POULSBO – Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Porter, who drove his car home while intoxicated in October, faced demotion to deputy, suspension without pay for 30 working days, and suspension from his duties as a SWAT team tactical supervisor.
Porter retired from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, in the grade of sheriff’s sergeant, effective Jan. 31. Had he not retired, “he would have continued working with the rank of deputy sheriff as a result of being demoted from sheriff’s sergeant,” according to sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson.
“The disciplinary action imposed on Jim Porter by Chief Steve Duckworth, the sheriff’s patrol operations chief and the head of Porter’s assigned division, is documented within Porter’s employee file that is held by the county’s personnel / human resources department.”
Porter’s separation from employment with the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office was reported to the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission per state law, but “The reason provided to WSCJTC for Porter’s separation was retirement. His certification as a Washington State Peace Officer was not affected,” Wilson reported. “Jim Porter may apply to another law enforcement agency as a prospective employee.”
Wilson added, “Each time a peace officer moves from one agency to another, they are required to complete a background investigation, psychological examination and polygraph of similar assessment.”
Porter, 54, submitted a one-sentence memorandum on Jan. 7 stating his intention to retire on Jan. 31. He joined the department in 1992, was promoted to sergeant in 2003 and was deputy of the year in 2009. He is a U.S. Army veteran and earned a degree in clinical psychology from Brigham Young University in 1987.
Porter is a figure in one of the controversies leading to the resignation of March 14 of Poulsbo Police Chief Alan Townsend. A Poulsbo police officer allowed Porter, reportedly drunk and behind the wheel of his vehicle at Regal Cinemas, to remain in his vehicle because it was parked in the parking lot and the keys were not in the ignition. The sergeant was later found in his vehicle in the driveway of his home, outside the city limits. He was not cited or arrested.
And in August 2015, a reserve officer discovered Townsend and a female officer alone together in the chief’s darkened office; the mayor reprimanded the police chief.
“I believe I have become a distraction to the city and more specifically the police department,” Townsend resignation states. “These recent distractions … have taken their focus away from the excellent work our police officers do every day. It’s time to get back on that track, and it seems much more easily accomplished with my departure.”
