The labor union representing King County Police Majors and Captains announced that it filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the state labor board today against Sheriff John Urquhart. The complaint alleges that Urquhart engaged in a series of retaliation actions against the leaders of the police commanders’ union – the Puget Sound Police Managers Association – after the union officers had presented complaints to Urquhart about his management of the office.
The union’s complaint identified an on-going pattern of retaliation by Urquhart against the union leadership which the union says worsened earlier this year when the Sheriff faced additional public scrutiny over rape allegations and the mishandling of internal investigations. The complaint also identified steps Urquhart and his staff took to investigate union membership meetings, which the union complaint called unlawful “surveillance” and “intimidation.”
The union alleges that some of the union meeting surveillance occurred after rumors surfaced that Urquhart’s chief of staff, Chris Barringer, had failed his prehire polygraph test. Barringer’s test failure became a subject of discussion at the union meeting because Urquhart had previously denied the rumors when asked about them by Union President Carl Cole. By the time of the union meeting, documents showing that Barringer had failed the test were circulating the office.
The union’s labor complaint also alleges retaliation against a police captain who accepted a voluntary demotion to avoid serving as the director of Urquhart’s internal affairs unit. Captain Rodney Chinnick had turned down the assignment because he had ethical concerns with Urquhart’s management of the internal affairs unit and did not want to have to supervise the unit due to Urquhart’s past interference with employee investigations.
The complaint alleges that Urquhart directed Major Noel Fryberger meet with union Vice President Marcus Williams to deliver a threat to the union members about the pending Sheriff’s
race. Fryberger is alleged to have told Williams that if the commander’s union supported Major Mitzi Johanknecht in her Sheriff’s race against Urquhart, that Urquhart would “destroy them.”
Union Board member and King County Captain Scott Somers described the unfair labor complaint “as much about the cover-up as the crime. This stuff has been leaking out about the Sheriff and his staff, and the drip is becoming a flow, and they are working to intimidate us to into keeping quiet about all of it. We aren’t going to be part of his cover-up.”
“He’s put us in a terrible position,” Somers said. “There’s all sorts of questions of dishonesty and incompetence that embarrass our membership. As Captains and Majors, we are leaders in the organization. It’s been a serious morale issue. We want to be leaders in an ethical, professional law enforcement organization and we aren’t seeing that at the very top. The Captains and Majors are stuck between the rank and file officers who want professionalism and the Sheriff and his staff that are setting a poor example.”
Union President Carl Cole said that his roles as President of the union and Police Captain were challenging. “We want to do the right thing and keep our members informed of misconduct, but the Sheriff is threatening our jobs. We are going out on a limb on this to make sure the public knows what’s going on inside the Sheriff’s Office.”
Union attorney Jim Cline who filed the complaint with the state labor board called the allegations “extraordinary.” Cline and his law firm, Cline and Casillas, represent police labor unions throughout the state. Cline called the Sheriff’s actions “outside the garden variety retaliation case that we sometimes see. The Sheriff is acting like he’s untouchable. Brazen.”
The complaint will be subject to review by the state labor board which will determine when a hearing would be scheduled. Cline stated “I’m expecting that this will be reviewed in just a few weeks by the Public Employment Relations Commission, the state labor board, and a hearing will be set sometime in a few months.”
