Investigation finds Brier police chief misled city, lieutenant made leadership mistakes — Part 2

Part 2 of 2 parts

You can read part 1 here.

An independent investigation of City of Brier Police Chief Nick Almquist found that he made “untruthful, calculated, and misleading” statements last summer while arranging coverage for his vacation. Almquist is no longer with the department, having announced his retirement July 25 — the day after the city placed Almquist on paid administrative leave.

A separate city investigation determined that Brier Lt. Chad Ridout – who left the force in September – also made leadership mistakes in his position.

According to a City of Brier-commissioned report by the third-party PST Investigations (PST), Almquist left for a preplanned, prepaid out-of-state camping vacation from July 14-24, 2023. Before leaving, he verbally told City of Brier personnel he arranged for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) to respond to Brier’s 911 calls. However, records showed that City of Brier Mayor Dale Kaemingk didn’t know that SCSO never agreed to provide coverage outside the interlocal agreement (ILA) between Brier and the sheriff’s office until after Almquist was on vacation.

Nobody to go to

The PST report showed that despite not having acquired consent for coverage for his vacation, Almquist proceeded with the schedule and counted on SCSO to respond to calls.

The report said that one of Almquist’s reasons for not canceling his vacation “was that it was prepaid, and he would have been out several thousand dollars.” It also concluded that financial loss associated with the vacation cancellation was “viewed by Almquist as above/more important” than one officer’s request for sick leave and the impact of another officer working 11 straight 12-hour days. “Almquist’s claims and rationale for not canceling his vacation were solely self-serving and not based on the department’s ‘staffing crisis,'” the report concluded.

On July 12, Almquist emailed the Brier Police Department and Mayor Kaemingk, stating he would be on vacation from July 13 and returning to work on July 24. Due to his remote location in Northern Idaho, his cell service would be poor unless he was out in the middle of the lake he was staying at.

Further, he wrote that Officer Alex Hawley would be the officer in charge and to call his cell phone with any after-hours questions. 

Almquist wrote, “I will let SCSO and MLT (Mountlake Terrace) know about my vacation and give them his work cell for their notifications.”

Almquist wrote SCSO and Mountlake Terrace Police Departments similar emails — minus the phone reception detail.

The report showed the July 17 incident triggered a call from the Sheriff’s Office Capt. Steven McDonald to the SNOCO 911 emergency communications supervisor line to learn why they sent sheriff’s office deputies for a service call outside the hours stated in an existing interlocal agreement with the City of Brier.

The supervisor on duty explained to McDonald that SNOCO 911 believed that at the time of the call for service, the City of Brier was on Level 2 because they didn’t have anybody on duty.

“We don’t have very clear instructions,” the supervisor said. “We’ve sort of been given instruction on a case-by-case basis to advise county (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office) of any priority calls in the City of Brier when nobody’s on duty.” 

The supervisor explained that typically, the officer who was leaving duty would call SNOCO 911 and tell them there would be no one on duty in Brier, and SCSO was to be informed of any priority calls.

“We don’t have, as far as I’m aware, a blanket order to advise County [SCSO] of any calls,” she said.

McDonald explained the times and hours in the interlocal agreement between the Brier Police Department and SCSO: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday from 6 pm. to 2 a.m. He noted that from 2-6 a.m., there would not be a sheriff in Brier. And though the sheriff’s office would respond to calls as it was able, it was not SCSO’s responsibility to take the lead.

The supervisor told McDonald that there must be a lack of communication on the dispatch floor regarding the interlocal agreement’s  timeframes, and that SNOCO 911 had not received any direction from anyone she knew.

“It would definitely be helpful, up here, the supervisor’s desk as well as the dispatcher’s because when we get these priority calls and there’s nobody to go, you know, we need some direction on how to handle that,” she said.

McDonald said he would send SNOCO 911 supervisors the details of the interlocal agreement specifying the dates and times when SCSO was responsible for covering Brier.

Subject: Brier PD!!!!

