FIRST RESPONDER FOCUS: GCSO Sgt. Gary Mansford prepares to step into new role as undersheriff

EPHRATA — If Gary Mansford wasn’t planning on a career in law enforcement, other people certainly were planning it for him. 

“I got pulled over by a state patrolman one day, and he said that he was told by his sergeant that if anybody's seen me, they were to pull me over and tell me that I needed to test for the State Patrol,” Mansford said. “I knew the patrolman and I knew his sergeant, so I looked into the State Patrol, and then Mike Shay and Dean Mitchell from Moses Lake (Police Department), they were both talking to me as well. So, I tested and got hired by the (Grant County) Sheriff's Office.” 

Mansford, who was tapped March 6 by Grant County Sheriff Joey Kriete as GCSO’s next undersheriff, wasn’t a stranger to a cop’s life. His father had worked at the Grant County Jail, and Mansford himself had been a military policeman in the U.S. Army. Once the GCSO had hold of him, he took to it naturally. He spent his first five years on patrol, and then three or four years as the off-road vehicle deputy in the Sand Dunes, he said. 

“I became really good at putting up fencing and pounding T-posts in the very back of the Sand Dunes,” he said. “It was fun … Some of my closest friends I met out there. Some of them are too old to even ride out there anymore, but they had been coming over here from the Snohomish County, north King County area for 30 years.” 

Back on patrol after his stint at the dunes, Mansford moved up through the ranks. He made sergeant in 2019, then in 2021 became the major crimes sergeant.  

“I went from being a patrol sergeant to being the major crimes detective supervisor,” Mansford said. “I had some really, really good detectives.” 

Kriete said he was sure of his decision when he appointed Mansford. 

“I was the chief deputy in that division,” Kriete said. “So, I know the kind of work product that I get from Gary.” 

When Kriete took office in 2022, he asked Mansford to take over as the investigations chief deputy, the position he holds now. He’ll step into his next role when Undersheriff John McMillan retires at the end of the month.  

“John and I have been friends for years,” Mansford said. “We graduated high school together, and so since Joey asked me to fill the position, I've been trying to just kind of soak up as much information as I can. … I'm just trying to kind of get my feet underneath me, figure out what Joey's expectations are of me and what my role is going to be, and then hopefully do as good a job as the undersheriffs that went before me” 

An undersheriff is the sheriff’s second in command, a jack-of-all-trades, Mansford explained. He supervises the chief deputies and depending on how the office is structured, sometimes the office staff as well. He’s responsible for things like the budget and employee discipline, and pretty much anything else the sheriff throws at him. 

One thing Kriete threw at him right away was the need to stand up to the boss. 

“I need to have somebody that will challenge me and force me to think outside the box,” Kriete said. “Sometimes it gives me a different perspective that I may not see. The person that I don't want is a yes-man. I want somebody that, when they see a challenge in front of us, is going to take it head on, even if it's challenging an opinion or decision that I may have. And that's what I'm very comfortable with (about) Gary, that he has the ability to do that.” 

Mansford understands the need for a variety of viewpoints in leadership. 

“He wants somebody who will tell him if he's being a knucklehead,” Mansford said. “And I can surely do that because we do kind of come from two different directions sometimes.” 

Mansford has enjoyed just about every position he’s held at the sheriff’s office, he said, and is looking forward to the new challenge. 

“It's a lot of fun to do the detective thing,” he said. “It's a lot of fun to be a patrol sergeant … As the chief of investigations, I really enjoy some of the aspects of the things that they do, whether it's the mystery of it or what. But I'm certainly happy to step out of the way and let somebody else fill my shoes as the investigative chief and then try to mentor them to come up as well.” 

Kriete said he’s certain that Mansford will not only excel at running the administrative side of the role of undersheriff but will also continue to set an example for young deputies and be a good liaison with country residents. 

“(Mansford) brings a level of professionalism, integrity and accountability that matches right with our core values of our agency,” Kriete said. “He's always been ‘Grant County community first,’ and that's important to me. We are public servants; we're not self-servants, and that is the furthest from Gary. He's a very selfless individual that is going to provide a great service for our community as well as our agency.” 

    Gary Mansford, left, and Moses Lake Police Chief David Sands work behind the bar at the annual Tip a Cop fundraiser in 2023. Mansford, said Sheriff Joey Kriete, is an unusually selfless person who puts his community first.
  

    Then-Sgt. Gary Mansford, left, is honored by former Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones in 2020 for saving a life the year before.