Officers accuse new Prosser police chief of ‘targeted, unlawful and sexist actions’

A majority of Prosser police officers have voted “no confidence” in their police chief, less than eight months after he was hired to lead the department.

A four-page letter dated Jan. 5 sent by the Teamsters Local 839 says during Chief Jay King’s short tenure he has devastated morale, bullied officers and disregarded Prosser police policies and Washington state law.

“Chief King’s abuse of power, narcissistic attitude toward police officers and bullying are more than any employee should put up with,” wrote Teamsters Business Agent Jesus Alvarez.

City officials said they received the letter on Friday.

While the vote taken Dec. 14 doesn’t carry any legal weight, newly elected Mayor Gary Vegar called for an independent investigation of the officers’ claims.

“We take all claims very seriously,” Rachel Shaw, the city’s public information officer, told the Tri-City Herald this week.

The city’s human resources department and insurance provider are working together to find an independent investigator. A timeline for finishing that investigation has not been set.

While the officers want King gone, city officials say he will stay in his position pending the investigation.

King didn’t respond to an email from the Herald asking for his position on the allegations.

Two officers who spoke to the Herald on condition of anonymity said they have tried to make it work but nothing has improved. The only solution they can see is for King to leave.

Before joining Prosser department in March, King was the the head of the troubled Unalaska Department of Public Safety in Unalaska, Alaska.

That city paid out $765,000 to settle four civil cases when he was the chief, according to records from the city.

He was only directly involved in one lawsuit and a minor player in two others, but he was accused of not improving the situation.

In one case, he allegedly made it worse by threatening an officer with criminal charges, according to documents from one of the four lawsuits.

At the time he was hired in Prosser, then Mayor Randy Taylor said King came highly recommended by his colleagues and that none of the lawsuits specifically named him as a defendant.

Before starting in Prosser in 2023, King had more than 28 years of law enforcement experience.

Prosser has 11 officers. The union did not release how many participated in the no confidence vote.

The annual salary range for the chief’s position is listed as $108,000 to $126,000.

The town of about 6,100 residents is the county seat of Benton County and is in the Lower Yakima Valley, about 30 miles west of the Tri-Cities.

Teamsters union letter

The Teamsters’ letter paints a dire picture at the Prosser Police Department, saying King is responsible for 75% of the department’s employees leaving or trying to find other employment since March.

“Prosser Police Department is now the utter laughingstock of the lower (Yakima) valley law enforcement, EMS, and dispatch communities,” Alvarez wrote in the letter.

King allegedly created a toxic work environment where he “bullied employees to the point of great stress and HR/Union action due to targeted, unlawful and sexist actions,” Alvarez wrote.

In addition, King is accused of berating employees when they raised concerns about the legality, ethics or efficiency of his suggestions.

And the Teamsters claim King violated basic safety protocols while on duty at critical scenes. That includes showing up at potential crime scenes with an unloaded gun and not wearing body armor.

That creates a situation where officers not only have to worry about a possibly dangerous situation, they also need to worry about the chief’s safety because he is not equipped correctly, Alvarez said.

State law requires officers to wear body armor, be armed and have a body camera when they’re on duty.

“By his own admission, King has extremely limited patrol experience (18 months,)“ Alvarez said. “If Chief King were required to undergo (Prosser department’s training program), he would, in nearly all aspects vastly fail to meet the minimum standards as a patrol officer.”

Washington state law requires police chiefs to have two full years as a commissioned police officer and to be certified by the state Criminal Justice Training Commission, Alvarez said.

Prosser officers also are concerned about King’s spending choices, he said. They are critical of his decision to order new vinyl wraps for police cars and new uniforms and badges when he should be working to fix a serious problem with their communications radios not functioning properly inside the station.

Alvarez contends the relationship between the chief and the officers is broken beyond repair.