Blaine Police Department chief Donnell Tanksley and mayor Bonnie Onyon recognized recently promoted sergeants Skylar Deffinbaugh and Timothy Richardson at the August 9 council meeting.
Deffinbaugh joined the department in 2016 after serving the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and Swinomish Police Department.
A life-long Whatcom County resident who grew up in Custer, Richardson has served Blaine for over a decade. He served his first two and a half years as a commissioned reserve officer before being hired full time.
“If you asked a group of police chiefs to name one key position in their department, those chiefs would say my sergeants,” Tanksley said during the council meeting.
The promotions come as retirements and vacancies have left the department with holes in its ranks, forcing a restructuring of its staff this summer.
Lieutenant Michael Munden, who has been with the department since 1999 except for a short stint with the Upper Skagit Tribal Police in 2014, was recently promoted from sergeant to lieutenant following lieutenant Ryan King’s retirement in April after 29 years with the department. And two new officers were hired this June to fill vacancies, but the department still has two more vacancies with the new promotions that Tanksley said he hopes to fill by the end of the year.
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