Deputy chief retires from Sequim Police Department

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 12, 2026

SEQUIM — A temporary assignment became three more years of service for John Southard.

Sequim’s deputy police chief retired for a second time on May 29.

Police Chief Mike Hill gave Southard a Distinguished Service Award on May 26 during the Sequim City Council meeting.

Hill said he hid the award under the podium earlier in the day to surprise Southard and that he appreciated working side by side with him.

City Manager Matt Huish and city council members shared kind words about Southard. Huish said Southard came back at a critical time for the department and that he’s helped improve it.

Mayor Rachel Anderson said she’s grateful to get to know Southard.

“You bring that human element to not only the police department but the city,” she said.

Southard was hired as a Sequim police officer in June 2007 and later promoted to patrol sergeant in January 2017. He retired from service the first time in August 2021 and returned on March 1, 2023, as patrol sergeant.

The Sequim Police Department experienced growth that required administrative support while Hill, then deputy police chief, attended the FBI Academy, according to the Distinguished Service Award.

Then-Police Chief Sheri Crain contacted Southard and asked him to return in March 2023 in a temporary administrative role. Southard was then hired and later started as deputy chief on May 1, 2024.

Hill said Southard returning was a “testament to his work ethic.”

Southard said then about applying as deputy chief that “it boils down to helping people.”

Some of his accomplishments as deputy chief included helping the department become re-accredited in 2024, helping to promote and train three patrol sergeants, and establishing procedures for future deputy chiefs, according to the award.

Southard has lived in Sequim with his family since 1992. He worked almost eight years for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Sequim as a research officer and dive officer, and he volunteered for the Sequim Police Department and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue division.

He retired in 2018 as a Sergeant First Class in the Army National Guard Reserves after 21 years of service. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-12 as a combat advisor.

Southard served as a field training officer, a member of the Training Cadre, and is SWAT trained.

Pending hire

Hill wrote in an email that the Sequim Police Department worked with the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) for executive recruitment and selection of a new deputy police chief.

Sequim has received several applications locally and nationally, and Sequim’s Civil Service Commission held interviews and tested five applicants on May 4. Eligible candidates went through a second interview on May 20, Hill said, with community stakeholders facilitated by WASPC to assist in identifying and selection of the new deputy chief.

He said they expect a decision to be made soon.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.