Colfax police chief responds to firing

Former Colfax Police Chief Rick McNannay accused the city of Colfax on Thursday of being “reckless” and “malicious” in its handling of his firing.

According to a statement from the city released Tuesday, Mayor Todd Vanek terminated McNannay because of “findings of dishonesty from an independent, third-party investigation.” In the statement, the city accused McNanny of being dishonest about “attestations of compliance with state mandates for pre-employment certification of police officers.”

McNannay, who has been with the Colfax Police Department since 2012, responded in a statement Thursday, saying the city’s accusations have “caused irreparable damage not only to me but my family, many of whom work locally in law enforcement.”

According to McNannay and emails he exchanged with city staff and the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the Colfax Police Department in 2016 did not follow the state-mandated requirement of performing background checks — including issuing polygraph tests — when hiring part-time officers who were already working at other local law enforcement agencies.

McNannay said agencies around the state, including Colfax, have not always followed this mandate, and he was not aware at the time the mandate existed.

“I was following past practice, not only that the city of Colfax had been doing for numerous years but the whole region,” he said. “This was a practice throughout the entire Whitman County, where smaller agencies would hire full-time officers from other agencies and not doing backgrounds on them. We would simply talk to the agency and make sure that there’s no issues there.”

McNannay said he worked to correct the issues when he was made aware.

“When it was brought to my attention that that wasn’t the way we were supposed to do things, I immediately changed our practice and I immediately notified my supervisor what had happened,” McNannay said. “They acknowledged it and it wasn’t addressed again until years later.”

The city’s statement Tuesday said all of its police officers’ certifications and qualifications comply with state law.

Vanek said Tuesday the wording of the statement came directly from the investigation report conducted by Clear Risk, the third-party involved.

Vanek said McNannay was put on administrative leave in November while the city looked in the hiring concerns brought up by the state.

“That’s when we did an independent investigation,” he said.

McNannay said he believes his transparency after finding out about the hiring oversight and his email conversations with an official of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission clear him of allegations of dishonesty.

McNannay said he will appeal his termination to the Colfax Civil Service Commission. A pretrial is set for March 5.

Vanek said the city will have to wait to hire a new police chief until the appeal is settled.

“Personnel matters are never an easy subject and I don’t take them lightly,” he said.

McNannay’s absence, and the loss of another officer in December, has cut the city’s police staff to three full-time officers and one part-time officer.

Two audience members at the Colfax City Council meeting Tuesday expressed concern the small staff would not be able to provide adequate coverage.

Vanek, however, said he was not concerned about the city operating temporarily without a chief.

“It doesn’t concern me right now because, for one, we have four capable officers,” Vanek said, “but we’re also sharing the management responsibilities between myself, the city administrator and the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office obviously helps with the official police-type work.”

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4640, or by email to akuipers@dnews.com.