February 11, 2011 in City

Spokane sheriff’s deputy fired for bad behavior

• Print
• Email
• Share

A Spokane County sheriff’s deputy was fired Jan. 24 after multiple investigations into allegations of criminal misconduct and poor work performance revealed a pattern of bad behavior.

“If you’re a law enforcement officer, you shouldn’t be committing crimes,” said Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich.

The latest internal investigation of former Deputy Travis Smith’s behavior began last year after Smith stuck a knife into someone’s seat while searching their vehicle.

He had initiated a routine traffic stop and, after finding some marijuana, obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and seized it. A search the next day turned up brass knuckles with a three- to four-inch knife blade attached and a bandana with a swastika on it.

Smith pierced the bandana on the antenna and stuck the knife blade in the passenger seat.

“That’s committing two crimes in uniform,” Knezovich said. “You don’t get to do that. That’s a huge break in public trust.”

Smith admitted responsibility for damaging the property and said he did it because he thought it was “funny,” according to a Sheriff’s Office internal memo.

The victim did not want to press charges for the two counts of third-degree malicious mischief.

Smith was also fired for failing to write complete reports, “which reflects a pattern of behavior,” the memo said. Three complaints were filed against Smith in just four months, Knezovich said.

In 2010, three Sheriff’s Office employees were fired and six resigned in lieu of termination. So far this year, Smith has been fired and one person has resigned in lieu of termination.

Last year there were 74 complaints filed in the Sheriff’s Office, which has 578 employees working in law enforcement and at the Spokane County Jail and Geiger Corrections Center. Of those complaints, more than half were generated internally. After investigations, 44 of the complaints were dismissed.

“If you’re working for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and you have this type of behavior, you won’t work for us,” he said. “I won’t tolerate it.”

Four comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  Orphan on February 11 at 5:24 a.m.

  I for one am glad to hear this. I am also very glad to hear that so many complaints came from inside the department. I do wish that Officers would be fired when they need fired rather than resigning in lieu of termination which allows them to simply transfer to another department and maybe continue their pattrern of bad behaviour. Any law enforcement person that thought it was funny to destroy someone’s property should never hold a law enforcement position again.

• 

  hawken on February 11 at 8:07 a.m.

  Orphan,,,, I could not agree more.

• 

  DickAdams on February 11 at 8:12 a.m.

  I agree too, Orphan.

• 

  arroyoribera on February 13 at 12:27 a.m.

  The article quotes Knezovich as saying, “If you’re working for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and you have this type of behavior, you won’t work for us,” …“I won’t tolerate it.”

  That is far from clear from the facts of the case and the history of the Sheriff’s office.

  The article states that there were 3 complaints in 4 months. Presumably this did not include the final two violations prior to firing.

  It sounds like “I won’t tolerate it” needs to be defined more precisely. This deputy had “this type of behavior” and was in the field interacting with Spokane area citizens for several months despite the Sheriff’s knowledge that he had “this type of behavior”.

  Every arrest this deputy was involved in should be scrutinized for misconduct, coercion, lying, false reporting, and evidence tampering, etc. An outside agency — preferably the Washington State Patrol — should immediately review the situation to avoid any conflict and surprise down the road, not to mention miscarriages of justice.

  It would also be interesting to hear what the FBI has told the Sheriff, who indicated along with Chief Kirkpatrick at the Spokane City Hall forum this past week that they routinely consult with the FBI on matters of importance.
  
  Hopefully the Spokesman (and if not the Spokesman, The Inlander or KYRS) will follow up and provide more details on the previous complaints against this deputy.

  Following the still bitterly controversial killing of Pastor Creech, this is a further example in a long list of examples of why independent civilian oversight of the Sheriff’s operation is urgently needed.

  Perhaps if Sheriff Knezovich were on the job and not doing extensive PR and politicking in the community on behalf of his Medical Lake Jail complex (a 1/4 billion dollar to 1/2 billion dollar boondoogle depending on which version of the numbers one looks at) and other matters, it would not take him 4 months to fire a rogue, corrupt cop and perhaps he would be aware when he has deputies engaged in unreported and controversial off-duty employment (such as the killer of Pastor Creech). Questions have been raised about the conduct and associations of deputies in the past that have apparently been resolved “in house” when closer public scrutiny would be to the benefit of all, for example, the Jason Uberuaga incident in October 2007. http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?ID=12094

  The community would welcome Knezovich’s statement of voluntary acceptance of community oversight. Such an act of civic-mindedness would be worthy of another star to add to those he so proudly wears on his Sheriff’s uniform.