Kriete reflects on first half of term, plans to run again

EPHRATA – Grant County Sheriff Joey Kriete said Wednesday that he doesn’t like being stagnant and he’s not been able to in the first half of his four-year term as the head of the Grant County Sheriff’s Office. GCSO has had challenges but has met several goals he identified before taking office. 

“Some of the challenges that we had coming in were that we had a gap in our investigating abilities with the sheriff’s office. We were able to deal with our day-to-day calls for service when they came into our patrol deputies and able to handle the domestics, the burglaries and things like that. ... But then we were also able to handle our major crimes, our homicides, our serious major assaults, our high-profile or any child abuse cases that may come in. And we had our drug task force that was dealing with our large drug cases – big, large drug seizures and things like that – but we had this gap that we just weren’t able to address.”  

That gap, Kriete said, was the investigation of mid-level crimes. The incidents that are persistent and impact the entire Grant County community. Those included issues like game activity, farming equipment thefts, mid-level narcotics cases and similar crimes.  

During his campaign, Kriete had said he was aware that many of these crimes were associated with drug use with criminal acts going to fund addictions which in turn led to increased minor crimes like shoplifting and community disturbances. He had committed to establishing a Crime Reduction Team, if elected. That team is now active and has been able to successfully pursue important cases such as catalytic converter thefts and even homicide charges against drug dealers associated with overdose deaths. The CRT has three staff, a sergeant and two deputies, but Kriete said the goal is to have five on that team, likely by mid-summer of this year. 

“The Crime Reduction Team, their mission is to be a very proactive unit that will address those mid-level crimes that we have going on in Grant County. They do follow-up on cases that maybe our patrol deputies might not be able to do,” he said.  

Establishing the CRT was Kriete’s most commonly repeated campaign promise and has led to increased case clearing, but not his only goal post to work toward coming in. His predecessor had faced an issue with command staff moonlighting west of the Cascades, and Kriete addressed that walking in. While deputies can moonlight provided they’re not on shift, command staff who are always on-call have to be available to fulfill their managerial roles at GCSO. Firmer guidelines allow them to have second jobs in the county, but maintain their availability. 

“Our dedication is here to the citizens of Grant County, and that’s where we want to be at to provide the services that we can. And I know everybody wants to do some type of off-duty employment and things like that, but we do have The Gorge here for the summertime that some of our administrators do go work, but it’s in Grant County providing services in Grant County to go where extra help may be needed at specific events,” the sheriff said. 

Command staff have also taken on more patrols during holiday weekends and other busy times to ensure solid coverage countywide. 

Law Enforcement staffing is a challenge nationwide and has been for some time, Kriete said. Grant County Commissioners approved 10 new positions in 2023 which the department is in the process of filling. A public information officer, Kyle Foreman, has already been hired. Corrections and patrol deputy positions are being filled and an additional nurse for the jail has also already been hired.  

“We have three people in the (Washington Basic Law Enforcement Academy) right now,” Kriete said. “We've got two in the (Field Training Officer) process right now. I’ve got some conditional offers out there right now for (lateral transfers).” 

Kriete said those positions should allow GCSO to meet its coverage goals. The department has been solid for a long time in the central part of the county, but he wants more of a presence in the north and south portions. He’s been able to increase patrols near Mattawa and Grand Coulee, especially as a means to help departments in those areas during the evening.  

“Most of it’s during the evening hours, but we are covering a lot of areas and a lot of time up in that north end of the county through the south end of the county. We’ve been able to work and partner with the South Grant County Chamber of Commerce, which has been great,” he said.  

Other accomplishments include replacing two retired K9 officers with each of those having a roughly four-six-year career expectancy, Kriete said. His administration has improved support for deputies’ mental health through a Critical Incident Stress Management, or CISM, program as well. 

Law enforcement officers have a 54% higher risk of suicide according to CNA, a federally funded research and development center.  

Kriete said that’s because, on average, many officers see many more traumatic incidents than their civilian peers. Where a resident may see only a small handful of those incidents such as a major car accident or a murder, an officer may see one or more of those incidents daily.  

“When I started back in the early 90s, dealing with that, it just wasn’t a thing. You just didn’t talk about it,” he said.  

With the current generation of young officers, mental health has become a priority, he said. That’s a credit to the new officers and something that leadership has taken seriously. While the CISM program is an ever-evolving program, the improvements made over the last two years should help GCSO officers thrive. 

Improving access to mental health care for inmates at the jail has just recently been implemented as well, Kriete said. Lanny Abundiz became the department’s first designated crisis responder Jan. 13. Through partnerships with Renew and New Hope, the goal is for DCRs like Lanny to help inmates address their mental health proactively and thereby reduce recidivism, Kriete said.  

Another recently realized achievement is financial. Last year was the department’s first managing its budget independently. Kriete is waiting on a final evaluation, but it appears the department came in about 5-6% under budget with savings in a variety of areas including training and equipment purchases. 

There are some challenges upcoming in the second half of Kriete’s term, though. He said the new Grant County Jail and transitioning into it is a big part of the challenges ahead. A transition team is established and meets weekly to ensure a smooth transfer from the Grant County Courthouse campus to the new jail near the Walmart in Ephrata.  

Reaccreditation of GCSO as a law enforcement agency and establishing a new accreditation for the Grant County Jail and its staff is on the horizon in 2026, Kriete said, a detailed and vigorous process.  

Additional leadership development, continuous improvement for the CISM program and completing the transition to the county’s new dispatching program are also challenges on the agenda from a GCSO administration perspective.  

Kriete acknowledged the challenges associated with the recent death of an inmate at the jail. He added that both procedural and incident investigations will allow preventive measures to be enacted. With investigations still underway and being conducted by other agencies, he limited his comments on the case.  

While the challenges are ahead, he said he’s hoping to continue serving as sheriff after this term ends and will be running for reelection. As a resident of Grant County, he said, he’s invested in making the county safe. 

“I live here too,” he said.