Sheriff Standards Law ensures well-trained professionalism

By Sen. John Lovick (D-Snohomish County) and Sen. Mike Chapman (D-Port Angeles)

As a peace officer, you learn that authority does not depend on how forceful you are but how deeply your community trusts you. Great leaders lead by example, embodying the dignity of their office. Great law enforcement leaders embrace, rather than evade, the highest standards of conduct and accountability.

Between us, we have almost 50 years of law enforcement experience. As a state trooper then the Snohomish County Sheriff and a local law enforcement agent then a U.S. Customs Inspector, and our decades in state and local government, we have dedicated our lives to keeping Washingtonians safe. Our work to pass SB 5974 was rooted in that commitment to protect our communities and uphold the integrity of the profession by increasing public trust in local law enforcement.

SB 5974 is about public safety, ensuring that everyone with the power to detain, arrest, or use deadly force is well-trained, highly prepared and professional. The bill adds basic certification standards, strengthens law enforcement leader qualifications, ensures no history of felony convictions or misconduct, and requires at least five years of law enforcement experience and that those decertified for misconduct step down so the locally elected government can appoint a replacement.

Far from subverting the will of the voters, as some claim, this bill is extremely popular among all demographics. Emerson College found that 75% of likely voters support its provisions. Many people are surprised to learn that — unlike every other Washington law enforcement officer — police chiefs, sheriffs, and marshals need not be certified. Currently, our law enforcement leaders aren’t just held to lower conduct standards than those of rank-and-file officers, they’re held to no standard at all.

https://www.heraldnet.com/2026/04/18/forum-sheriff-standards-law-ensures-well-trained-professionalism/