Spokane Valley police chief to retire

Spokane Valley Police Chief Rick VanLeuven will retire in June after 35 years with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

“Chief VanLeuven has had a very long and storied career for the valley,” said Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich. “There is very little that Chief VanLeuven hasn’t done for the agency.”

VanLeuven became police chief in 2007. Prior to that he served in a number of different capacities, Knezovich said. VanLeuven created the gang unit and was the department’s first gang specialist in the early 1990s in addition to working drugs and property crime.

“He was on the front of the gang issue in Spokane County many, many years ago,” Knezovich said.

There are three finalists to replace VanLeuven: captains John Knowles, Mark Werner and Dave Ellis. Knezovich said he hopes to name a replacement named before VanLeuven retires at the end of June.

Knezovich said “it’s time, as he put it, to start giving back to his family.”