Record Group 120.001
KING COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE [1999- ]
See also:
ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY In the mid-1990s the King County Council was concerned that , as an appointed official, the Director of the Department of Public Safety was not able to establish an independent budget in response to community public safety needs. In 1996 the Council placed a charter amendment on the ballot which called for changing the director's position to that of a directly elected sheriff, as it had been before the Charter was adopted. Opposed by good government groups and newspapers but supported by law enforcement agencies and officers, the measure was approved by voters. David Reichert was appointed Sheriff in March 1997 and was confirmed in that position at the next election. He was succeeded in 2005 by Sue Rahr, the first woman to serve as King County's chief law enforcement officer. The office of the Sheriff is composed of an administrative unit and four divisions: Criminal Investigations; Field Operations (in five precincts and thirteen contract cities) ; Special Operations (including SWAT, homeland security, hazardous materials disposal, helicopter, marine and canine units, and police services for the Muckleshoot Tribe, Metro Transit and the King County International Airport); and Technical Services, a support unit. In 2004 the King County Commission on Governance recommended the sheriff again be appointed, claiming the position was not responsible for setting countywide policy. SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
(click on series title to see container list) 120.001-493 Yearbooks, 1983-1998
Beginning in 1983, the King County Sheriff's Office (known as the Department of Public Safety, 1969-1999) periodically published commemorative yearbooks. The volumes, prepared by departmental staff and funded by Public Safety Employees Local #519 (1983, 1988) and the King County Police Officers Association (1998), were intended both to document the year in which they were published, and to celebrate the entire history of the Sheriff's Office. Contemporary and historical information, frequently undated, is interspersed in the volumes. The yearbooks contain color and black-and-white photographs of officers, detectives, support staff, police dogs, special teams, facilities, equipment, programs, and events; retrospective rosters of past sheriffs and departmental award winners; reproductions of graphics (e.g., city logos, departmental art and cartoons); and reproductions of departmental ephemera (flyers, circulars, broadsides, invitations, newspaper and newsletter articles, occasional poetry, humor, press releases, holiday greeting cards, etc.). The bound volumes are arranged by date and numbered consecutively starting with Volume 2. Volume: 0.25 cu ft | 
