Sheriff Equipment: Insufficient Safeguards to Protect High-Risk Items from Theft, Loss, and Misuse

The King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) does not have a coordinated, proactive approach to safeguarding its equipment, which may be putting the County, the public, and officers at risk. KCSO does have safeguards for some key items, like ammunition, and some units we interviewed have taken steps to safeguard high-risk equipment within their unit. However, KCSO’s approach leaves gaps that could allow items, like weapons, to be lost, stolen, or not maintained.

KCSO has not fully assessed the risks of its equipment and has not developed safeguards based on such an assessment. For example, KCSO uses the same purchasing process for nearly all equipment, which is inefficient and does not meet the operational needs of some units. KCSO also lacks a comprehensive list of what equipment it has and does not conduct regular physical inventories.

Unlike other county agencies, KCSO lacks dedicated staff to focus exclusively on asset management and ensure that inventories are complete and items are properly safeguarded. KCSO management told us that several rounds of budget cuts eliminated positions that otherwise may have taken these duties. KCSO has added asset management duties on to several employees’ regular duties. This approach may be increasing the risk of losing some high-risk items.

We make recommendations for KCSO to create an organized approach to equipment management, including conducting a risk assessment, right-sizing purchase controls to match item risk and operational need, and improving data and inventory practices. We also recommend that KCSO base any future requests for new asset management resources on a thorough assessment of its current needs and available capacity. These recommendations will help KCSO manage the legal and financial risks of high-risk equipment and help protect officer and public safety.

KCSO uses equipment such as helicopters, bomb-detecting robots, firearms, night vision goggles, and explosives to conduct its work. In the 2017-2018 biennium, KCSO spent an estimated $2.8 million on high-risk items. This equipment creates financial, legal, and safety risks for the County. For instance, a weapon that is lost or stolen and then misused in the community means people could be hurt or killed. A boat that breaks down due to lack of maintenance could jeopardize officer safety or prevent them from doing their work. Asset misappropriation is the most common type of fraud in government settings.