The night life of graveyard shift patrol

It was 10:30 p.m. on Friday, and two Swinomish Police units pulled into the gas station — the officers were looking for enough gas and coffee to get them through the night shift looming ahead of them.

“You see any reason to pull that van over?” Sergeant Andrew Thorne asked me as I rode along for the night, wearing a bullet-proof vest.

“Yeah — his taillight is out,” I said.

The van then pulled out of the gas station without stopping or signaling. Immediately both cop cars followed him, lights blazing. Thorne ran a plate check and let the driver off with a warning.

It was the start of what became an uneventful night but full of tales from Sgt. Thorne of previous arrests in his long career spanning 22 years as a police officer, a job he loves.

With no set route, Thorne and two other officers patrolled the casino, Snee-oosh, Reservation and Pull & Be Damned roads, Swinomish Village and Shelter Bay.

License plate numbers were checked on suspicious vehicles; people were pulled over for running stop signs, failure to signal and broken taillights.

The officers backed each other up on calls from 911 dispatch, which is located in Mount Vernon.

“When it’s dark, it’s late, and you’re alone, it’s a good feeling to know you’ve got someone else headed your way. You don’t know what will happen when you pull someone over. Could be a convicted felon from somewhere else, and it’s nice to have another officer as backup.”

When the rain stopped, I accompanied the two officers on their foot patrol, walking through the village, checking for anything suspicious. It was surprising to find people still up working, going for a walk or sitting around campfires.

Thorne said the Swinomish Police is the only tribal police agency to be accredited by the State of Washington.

“Which means our Standard Operating Procedures, methods and trainings are in line with state guidelines,” Thorne said. “That’s a pretty big thing for us. Officers have to update their training to stay certified. All of our full-time officers have been through the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Academy. It’s a huge feather in our bonnet, and we are very proud of that.

“We can lateral over to other departments and know exactly what’s going on. Not only do we work with state RCWs, but we also work with tribal law. So actually our officers are better equipped in a myriad of situations that involve different jurisdictions all at once. You’ve got non-tribal members on tribal land, tribal members on non-tribal land. How do you charge a person?”

“It’s 95 percent boring and 5 percent adrenaline rush,” he told me as I yawned at an hour most people are usually sound asleep.

Cases involving drugs, alcohol and assaults count for the majority of the other 5 percent adrenaline rush.

“There is a drug problem in the tribal community, but most of the major arrests are non-tribal outsiders bringing drugs into the community,” Thorne said. “The department has several seized vehicles in the impound yard to prove it.

“We aren’t as busy as a big city, but we get the same crime. We arrest gangbangers from Mount Vernon, felons in possession of firearms, people with felony warrants for theft, armed robbery, drug histories, drug dealers...Gangbangers come in flying their colors — they have the red or blue handkerchiefs — tattoos, hand signals…We had a felon the other night doing in excess of 90 mph right through the village. We’ve pulled guns off gangbangers, and we had a shooting on Snee-oosh beach.”

Sgt. Thorne is looking forward to the new Skagit County jail voters authorized the Sheriff’s Office to build. Too often, people are booked and let go due to lack of space.

Clearly, there was a sense of camaraderie among the officers on duty that night — they were each other’s backup, sharing coffee and sharing the night.

In 2013, the most recent year statistics were available, the tribal police conducted 92 drug-related investigations, 55 domestic violence calls and made 22 domestic violence arrests.

By 2 a.m., unable to keep my peepers open, I went home while the officers continued their vigilance until after the sun came up.