Republican Party names 3 finalists to be next Benton County sheriff

The acting Benton County sheriff and two former department supervisors made the cut to be considered for formal appointment as the county’s next top cop.

Acting Sheriff Jon Law, former Commander Tom Croskrey and retired jail Capt. John Hodge are the top three applicants chosen by the Benton County Republican Party.

Their names were released to the Tri-City Herald by Mike Massey, the local party’s chairman.

The finalists now will go before the Benton County Commission for interviews and selection of a sheriff to serve through 2022.

Law, Croskrey and Hodge were three of seven reported applicants for the position following the Aug. 3 recall of Jerry Hatcher, who had served as the sheriff since May 2017.

The candidates to replace him were vetted by the local party because Hatcher was elected as a Republican to the partisan position.

Jon Law

The county commissioners in mid-August named Law, a commander, as interim sheriff. The appointment must be done by mid-October — 60 days after the recall election was certified.

Law most recently has worked for the sheriff’s office since 2003. He first worked for the agency in 1995 in the corrections division, when it was run by the sheriff, followed by four years at the Prosser Police Department.

He fully supported the recall of his now-former boss, and was one of seven current and former employees to file a claim against the county in June for failing to protect them against Hatcher’s intimidation and retaliation tactics.

Tom Croskrey

Croskrey — who reportedly was the Republican Party central committee’s top choice — quit in the summer of 2020 because of Hatcher’s “horrible leadership and fraud,” threats, anger and lies.

He had been considered to be the sheriff’s right-hand man before leaving immediately after he submitted a “hostile work environment” complaint to the county’s human resources manager.

Croskrey has worked in law enforcement in the Tri-Cities for 28 years, starting with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office from 1992 to 2004 as a patrol deputy. He then moved to the Richland Police Department, where he stayed until retirement in February 2019 as a lieutenant.

Hatcher hired Croskrey the following month as commander of the jail. When commissioners took control of the jail in October 2019, Hatcher was moved over to the patrol side in the sheriff’s office and put in charge of the civil division and clerical staff.

Croskrey, like Law, was one of the seven people to file the claim against Benton County.

John Hodge

Hodge spent 27 years with the sheriff’s office, starting as a reserve officer in the 70s.

Over his career, he worked as a patrol officer and then detective before holding command positions, including head of the patrol division, the detectives and eventually the jail.

Hodge retired about 15 years ago.

He filed with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission his intent to run for sheriff, even before Hatcher was recalled. He has said he plans to run no matter what in 2022.