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News
30th annual Boy Scout fundraiser hosted by Sheriff Boyer.
Feb 9 2011
The 30th annual Friends of Scouting breakfast in Bremerton on Wednesday raised nearly $60,000 for local scouting programs, including more than $40,000 pledged from the 400 guests in attendance at the Harborside Conference Center.
The event, presented by the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America, was hosted by Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer.
Read more on the Kitsap Sun.
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Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer believes that Deputy Krista Rae McDonald may have prevented another Lakewood.
Jan 25 2011
McDonald is the deputy who, responding to a complaint about a “suspicious person” at the Port Orchard Walmart on Sunday, drove up to find that two of her colleagues had been shot and wounded. McDonald returned fire and killed 30-year-old Anthony A. Martinez of Utah.
Boyer believes that her actions may have prevented another incident like what occurred in November 2009 in Lakewood, when four police officers were gunned down in a coffee shop.
“Had she not pulled up,” Boyer said, “there was absolutely nothing that would have stopped (Martinez) from executing my deputies.”
Read more on the Kitsap Sun
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Interview with Sheriff Steve Boyer.
Sept 28 2011
On September 28th, Criminal Justice Degree Schools interviewed Sheriff Steve Boyer of Kitsap County, Washington. The Veteran Sheriff and State Trooper Provides Career Overview and Tips on How to Become a Successful Law Enforcement Officer.
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Sheriff Steve Boyer thanks you.
Nov 7 2006
To be returned for a third term to the helm of the Kitsap County Sheriffs' Office by our citizens is truly an honor. A heart felt THANK YOU for all of your support - and a special thank you to those who took time out of their busy lives to work on my campaign.
I am excited to tackle the challenges ahead, to follow through with promises made, and to lead a “A World Class Sheriffs Office”. With the exceptional personnel at the Sheriffs' Office, I am confident that we will meet the challenges before us, and continually improve on the service provided to our citizens.
We will make Kitsap County an even safer community for our families.
Thanks Again!,
Steve Boyer
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North Kitsap Herald endorses Sheriff Steve Boyer.
Sept 2 2006
North Kitsap Herald announced their endorsement of Sheriff Steve Boyer,
“Of the two [candidates], Boyer seemed more in tune with the needs of those he serves: the citizens.”
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Bremerton's Kitsap Sun endorses Sheriff Steve Boyer.
Sept 1 2006
Today's print edition of the Kitsap Sun announces their endorsement of Sheriff Steve Boyer.
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Kitsap Sun interviews Sheriff Steve Boyer
An excerpt from the Kitsap Sun
Aug 31 2006
“In law enforcement’s “rapidly changing environment,” Undersheriff Dennis Bonneville said, Boyer never lets the agency rest at the status quo.”
Read the full article by Josh Farley in the Kitsap Sun...
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"Good Friends & Food Fundraiser" for Sheriff Steve Boyer to be held on August 30th, 2006 - 6:00-8:00 PM
Aug 23 2006
Sheriff Steve Boyer will share examples of his many accomplishments and his plan for the future of our Sheriff's office. This invitation is open to those who support excellence in law enforcement.
The event will be held at Le Garmache (On the Bay), 1327 Bay Street, Port Orchard, WA
Hosted by: Kitsap County Commissioner Chris Endresen, County Prosecutor Russell & Jill Hauge, County Clerk David Peterson, Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman, Port Commissioner Mary Ann & Bill Huntington, Mel Wortman, Sharon Peterson, Lary and Dee Coppola, Gary Simpson, Ron & Marge Underwood, Dennis & Tomi Bonneville.
Please R.S.V.P. Dennis or Tomi Bonneville at 360.895.9880
If you are unable to attend please consider supporting the campaign with a contribution.
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Sheriff Boyer supports local anti-crime programs at National Night Out
Aug 01 2006
Sheriff Steve Boyer participated in the Bremerton Housing Authority’s annual National Night Out for the seventh year. National Night Out is an event designed to heighten crime awareness and drug prevention, generate support for local anti-crime programs and bring community groups together to provide information about the services they offer.