Besides a phone call to SNOCO 911, Capt. McDonald exchanged emails with several SCSO personnel to determine why Brier’s request resulted in SCSO “scrambling” for personnel to respond to the July 17 call for service. 

The PST report contained an email from McDonald with the subject of “Brier PD!!!!” stating, “Once again, Brier PD has no one working. There is a DV [domestic violence call] in the city, and Sno911 automatically lets us know and requests us to respond. So now we have 2 Dep’s [two deputies] taking care of a Brier city CFS [calls for service].”

“We have to take care of our community, but Brier is not our problem except for the conditions set forth in the ILA. They are, in my opinion, taking complete advantage of us.”

“Sno911 has no instructions on anything regarding us covering or not covering Brier PD. I will be emailing them with instructions on how to handle future CFS when no one is working in the city.”

A string of emails between McDonald, Mountlake Terrace Police Department Commander Mike Haynes, and Lynnwood Police Department Commander Pat Fagan sorted out coverage times. 

SNOCO 911 Operations Manager Burton emailed Mountlake Terrace Police Commander Mike Haynes and Lynnwood Police Department Commander Pat Fagan on July 19, asking if the Brier Police Department signed another interlocal agreement  or amended the existing agreement with SCSO for coverage that they were unaware of, as the situation created chaos and confusion for dispatchers.

Commander Haynes replied that he knew the sheriff’s office provided coverage during certain days and times but did not know the details.

Burton responded: “We are in a spot where there is potential that a Priority 1, 2, or 3 calls could come in when there is no one in the City (Brier or SCSO).”

He explained that SNOCO 911 had been instructed to call a phone number in Brier to notify the department  of the call and arrange a response, but that SNOCO 911 was trying to form a process to get “someone going in the meantime.” 

According to the PST report, Burton proposed to Hawley and Fagan that SNOCO 911 advise the SCSO South Precinct sergeant of calls. They would then confirm they were sending a deputy or refer them to the Mountlake Terrace or Lynnwood police departments for availability.

“This is similar to what we did during the prior agreement between the two,” he explained.. “SNO911 is interested in getting someone going to high-priority calls and having a clear and hopefully simple process to follow that we can quickly train our staff on,” Burton wrote. “We are significantly behind the eight ball, so that increases the impetus on this, unfortunately.”

Burton relayed the information he received from SCSO that was agreed upon until Dec. 12, 2023, unless agreed to terminate earlier.

1. SCSO will provide a deputy on an overtime basis on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights from 1800 – 0200 [6 p.m. – 2 a.m.], usually with the call sign 9C1.
2. If SCSO cannot provide an overtime deputy during that time, the city will be unstaffed, and SCSO will be responsible for level [priority] 1 and 2 calls for service only.
Burton noted that all shifts were filled through the end of August.

3. On these same days, from 0200 — 0600 [2 a.m. – 6 a.m.], the city will be unstaffed, and SCSO will be responsible to respond to level [priority] 1, 2, and 3 calls for service only.

The email chain contained in the PST investigation shows that Mountlake Terrace’s Commander Haynes and Lynnwood’s Commander Fagan agreed to help the people of Brier in any way their departments could and worked on the department response hierarchy.

The departments were not the primary responders for incidents in Brier not initiated by their officers. Their roles were limited to stabilizing a situation and waiting to transfer control to SCSO or the Brier police. The Lynnwood Police Department would act as a secondary to Mountlake Terrace police.

“We ended up making a plan between Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace and us,” McDonald told the PST investigator, “We got it figured out, but it took a little while going back and forth to figure out what was gonna be the plan.”

The lack of coverage was not the only leadership mistake made by Almquist, according to an internal investigation conducted by Brier’s mayor. According to findings of that investigation, which MLTnews acquired through a public records request – Almquist also broke the trust of the officers serving under him by telling Lt. Chad Ridout, his former coworker at the Snoqualmie Police Department, about what the officers said and who said it.

