Benton County sheriff resigns suddenly mid-term
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sheriff Tom Croskrey will retire Sept. 30, ending a 30-year law career.
- County commissioners will appoint Lt. Mike Clark as acting sheriff in 2025.
- Republican Party will nominate three candidates to complete Croskrey's term.
When the Benton County’s sheriff steps down next week, it will be the third time he’s left law enforcement.
Tom Croskrey, 58, announced he is resigning from his elected position as sheriff as of Sept. 30.
Croskrey was appointed to the position in 2021 following the recall of Jerry Hatcher, and then won a full four-year term in 2022.
His decision to step down came after Croskrey felt confident in the strength of the office now following the tumultuous period of former Sheriff Jerry Hatcher, said his attorney, Alan Harvey.
“He has dedicated his life to service to the community, and he feels that he has accomplished all the things he set out to accomplish — stability for the office and solid leadership for the office,” Harvey told the Tri-City Herald.
“He’s leaving the nuances of negotiating through our current atmosphere in law enforcement to people who are younger and capable, and he wishes the department well,” he said.
Croskrey plans to spend more time with his family.
The sheriff has a little over a year left in his term. The county commissioners expect to appoint Lt. Mike Clark as the acting sheriff at their Sept. 30 meeting.
Clark currently heads the community services division and provided support for community outreach, marine patrol, school resource officers, training and SWAT. He also serves as the public information officer.
He’s spent about 20 years in law enforcement, according to a Benton County Sheriff’s annual report.
Because Croskrey is a Republican, the Benton County Republican Party will pick three nominees for the position. The county commissioners will appoint one of them to serve the last year of Croskrey’s term before next fall’s election.
The positions pays $133,000 a year.
3rd retirement
Croskrey started his nearly 30-year career in law enforcement as a Benton County patrol deputy, before moving over to Richland police, where he retired initially as a lieutenant in 2019.
He rejoined the office later in March 2019 as the jail commander, working under Hatcher. When the county took over operating the jail, Hatcher asked Croskrey to stay on as a commander and put him in charge of the civil division.
At one point, Croskrey asked to be promoted to undersheriff to help, but Hatcher refused. Croskrey left the sheriff’s office due to the growing hostility, and became one of the voices critical of Hatcher.
He said that Hatcher’s “horrible leadership and fraud” and “anger and hostility” had affected his personal health and well-being greatly.
Croskrey returned to law enforcement in 2021 after Hatcher’s recall, and he was appointed to fill his spot. His goal was to make rebuilding the department a priority.
“If we have a dysfunctional department, they’re not going to serve the community as well as they could,” he told the Tri-City Herald after his appointment. “The No. 1 priority is bringing integrity back to the office, the byproduct of which is the trust of the community.”
Croskrey won a full term in 2022, and has served about three years. In that time, he’s seen two record high years for crime in the Tri-Cities, helped start a wildly successful patch program and brought on an electronics sniffing dog to catch child predators.
He faced an investigation into his involvement in helping a former Richland detective get the rights to carry a gun that is normally given to former officers. The Yakima Police Department conducted the investigation and found no crime was committed.
This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 12:48 PM.