The Sheriff’s Office was very pleased with the involvement of Community Resource Officer Pete Ball and the Citizens on Patrol. “Prevention is the key to Safety” said Sheriff Boyer. “National Night Out strengthens families and communities and is why we are exploring expansion based on interest expressed from quality neighborhoods like Manchester”
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WestNET honored as 2005 agency of the year
KCSO news release #06-034 / 125
Jul 19, 2006
Port Orchard, Wash. -- It was their dedication to the mission: their strength and focus as they conducted high risk search warrants, the many sleepless nights on surveillance and their attention to detail that has all added up, as the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team (WestNET) was recently selected as the 2005 Agency of the Year for Region 1 (Western Washington) of the Western States Information Network (WSIN).
“This selection for WestNET demonstrates the value of a multi-agency approach to combat illegal narcotics which, in turn, further reduces other crime,” said Sheriff Steve Boyer. “I am immensely proud of every detective and support specialist in WestNET. They are directly responsible for the dramatic reduction in the number of methamphetamine labs in this county.”
WestNET is a multi-jurisdictional task force staffed with law enforcement officers from county, state, local municipalities and federal agencies. Its mission is to disrupt and reduce mid-to-upper level drug traffickers and manufacturers in the region, support counter-drug efforts of other law enforcement agencies, and aggressively prosecute those persons responsible for controlled substance violations.
During 2005 WestNET confiscated more than 4,700 marijuana plants and investigated 19 methamphetamine labs, down 49% from 2004. WestNET arrested more than 220 persons for various illegal narcotics activities, including manufacturing and distribution of controlled substances, possession of illegal drugs and for illegal firearms violations. More than 130 search warrants were served for narcotics violations.
WSIN is one of six multi-state centers that assist law enforcement agencies with support services tailored to the investigative and prosecution needs of member agencies, as a part of the national coordinating entity known as RISS (Regional Information Sharing Systems). WSIN consists of law enforcement agencies from Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington along with a number of agencies in Canada and Guam.
Administered by the U. S. Department of Justice, RISS provides criminal intelligence information sharing, crime analysis, training and technical assistance. The RISS program allows law enforcement agencies to coordinate their efforts against criminal networks that operate in many locations across jurisdictional lines. Typical targets of RISS activities are terrorism, drug trafficking, violent crime, cyber crime, gang activity and organized crime.
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Boyer sticking up for deputies in spite of it all
Reprinted compliments of the Port Orchard Independent
Jul 05 2006
You have to hand it to Steve Boyer. Against all odds last week, the embattled Kitsap County sheriff came out in a published report and professed to be “very proud” of his deputies.
Boyer’s statement of support came following a particularly embarassing week that saw a deputy accidently shoot a man in the leg after he’d climbed a tree and been reported as acting irrationally. The deputy apparently was trying to subdue the subject with her Taser but unholstered her 9-mm pistol instead and pulled the trigger, resulting in a non-fatal wound.
Earlier that same afternoon, another deputy was speeding to a bank holdup in East Bremerton when his patrol car hit another vehicle, crashed into a concrete barrier and went up in flames. The deputy was unhurt, but the car was destroyed and the accident is under investigation.
Just a month before, two deputies responding to a 911 call around 4 a.m. shot and killed a 26-year-old man said to have been wielding a machete. That incident, too, remains under investigation.
A lesser sheriff might have pointed out the irony of his deputies, of late involved in so many misadventures, simultaneously waging a particularly nasty campaign against Boyer’s re-election bid, in which they’ve accused the two-term incumbent of “incompetence.”
But Boyer, the subject of a vote of “no confidence” from the Deputy Sheriff’s Guild earlier this year, prefers to take the high road.
Meanwhile, Kitsap County last week issued a press release announcing it had reached a settlement agreement in its protracted contract neogiations with the deputies. According to a county spokeswoman, the Guild had endorsed the deal and planned to submit it to the rank and file on July 7 with a recommendation that the members ratify it.
However, according to the Guild’s president, Deputy Mike Rodrigue, that isn’t entirely accurate.
“We haven’t made a decision whether to accept their latest proposal,” said Rodrigue. “We were surprised to see the county’s press release. It gave the indication that it was a done deal, which is far from the truth.”
Of course it isn’t a done deal. That won’t be the case until the deputies sign off on it — assuming they do. But presumably the settlement has the Guild’s tacit blessing or Rodrigue wouldn’t have agreed to put the matter to a vote. That’s why unions elect representatives in the first place. If all he’s doing is relaying the county’s offer to his membership without a recommendation, what is Rodrigue doing that a fax machine couldn’t?
