Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders, accompanied by his executive staff and senior officers, held a town hall at the Yelm Community Center on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
Setting aside the usual town hall topics and department news, Sanders first introduced Detective Hannah Ritter and her canine companion, Gus, who recently completed training to sniff out electronic storage devices such as USB devices, SD cards, air tags, hidden cameras and other technology that is usually small in size and intentionally hidden.
As an electronic storage device (ESD) K9, Gus will primarily assist with search warrants for investigations involving internet crimes, particularly those that exploit children. He is the only trained law enforcement K9 with electronics training between Seattle and Portland, Sanders told the audience.
Detective Ritter explained Gus can smell the chemicals used to build the devices. He can find small devices hidden in a wall. He recently found a camera under 4 feet of water.
Gus joining the department was the happy result of an “innovation memo” submitted by Ritter. A memo may be submitted by any employee of the agency who would like to see a policy change, has a new idea or would like to see a new program.
Ritter’s efforts didn’t stop at submitting a memo, as she assisted with a grant proposal from Defenders for Children that paid for Gus and his training. The ESD team will likely be requested by other departments in the region who will have to pay for their time and efforts.
Unlike most service or police dogs, anyone can pet Gus. In addition to his main job of searching for ESDs, he roams the halls of the sheriff’s office freely and provides comfort during investigations involving child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
Gus climbed happily into the lap of Brandon Mathis, of Eatonville, Wednesday night. He attended Yelm’s town hall with his wife, Felicia, who works in Yelm. Brandon said he recently submitted an application to Thurston County Sheriff’s Office for a patrol officer position and was curious to hear what Sanders had to say. After the meeting they said they learned a lot and enjoyed the meeting.
Next up for Gus and Ritter was a trip to McNeil Island, Ritter said. The inmates are not supposed to have phones so they will be in the facility searching for illegal electronics.
After the K9 introduction, Sanders introduced his staff and explained their jobs and went on to speak about various topics regarding his department.
In light of all that is going on with the department — such as beefing up the marine services on the lakes and harbors, refurbishing a helicopter for department use with volunteer pilots, continued contracts to police smaller cities, such as Rainier, Tenino and Bucoda, and changes involving the county Corrections Department — Sanders said his biggest concern is staff retention.
It is difficult to compete with wages in places such as Seattle, so giving his employees more power and allowing them to help guide the direction of the agency through the innovation memos has been a good tool, he said.
If TCSO can’t compete with wages, Sanders added, the agency listens to their ideas and tries to make life better.
In addition to the memo that resulted in Gus joining the agency, other examples of changes were allowing veterans to display their military branch on their uniforms, allowing jail employees to wear hats in the jail, changing the style of pants and returning to the practice of field testing narcotics.
There are nine vacancies at TCSO, currently, and three at the jail — which has a hiring freeze.
Felicia Mathis asked Sanders about active shooters. The department has the gear needed to address that type of situation, he said, but he is interested in the cause of active shooters. School resource officers are not mental health counselors. After school activities are important, he said.
“Kids can’t get in trouble if they are busy after school,” Sanders said. “My job is to put my best foot forward for the community.”
