackson to follow him," Swank said. 

Troyer, who chose not to run for reelection, had this response to Swank’s comments.

"I am proud to endorse Patti Jackson to be the next Sheriff of Pierce County. It is ironic that Patti could be the first female sheriff in our department’s history, but Mr. Swank refers to her as part of the good old boys."

Those who question Swank’s leadership skills say a 10-day suspension back in 2011 is a red flag.

Swank was reportedly given that suspension over a failure to take appropriate action after another officer was caught on video using racist language as he was arresting someone.

"I reported it to my chain of command, my chain of command said they would handle it from there…I didn’t follow up to make sure someone moved forward with it, I didn’t think I had to," Swank said.

Swank says he appealed the 10-day suspension, getting it cut down to a three-day suspension.

All these years later, Swank says he did learn from that incident, but he still believes he didn’t do anything wrong. 

"I didn’t do anything wrong; I just didn’t document it and I trusted people when I shouldn’t have. I should entrust but verify," Swank said.

Swank is endorsed by two candidates who ran in the August primary in the sheriff’s race but lost, including Cyndie Fajardo, who Swank says he will appoint as undersheriff if he is elected.

In addition to Troyer, Jackson has the endorsement of former Sheriff Paul Pastor, as well as Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and Pierce County Councilmember Ryan Mello.

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