New Benton sheriff named after sudden resignation, lingering ‘morale’ issues
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Benton commissioners unanimously appoint Mike Clark to finish sheriff’s 2025 term.
- Candidates raised morale problems amid history of leadership turmoil and lawsuits.
- Clark pledged wellness programs, tech upgrades and budget oversight.
Mike Clark will serve as Benton County sheriff for at least another year.
The three county commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to pick the veteran leader in the Benton County Sheriff’s Office to serve the remaining year of former Sheriff Tom Croskrey’s term in office.
While the pick was unanimous, it came after his two competitors for the spot both talked of problems with morale in the office. Commissioner Jerome Delvin echoed similar concerns.
“There are some issues in the sheriff’s department over the last two sheriffs and even before that I recognized and had issues with,” Delvin said. “There needs to be a lot of changes and, hopefully with this appointment, we’ll start to see some of the changes within the department.”
Clark later told the Tri-City Herald that he would continue to work on ways to show the deputies that they are appreciated.
Clark has been serving as the interim sheriff since Croskrey stepped own on Oct. 2.
Because Croskrey was a Republican, the Benton County Republican Party forwarded three candidate recommendations to the county commission to choose from for the opening.
They were Clark, former Deputy Jeremy Carrigan and current Deputy Brad Klippert, a former state legislator and newly elected Kennewick city councilman.
The commissioners interviewed the three for about 30 minutes each on Thursday before having a half-hour closed-door discussion ahead of their unanimous vote for Clark.
The sheriff manages a staff of about 70 commissioned officers and 15 civilian employees. His salary is $133,000 a year.
They provide law enforcement to about 42,000 in unincorporated Benton County, including the Finley area and Benton City.
Sheriff’s office turmoil
This will be the third time in 10 years the commissioners have had to fill the position after a sheriff left before his elected term was over.
Former Sheriff Jerry Hatcher was picked in 2017 to take over for Steve Keane as he recovered from colon cancer.
Hatcher was ousted by voters in a recall in August 2021. Croskrey, who had resigned rather than continue to work for Hatcher, was eventually appointed to replace him and later elected to his own full term.
However, Croskrey also later 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.
Currently, six current and former deputies and members of the Benton County sheriff’s command staff are suing the county for millions over Hatcher’s behavior.
At the trial underway in Walla Walla, the officers have testified about the intense psychological abuse they suffered under Hatcher after he was accused of domestic violence and the county stripped control of the jail from him.
The highest ranking member of the sheriff’s command staff told the jury this week that the feeling that he couldn’t protect his employees from his former boss nearly drove him to suicide.
The toll of Hatcher’s alleged abuse was so bad that he felt it could only end one way, with someone being killed.
New sheriff appointed
Clark, a 22-year veteran with the office, began as a patrol deputy and worked his way up through the ranks. He worked as a leader in SWAT, before moving over into the administration.
He led the adoption of the office’s wellness programs, oversaw the office’s purchasing program and acted as the public information officer.
“I’ve grown up here my whole life. This department has been the one department that I’ve ever worked for,” Clark said. “I’ve spent my whole career serving this community, serving Benton County and the residents here.”
He told the commissioners that he’s looking for ways to leverage technology to improve the ability of deputies to do their jobs. He wants to make sure to do this while managing what is the largest budget in the county.
“Obviously, public safety is the most important,” he told the commissioners. “It covers everything I just talked about.”
He said the sheriff’s office has built up a robust set of policies that help make sure the office runs well.
-Staff writer Cory McCoy contributed to this report.