by Andy Manke
I am Andy Manke, and I am running for Lincoln County Sheriff. I am a Republican, staunch defender of the United States Constitution, and an extremely strong supporter of the Second Amendment. I grew up and have lived my entire life in Lincoln County, in Reardan, Harrington, Creston, and Seven Bays. I am a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and a current member in good standing of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association. I am a member of the Egypt Lutheran Church where I was married, and all my family were baptized. I served a short two-year term on the Creston school board when my youngest son attended grade school there. I am married to Brandy Manke who owns the Crab Creek Quilting Company in Odessa. My oldest son is employed at CF Industries near Tokyo, WA, and my youngest just completed his freshman year on the dean’s list at Montana Western University in Dillon, MT.
I joined the US Army after attending Walla Walla Community College for two years in the Criminal Justice program and retired from the Washington Army National Guard with 21 years of honorable service. During this time, I deployed three times in support of combat operations to the Middle East to include Operation Desert Storm, and Operation Iraqi Freedom as an armored vehicle crewman, light foot infantry platoon sergeant, and a convoy security escort company First Sergeant. During my service I was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and two Bronze Stars. I retired as the Senior First Sergeant from the 1/161 Infantry Battalion responsible for the morale, discipline, health, and welfare of 330 soldiers. I was also responsible for millions of dollars of military vehicles, weapons, and equipment.
In 2006 I was hired by Lincoln County Sheriff John Coley and served as a patrol/investigation’s deputy for the Sheriff’s Office for over 14 years performing duties as Marine Deputy, Field Training Officer, Radar Instructor, Spike Strip Deployment Instructor, and Patrol/Investigations Deputy. During this time, I served throughout the county and regularly attended numerous city council meetings, including Harrington, Sprague, Davenport, and Wilbur, while assigned as a patrol deputy within these townships’ districts. I left the sheriff’s office in July of 2019 and accepted the position of Chief of Police in Reardan. I have been blessed with the best community support for law enforcement by the citizens of Reardan and have, with support of the Reardan City Council, made the Reardan Police Department the most aggressive and active deterrent to criminal activity the town has ever enjoyed.
When I take office as sheriff, I will effect positive change within the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office by changing the culture which will enable the organization to retain trained deputies and dispatchers and end the revolving door of employee departures.
Public safety and prevention of property crimes within our county are at the forefront of my commitment to our community. I also am a strong proponent of small-town police departments which have been eliminated in several towns within Lincoln County. It is my goal to reestablish and support these organizations in order to free up deputies to safeguard the more rural parts of the county and the smaller communities that cannot support their own police departments. I understand many towns have suffered negative outcomes within their local police departments due to lawsuits and being unable to hire quality applicants. If the Mayor and city council prefer, I will offer to continue current police contracts but will put assigned deputies in patrol cars with the local townships name on them, and the town’s police patch on the shoulder of the deputy. The deputy will be hired, trained, equipped, and paid by the sheriff’s office and will wear the sheriff’s office badge on their chest but will answer to the mayor and city council for the town they are assigned. This is a proven success model the City of Spokane Valley has utilized as all their officers are Spokane County deputies under Ozzie Knezovich.
I also plan on reducing the number of politically appointed staff positions within the organization to increase the number of patrol deputies and corrections/dispatch personnel we can field to safeguard our citizens and make the jail a safer place to work. I pledge to be a working sheriff. These are just some of the positive changes I am committed to make within the organization when elected.
Thank you for your support and I look forward to serving you as Sheriff of Lincoln County.