Zero confidence

Ridout graduated from the Washington State Basic Law Enforcement Academy on Jan. 12, 2016, and was sworn into the Snoqualmie Police Department on Jan. 25, 2016. He served the department until he transferred to the Brier Police Department in April 2022. However, a councilmember objected to Ridout joining the Brier Police Department.

Brier Councilmember Martin Krienke voted “nay” on hiring Ridout for the lieutenant position. The reason in his letter read at the Brier City Council meeting on April 12, 2022, was Ridout’s refusal to enforce COVID-19 mandates during his time at the Snoqualmie Police Department.

An information request made by MLTnews to Snoqualmie Police Department did not reveal complaints about Ridout related to pandemic restrictions.

However, the issue Brier found with Ridout wasn’t a refusal to enforce COVID-19 mandates. A July 9 email from Officer Otake to Mayor Kaemingk triggered an investigation conducted by Kaemingk in June 2023, separate from the internal investigation on Almquist, found issues with his management tactics.

At the behest of Kaemingk, Almquist met with all officers except Ridout on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, to address concerns about his job performance and management style. Kaemingk asked to join the meeting but decided not to after Almquist said it might be better if the mayor did not attend.

Otake wrote in her email to Kaemingk that she was under the impression that Almquist wanted officers to speak freely without concern for potential retaliation or intimidation.

According to the PST report, Otake was on her regularly scheduled patrol on Wednesday, June 07, when at approximately 11 a.m, Ridout messaged her to meet him in a business parking lot. She stated that the “parking lot is a dead end, and there is only one entrance/exit.”

During that meeting, Otake stated that Ridout made it clear that he did not appreciate officers speaking with Almquist and would have preferred that the officers come to him with any issues instead of the chief. 

“I immediately became uncomfortable and concluded that neither Chief Almquist nor Lt. Ridout had taken any of my concerns or the concerns of the other officers seriously,” Otake said.

Otake said that Ridout went on to attempt to justify and defend his actions, which made her feel uncomfortable. She added she did not believe it was appropriate for her “direct supervisor to essentially corner me into this sort of conversation under these circumstances.” 

Although she stated she felt trapped and not sure what to say, Otake kept the conversation professional.

“I did speak with him about patrol incidents and scheduling and offered that he could always have a team meeting with everyone present,” Otake wrote in her email to the mayor. 

Eventually, Otake received a service call and left. Afterward, she spoke with Officer Montague and asked if Ridout approached and engaged him like he had with her. Montague said he never did, even though Ridout had the opportunity to do so the day before he engaged Otake.

In her email to Mayor Kaemingk, Otake expressed feeling stressed and that she was the subject of retaliation.

Otake wrote, “I have zero confidence that my concerns will be addressed by Chief Almquist.”

Findings and conclusions

During an investigation interview with Kaemingk, Ridout said Almquist did not advise him to avoid meeting individually with the other officers “regarding ongoing issues with his job performance.”

Kaemingk concluded that Otake had every right to express her ongoing concerns about the leadership in the Brier Police Department and that “her complaint to me was appropriate and necessary.” He also stated that Almquist made several leadership mistakes and should have taken the concerns of the rank-and-file officers more seriously at a much earlier date.

Also, after the department staff meeting, the mayor concluded that Almquist should have instructed Ridout not to speak alone with Officer Otake or any officers regarding the meeting topics. Further, Ridout should have known not to meet individually with Officer Otake, the mayor said. 

“This meeting was inappropriate and inadvisable for a person in a leadership position to approach a staff member who filed a complaint about them,” the mayor said in the city’s investigation document.

He concluded, “Due to PD employment status changes, I have decided to terminate the investigation at this point.”

The PST Investigations report states that Ridout resigned from the Brier Police Department on July 27, 2023, effective Sept. 1, 2023.

Almquist retired from law enforcement on July 25, 2023, effective Aug. 25, 2023, and now works for a private security firm. 

Officer Francisco Montague has transferred from the Brier Police Department to another agency. Officer Otake said she has no comment and former Brier Lt.Chad Ridout could not be reached for comment.

— By Rick Sinnett