The race for Island County sheriff is shaping up to be interesting.

After previously running as a Republican, Sheriff Rick Felici is seeking reelection as an Independent candidate this year.

Langley Police Chief Tavier Wasser, a South Whidbey High School alum, filed as a sheriff candidate this week with the Public Disclosure Commission. He said he is “supported by the Democratic Party.”

Felici, who was first elected eight years ago, made the decision to run without a party affiliation last fall. He said he’s tired of the polarity of partisan politics, and he believes the position of sheriff shouldn’t be partisan anyway since law enforcement demands neutrality. He said he and his team provide fair and professional service regardless of political views.

“When you call 911, you don’t press one button if you’re a Democrat and another if you’re a Republican,” he said.

Wasser agreed that it’s “confusing” for the sheriff to be a partisan position, but he said he appreciates the support from the Democrats.

“But it doesn’t change the job,” he said.

Wasser said he decided to run for the office after speaking with Felici, who initially said he planned to retire at the end of his term. When he found out that Felici had decided to seek reelection, he had already taken steps to run for the office.

Felici concedes that he did have that discussion with Wasser a while ago. He said he had promised his wife four years ago that he wouldn’t run again because neither of them enjoy the politics of campaigning. But then both he and his wife changed their minds; he said he let Wasser know well over a year ago.

“I’m just not done. I have important things left to do,” he said, pointing out that the county is in the midst of plans to build a new jail and improve the emergency dispatch system.

Also, Felici said he promised to improve the culture in the sheriff’s office when he first ran for the office. He said the office has made many strides but his efforts were interrupted by the pandemic and the nationwide police defunding culture. After years of difficulty finding people to fill positions, he said he recently hired someone for the last open position.

Based on interviews with the men, two of the main points of debate in the campaigns will be experience and communication.

Wasser is critical of Felici for not being more open, transparent and communicative with the public instead of “staying behind locked doors.” He said he will make himself much more available as sheriff, whether it’s speaking at public meetings or talking to individuals.

“The sheriff’s office should be much more for the people and by the people,” Wasser said, adding that he sees a clear nexus between communication and public safety.

Wasser was critical of Felici’s handling of a recent meeting with local leaders about concerns with ICE. Instead of focusing on legal explanations, Wasser said, Felici should have done more to console the community that law enforcement will support them. Still, he admits when ICE arrested a man in Langley, there was very little he could do in response since he didn’t know about the operation until afterward and didn’t even know the man’s name.

Felici agrees that public speaking is not his favorite thing and that Wasser seems to enjoy being behind the dais and being interviewed by the media, including TV stations. KING5 News did a segment on Wasser in 2022, for example, when he was sworn in as the city’s first Black police chief.

Yet Felici argues that knowledge and experience is much more important for being sheriff. Felici has decades of experience in law enforcement and rose through the ranks of the department, serving just about every law enforcement position in the department since starting in 1994. Prior to that, he was a patrol officer with Navy security at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and a reserve officer with the Oak Harbor Police Department.

Felici pointed out that he hired Wasser as a patrol deputy in 2015. He said Wasser didn’t earn a promotion in the department except to serve as an acting sergeant for a couple of months. The city of Langley hired Wasser as the police chief in 2022.

Wasser feels he has the forward-thinking credentials for the job. As a member of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, he helped develop the “law enforcement wellness app,” which is available for officers and emergency dispatchers to anonymously access on-demand wellness techniques, suicide prevention, resilience, physical fitness, nutrition and any other behavioral health and wellness supports.

Like Felici, Wasser’s law enforcement career began in the military. He said he served in the Marine Corps as a military policeman and Presidential Security Marine. The latter duty put him in charge of protecting the president and his assets during the Obama administration.

Tavier Wasser