We call for certification review of Pierce Co. Sheriff Ed Troyer
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
SEATTLE—The Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance today called for a certification review hearing for Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, following revelations about Sheriff Troyer’s egregious and anti-Black confrontation with newspaper deliverer Sedrick Altheimer in January.
“Ed Troyer displayed explicit racial bias, and deployed excessive force based on a lie. His actions amount to reckless endangerment, and he is unfit for duty,” the Alliance wrote in a letter to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
The Commission was created to “establish standards and provide training to criminal justice professionals, including peace officers, local corrections officers and to certify, and when necessary de-certify, peace officers,” according to its website.
Last week, the Seattle Times reported on Troyer’s persistent malice and weaponization of entire law enforcement agencies to unlawfully hunt and detain Mr. Sedrick Altheimer, a Black man, based on an intentional, repeated lie to 911 dispatchers: that Mr. Altheimer had threatened to kill him, the Pierce County Sheriff.
“While it will be up to the voters of Pierce County to determine his ultimate fate as Sheriff, it is your individual and collective responsibility to protect the safety and constitutional rights of all Pierce County residents, visitors, and stakeholders,” the Alliance told the Commission.
The full text of the letter follows.
March 24, 2021
To Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission:
The Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance demands the immediate suspension and a certification review hearing of Ed Troyer, Sheriff of Pierce County, Washington, pending a thorough and transparent investigation into his egregious and anti-Black racist actions in January 2021. Under RCW 43.101.155, which states:
If the Commission determines, upon investigation, that there is probable cause to believe that a peace officer's certification should be denied or revoked, the Commission will prepare and serve upon the officer a statement of charges. The statement of charges will be accompanied by a notice that to receive a hearing on the denial or revocation, the officer must request a hearing before the hearings board within sixty days of communication of the statement of charges. Failure of the officer to request a hearing within the sixty-day period constitutes a default, whereupon the commission may enter an order.
Ed Troyer displayed explicit racial bias, and deployed excessive force based on a lie. His actions amount to reckless endangerment, and he is unfit for duty.
The Seattle Times March 18 article lays bare Ed Troyer’s persistent malice and weaponization of entire law enforcement agencies to unlawfully hunt and detain Mr. Sedrick Altheimer, a Black man, based on an intentional, repeated lie to 911 dispatchers: that Mr. Altheimer had threatened to kill him, the Pierce County Sheriff.
Ed Troyer should have been arrested for making a false report. He has violated the policies of the department and the county. He has abused the public trust, and abused, misused, and weaponized his standing in law enforcement to harm Black and Brown Lives. His actions are unacceptable, his harms irreparable. While it will be up to the voters of Pierce County to determine his ultimate fate as Sheriff, it is your individual and collective responsibility to protect the safety and constitutional rights of all Pierce County residents, visitors, and stakeholders.
We urgently request a meeting to address our demand that the threat Ed Troyer poses to the safety of Black residents or visitors to Pierce County be immediately addressed, starting with his immediate suspension and certification hearing of Ed Troyer by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
For all Black lives,
Washington Black Lives Matter Alliance