On Feb. 23, the Burien-based Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) held a Special Meeting for the purpose of interviewing and considering the four finalists for our Executive Director position, vacant since Oct. 14, 2011. The finalists were selected from among all applicants by a Selection Group of Commissioners on Dec. 14, 2011. With the interviews complete, the Commission went into open, public session to discuss and compare the finalists, and reached consensus on offering the position to King County Sheriff Sue Rahr, contingent on the results of a background check. Her second term as sheriff expires in 2013. Chief Deputy Steve Strachan, former Kent police chief, will be selected as Rahr’s interim successor, it is expected.

Also interviewed in “closed Executive Session” were (in alphabetical order) Washington Executive Ethics Board Executive Director Melanie DeLeon, Oregon Department of Public Safety, Standards & Training (DPSST) Captain Suzanne Isham, Head of Tactical Training at the Regional Academy. DPSST is Oregon’s equivalent of WSCJTC: setting qualifications and training standards for criminal justice professions, and issuing and revoking certification, and WSCJTC Interim Executive Director Debbie Mealy, the agency’s Deputy Director.

WSCJTC’s Executive Director is in the Washington Exempt Service (exempt from Washington civil service protections) and serves at the pleasure of the Commissioners. The position is paid in Exempt Officials’ Salary Plateau C; the current maximum of that plateau is $110,114 annually.

Greg Baxter, Human Resources Manager, WSCJTC, spoke to Robinson News about Sheriff Rahr, her duties, and the background check:

"The executive director oversees the agency's operations statewide, represents the criminal justice training community to the legislature and other stakeholders and important organizations, and manages the budget and resources of the commission.

"Sue Rahr is going to do something very different from running a law enforcement agency. Currently she's answerable to King County. When she comes to CJTC she's answerable to all the chiefs and sheriffs statewide, to the legislature, and to the Department of Justice. I won't say it's a bigger job than being the King County Sheriff but it's a very different scope of responsibility and accountability.

"As human resources manager yesterday I spent time with her when she was here for the interviews, and then we spent about two hours together afterwards. I think she is going to be a terrific boss and we are ready to have a good, strong boss here. Our deputy director was given the interim assignment so now we will have a full time director and interim director.

"A background check is not at all ironic. We certainly know Sheriff Rahr, but our duty to the state and to the taxpayers is to see that she has the temperament and qualifications for this position. We're going to ask about her quality of leadership and character from the people she's worked with.

"Burien is terrifically convenient statewide and a centralized location, 19010 1st Ave. South. You can see Sea Tac Airport from our campus so you can easily get here from anywhere in the state. We currently have over 200 post-academy courses listed for the rest of the year. It's a real busy place, with over 23,000 annual hours of training.

"We are the one and only basic law enforcement academy in the state. All police officers and deputy sheriffs, district police, railroad police, jailers for the 39 county jails and 19 city jails, all tribal officers, everyone seeking certification as a police officer in Washington comes to our police academy here in Burien. The only other basic police officer instruction in the state is the State Patrol Academy which qualifies only state troopers employed by them.

"About two thirds of our budget goes to post-academy training, crime scene investigators, homicide detectives, police supervisors, crime scene photographers, bicycle police, animal police, coroners, prosecutors. We're it. Washington has chosen what other states do not. I'm from Texas where there are about 25 police academies. The Washington legislature decided on 'a centralized and comprehensive criminal justice system.'"