The Toledo City Council has confirmed that, to the best of its knowledge, former reserve officer Brandon Svenson’s background check was properly completed before the Toledo Police Department hired him in January 2022.
The confirmation came in Feb. 9 a “memorandum of clarification” to a letter issued by Toledo Mayor Steve Dobosh on Jan. 11 that stated the City of Toledo was formally cutting ties with Svenson — who also serves as the mayor of Winlock and chair of the Lewis County Republican Party — in a law enforcement capacity due to the possibility that his background check was not properly completed.
Svenson enrolled in the Morton Police Department Reserve Academy in January 2022 while sponsored by the Toledo Police Department. He graduated from the academy and was sworn in on June 19.
However, former Toledo Police Chief Sam Patrick left the position to become chief of the McCleary Police Department in July and, without a replacement, the reserve program was dissolved.
“With no reserve program in place, Mr. Svenson did not serve as a Toledo reserve officer,” states the Toledo City Council.
The dissolution of the reserve program was the catalyst for longtime reserve officer and volunteer police sergeant Randy Pennington to retire on July 5, 2022, Pennington and the Toledo City Council confirmed.
Unable to work as a reserve officer in Toledo, Svenson then applied to be a reserve officer with the Morton Police Department and was hired in August. Svenson served as a reserve officer in Morton through December. He is not currently serving as a reserve officer.
Both Dobosh’s letter and the Toledo City Council’s memorandum were addressed to the Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission (CJTC), which handles the training and certification of peace officers.
The memorandum, which was “CC’d” to former Toledo Police Department Chief Patrick, current Chief Duane Garvais Lawrence, Svenson and The Chronicle, was delivered to The Chronicle's office in Centralia on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The Chronicle published an article about Dobosh’s letter and Svenson’s history as a reserve officer on its website on Friday, Feb. 3. The article ran in the Saturday, Feb. 4 print edition of The Chronicle and can be read online at https://bit.ly/3SgfQpZ.
The memorandum opens, “We, as city council, recently became aware of the above referenced letter, and believe clarification is warranted.”
The Toledo City Council continued, “It is the understanding of the Toledo City Council that the proper procedures regarding Mr. Svenson’s reserve program training were done in accordance with CJTC’s process. This includes a successful background check implemented by Chief Patrick, an independent polygraph and psychological evaluation and successful completion of reserve program training.”
Reserve officers have to undergo an academy training program and receive certificates of completion, but they are not considered full-time peace officers and thus don’t require full-fledged certification from CJTC the way full police officers do, a spokesperson previously told The Chronicle. State law does require law enforcement agencies to complete a background check on an applicant before hiring them as a reserve officer.
“To the best of our knowledge, there was no issue with Mr. Svenson’s criminal background check that would have prevented him from serving as a reserve officer,” stated the Toledo City Council. “Additionally, Toledo City Council realizes and acknowledges that each agency and each hiring entity is responsible for vetting the candidates that they choose to hire, in the manner laid out by their individual policies.”
In a Jan. 31 email to The Chronicle, a representative of the CJTC’s certification division stated the division “does not confirm or deny the existence of any pending investigation.”
Dobosh’s signature is not included on Toledo City Council’s memorandum. Similarly, Dobosh’s letter is not signed by any members of the Toledo City Council. In December, Dobosh issued a letter to constituents explaining strife between him and Toledo City Council that resulted in the mass resignation of city staff.
More on that letter can be read at https://bit.ly/3Iy2guT.
In a previous phone call with a Chronicle reporter, Dobosh said he had received his information about the Svenson’s background check from local activist Kyle Wheeler but was unable to independently confirm whether or not the background check had been completed.
The information fell under the City of Toledo’s radar due to a high turnover of police chiefs within the last two years, according to Dobosh.
He said Wheeler reached out to him in early January about Svenson’s background and encouraged Dobosh to look into it himself. After hearing from Toledo’s current police chief that employing Svenson could be considered a conflict of interest due to Svenson’s position as mayor of Winlock, Dobosh drafted the Jan. 11 letter with the help of “a consultant.”
“At no point in this process did anyone from the City of Toledo ever inform me, or to my knowledge anyone else, there was an issue with my background,” Svenson said in a previous written statement to The Chronicle. “A background check always occurs prior to being sworn in. Sadly, at the root of this and countless other unfounded personal attacks are just a few malicious individuals that continually harass several electeds in Lewis County based on our political and religious beliefs.”
While Svenson did not identify who he called “malicious individuals” in his statement to The Chronicle, the issue of his background check was first brought to light by Wheeler, who has written several letters to the editor on the topic that can be read at chronline.com.
