Thurston County to revisit sheriff’s search and rescue aviation plan 

Thurston County’s aviation plan reemerged in board deliberations last week after the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners tapped the breaks on a voucher list with more than $30,000 in helicopter-related charges. 

The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) put forth a proposal in 2024 for an aviation program as a low-cost strategy to augment search and rescue operations. The proposal itemized a surplus Bell TH-67 helicopter obtained through the federal Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO), a FLIR thermal camera previously transferred from King County, as well as recurring obligations initially limited to insurance and fuel. 

At the board’s agenda setting meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 30, Commissioner Emily Clouse invoked the pause after flagging two voucher entries, dated Aug. 25 and Aug. 29, classified under spending from the public safety sales tax.

“From what I could tell, on the voucher list that I found, there was close to $30,000 in expenditures for this helicopter, and we haven’t heard anything about it,” Clouse said. 

Clouse said similar sums may have passed through without board scrutiny. She asked for a full audit claiming a prior aviation request did not receive board approval. 

Board Chair Tye Menser said Sheriff Derek Sanders pledged to return with a briefing. He suggested pulling the vouchers from the batch for later review, adding the board had not formally rejected the aviation plan in earlier talks. 

“I think it’d be good for just public transparency, just so that we talk it through in a public meeting, and then we can, you know, move forward,” Menser said. 

Board Vice Chair Wayne Fournier concurred, reiterating the board had not taken a vote while noting the sheriff holds independent authority in certain budget areas. He called the helicopter an “important piece of equipment” lacking from the emergency response system. 

County Manager Leonard Hernandez confirmed the charges could be postponed. He proposed rescheduling the item for a meeting on Oct. 21. 

Sanders agreed to the new timeline, stating the purchases had no impact on the county’s general fund. He said the helicopter was acquired through the DRMO program, other equipment was acquired from another sheriff’s office for $10,000, and two anonymous donations of $19,000 and $17,000 were booked under his budget authority. 

“I do not need board approval to do that,” he said. 

Funding cuts 

At the board's public comment session later in the day, Sanders criticized the voucher pause and said his office faces tighter auditing than other departments. 

“I came in to work today and was surprised that Commissioner Clouse was inquiring on a $37,000 expense from this year’s budget, an expense that we had donated funds and authority to pay for because last week, when Animal Services had their $250,000 budget cut fully restored, you referred to the $250,000 as ‘budget dust’,” he said. 

He said the aviation asset would become essential, as the sheriff’s office confronts what he called “the single largest budget cut in our county’s history, five times larger than the cut TCSO took during the Great Recession in 2008.” 

Sanders also pointed to chronic staffing shortages. He explained Washington ranks last nationally with 1.83 officers per 1,000 people, compared with a U.S. average of 2.3. 

“That means that every officer in this state is going to a 911 call with one less body than just the average state in this country,” Sanders said. 

According to Sanders, voter-approved levies improved Thurston County’s ranking from second-worst to seventh-worst in Washington, but the office continues to fall short of baseline manpower. He cautioned that by 2026, deputies and support staff will confront unresolved 2025 obligations intensified by new population growth under reduced budgetary allocation. 

Aviation program 

On April 10, 2024, Sanders and the TCSO command team presented an aviation concept in a board work session. 

At the time, TCSO said it had been in the federal DRMO queue for a Bell TH-67 helicopter — a small unarmed aircraft retired by the U.S. Army after serving as a training platform — and expected eventual assignment. 

The program was proposed for three primary functions: search and rescue, high-speed pursuit mitigation and K-9 track assistance. 

TCSO said a FLIR thermal camera had already been transferred from King County’s Guardian One and was being stored until an aircraft became available. 

Northwest Helicopters of Tumwater committed to deliver the surplus aircraft to Thurston County, make the repairs needed to place it in service and install the previously transferred FLIR thermal camera with the HEC (human external cargo) system. 

The firm also pledged hangar storage at Olympia Regional Airport, supply five in-house pilots to operate flights, and assume responsibility for future maintenance. Under the arrangement, the county’s share would be confined to paying only the annual insurance premiums and fuel costs for deployments. 

Insurance was quoted between $12,000 and $15,000 annually, based on pilot hours. TCSO further suggested flights over waterways could be billed against the county’s existing "Boater Fund," pending approval from Washington State Parks. 

Sheriff’s office staff explained the helicopter deployments would be for search and rescue in Capitol Forest and on county waterways, wherein responses often depend on ground teams or fuel-heavy marine units. 

Staff noted patrol boats consume about 50 gallons of fuel per hour, compared with half that rate for the Bell TH-67. Sanders said aviation support could cut response times and reduce the need for overtime crews. 

Sanders stressed the Bell TH-67 was a four-seat trainer resembling a civilian helicopter, not a military platform. He added the aircraft could also support K-9 teams at night, citing Washington State Patrol’s “Smokey” airplane as an example of safer, dark-field tracking. 

TCSO also made jurisdictional comparisons. The state’s four largest sheriff’s offices already field aviation programs, but no agency in Southwest Washington provides comparable rescue capability. 

The office relayed state patrol aviation is limited to pursuits and does not conduct search and rescue, and that mutual aid from distant counties, such as Snohomish or King, was considered impractical. 

The board then pressed Sanders on the scope of the proposal, as members recalled prior controversy over the county’s armored vehicle purchase. 

Menser asked for written parameters that would define permitted and prohibited uses to address public perception. Fournier mentioned the absence of “pick off” capability in neighboring counties and noted state patrol aircraft are not tasked for rescue missions. 

Clouse then requested updated water rescue data beyond 2021 and a cost sheet revealing the value of donated or in-kind services from Northwest Helicopters. She also asked county staff to confirm whether Boater Fund money could be applied to aviation fuel.