Rodrigue, of course, finds himself in an awkward position anyway. According to most observers, he’s the logical candidate to be named undersheriff if the Guild’s hand-picked choice, Jim Rye, defeats Boyer. Nothing wrong with that — except that the Guild’s main gripe against Boyer is his inability to broker a contract deal beween the deputies and the county.
This would seem to create a conflict of interest for Rodrigue, who, on the one hand, is responsible for negotiating a new contract for the new deputies but also stands to benefit personally if the impasse continues — at least until after the election. Which could explain Rodrigue’s seeming ambivalence to the deal struck this week.
As has been noted here before, tension between the sheriff and his deputies is nothing new in Kitsap County, and there’s no question the deputies are taking very seriously their concerns about Boyer. The question is whether you should take those concerns seriously.
From where we sit, it seems like Kitsap County residents are being served pretty well by Steve Boyer. A lot better than he’s being served by his deputies anyway.
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Sheriff speaks out in defense of the deputies
An excerpt from the Kitsap Sun
June 28, 2006
“We send them out there to do the impossible task: to find lost children, run search-and-rescue missions, conduct marine patrols, traffic patrols, do first aid, be experts at traffic collisions and resolve civil complaints and domestic assaults,” he said. “They’re interacting with people in various states of emotional distress, people under the influence of intoxicants or drugs and people with mental-health issues. This is what they deal with everyday.”
Read the full article by Josh Farley in the Kitsap Sun...
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Deputies not happy? What else is new?
Written by Pat Jones
Reprinted compliments of the Port Orchard Independent
May 31, 2006
Sound Off is a public forum [in the Port Orchard Independent]. Articles are selected from letters to the editor or may be written specifically for this feature. Today, former Kitsap County Sheriff Pat Jones notes that feuds between the sheriff and his deputies — and their union — aren’t unique to the current sheriff.
When I was Kitsap County sheriff (from 1978 to 1998), I never received a vote of no confidence, but I was sued for alleged retaliation and a hostile work environment, as well as for alleged sexual harassment by a male deputy toward a female deputy.
Civil lawsuits are very different from criminal lawsuits in that the plaintiff can testify to feelings and opinions without any proof to substantiate them.
Just the name Pat Jones evidently sent chills down the spine of certain deputies, much like Mufasa did to the hyenas in the Lion King.
I never realized I had that kind of effect on a deputy until one testified in a civil court that I touched his shoulder and it sent a chill down his spine and he couldn’t sleep for weeks.
This particular deputy felt that I was sending him a “subliminal” message that I wanted him to get killed in the line of duty.
However, just to show you how really bad I was, the same deputies who sued also went to the FBI and said that I was covering up murders, protecting high-level drug dealers, shaking down businesses for money, having certain deputies commit burglaries, growing drugs in my basement (a basement, by the way, that I did not have) and committing too many other heinous crimes to mention in this letter.
The county insurance pool paid out a lot of money to have some of the claims settled. Several were dismissed.
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney, who investigated me for the nine months without my knowledge, couldn’t find anything to charge me with. What a surprise. No evidence.
I guess in a criminal case it takes more than hearsay, rumor and innuendo.
I thought they would at least get me for having golf clubs in the trunk because that was true. So their next step was to contact the Seattle Times newspaper and complain that the FBI was doing nothing about their claims against me.
If even one of their allegations was true, I would be writing this letter from federal prison and my two children would have grown up without their dad.
Although many deputies knew these allegations were untrue, not one of them had the courage to come forward.
They just sat back and watched. It was so much fun for them to watch the boss go down.
At least I was never uninvited to the annual office Christmas party like Sheriff Steve Boyer and his wife were. I just chose not to go.
However, Deputy Jim Rye made it clear, after my children who were 1 and 3 had attended their first Deputy Sheriffs Guild children’s Christmas party, that they should not have been allowed to attend, so they never went again.
As far as bargaining is concerned, the county commissioners are the final say for wages and benefits. Thank goodness, though, the deputies have a right to binding arbitration, which is a good thing.
I fought hard for that law. They should be thankful they have it.
Not all deputies are created equal, of course. I fired many over the 20 years I was sheriff, some for lying.
However, I do know one thing. After being around Rye for 30 years and knowing his background, there is no way he is even remotely qualified to be the sheriff.
And one last thing, respect should be a two-way street.
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