Here’s why the Herald says Leach is the right choice for Benton coroner

In the race for coroner, Benton County residents are in luck.

Regardless of who wins the election in November, the office will be in good hands.

Benton County Deputy Coroner Bill Leach and Jamie Raebel, a Pasco police detective sergeant, are running for the post. Both are excellent candidates.

However, we think Leach’s experience in the coroner’s office gives him the edge, and we recommend him for the position.

The current coroner, John Hansens, has held the job the past eight years and decided not to run for reelection. He wants to pass the department off to someone who can immediately step in and manage it, and Hansens supports Leach as his successor.

Leach was a law enforcement officer with the West Richland Police Department for over 17 years, working his way up from a reserve officer to detective and eventually sergeant.

He retired in 2013, which was the same year Hansens recruited him for the deputy coroner’s job. Leach has worked in the office ever since. He has been directly involved in over 700 death investigations and has assisted in many others.

The job requires getting called at all hours to investigate deaths throughout the county, and working with families who have lost loved ones. The job is part medical professional and part police investigator, stitched together with compassion.

Leach said he has assisted in 80 autopsies and has conducted many death notifications to families. He is trained in fire investigations, elder abuse and elder death investigations, child and infant death investigations, and has had FBI crime scene investigation training.

He also is one of only 74 people in Washington state to have received the title of Registered Death Investigator with The American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators.

Leach’s on-the-job coroner work is invaluable, but Raebel notes that the past three coroners in Benton County came from a law enforcement background and he has 37 years in that arena.

Raebel has worked in nearly every capacity at the Pasco Police Department, and in his current position he investigates all major crimes including homicides.

In preparing for the coroner’s job, Raebel has completed an extensive list of specific, collegiate death investigative courses, which adds to his solid reputation as a supervisor.

Raebel is endorsed by Benton County Sheriff Jerry Hatcher and a long list of current and retired law enforcement officers. He is highly respected among his peers on both sides of the river.

We believe he would be an honest, hardworking coroner. But we also think that of Leach.

Both candidates have the qualities we like to see in our elected officials – they are professional, determined, dedicated, and are running for the office because they want to serve.

The difference is that Leach has been doing the job already as deputy coroner, and that’s a deciding factor for us.

The Tri-City Herald recommends Bill Leach for Benton County Coroner.