The Right Choice? At the beginning of the campaign season I thought the slogan “The Right Choice” was interesting, because there were two candidates to choose from: Rob Snaza or Tracy Murphy, both who hold leadership positions within their respective agencies.
I have had the privilege to work in the Lewis County/Centralia area as a law enforcement officer for five years, which has allowed me to evaluate the current state of law enforcement in the Lewis County area.
Over the course of the five years I have seen the Lewis County Regional SWAT team be disbanded, Sheriff Snaza pull a detective out of JNET, ending all participation in the unit as a whole, while at the same time restricting narcotics enforcement in the county, cutting down his own manpower by not providing training to his reserve deputies, placing restrictions on the jail, and a K9 program become non-existent.
I’ve also seen a sheriff who has “protected us from tyranny” become the sheep sheriff who required his jail staff to wear masks, as well as place a directive at the intake door requiring officers from other agencies to comply with the mask mandate while inside the jail, which was enforced by jail supervisors. There is a laundry list of other issues that I’m not able to address in 500 words.
Over the course of my research on why sheriff Snaza or Tracy Murphy would be “the right choice,” I found past videos from Sheriff Snaza’s previous campaigns. I found that over the last three campaigns that his slogan has been the right choice. In 2014, during his campaign kickoff, he mentioned community partnership. By pulling out of JNET and not rebuilding relationships to be able to maintain a SWAT team, he has failed to maintain those community relationships. He has also failed the community by placing restrictions on who can and can’t be booked into the jail.
I know of two instances due to his jail restrictions that placed officers, including myself and members of the public, at risk of becoming victims of felony level crimes. When, if allowed to have been booked on misdemeanor crimes, these subjects would have been prevented from escalating their behavior keeping the community safer.
Yes, I’ll admit I do have some bias in this race. Murphy was one of my first supervisors as a patrol officer. I have found Tracy to be a wealth of knowledge, fair, a man of integrity and a competent and strong leader. I believe a lot of his campaign items will come to fruition if given the opportunity. I believe it speaks volumes that former sheriff Steve Mansfield has endorsed Murphy as well unanimously by the Centralia Police Officer Association. On the other hand, Snaza was endorsed by his own agency by a slim margin and not endorsed by the man who put him on the job.
The right choice for Lewis County is Tracy Murphy. The stagnant choice is Rob Snaza.
Andrew Huerta
Lewis County
