Former Thurston County Commissioner Hutchings Steps Back Into Role as Tenino Police Chief

INTERIM: ‘Hutch’ Will Serve Six Months as City Looks For New Department Head

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John “Hutch” Hutchings is back in the spotlight of public service — if only, perhaps, for a short time.

The former single-term Thurston County commissioner is currently serving as the City of Tenino’s interim police chief. His first day with the department was June 7, and he’s expected to stay with the department for about six months, Mayor Wayne Fournier said.

The city will pay him $5,400 a month with no benefits, Fournier said.

Hutchings, 67, previously served as the city’s police chief for three years, following a 27-year career with the Olympia Police Department. He was fired in 2015 for allegedly working extra hours and “overstepping his authority,” former Mayor Bret Brodersen claimed at the time.

But his return seems to be under brighter circumstances. 

Fournier said he brought “Hutch” back to oversee changes to the department, specifically with regard to the lead position, hiring transparency and new law enforcement legislation. 

Hutchings will also help bridge the gap in leadership as the city looks for a replacement to former Police Chief Kristi Lougheed, who resigned in May due to a neurological condition in her hand that ended her 26 years in law enforcement. 

“(Hutchings) immediately was able to pick up the badge and get to work, and he’s been very involved since getting here and he’s doing a great job. We’re pretty fortunate,” Fournier said. 

The city is hoping to hire a permanent chief by the first of the year, Fournier said. 

In the past, the mayor or a contractor would be the one picking and fielding the candidates for police chief, Fournier said, but he’s hoping to bring the community in on that conversation and decision this time around and establish a more methodical approach. 

“We really want the community to be involved in the discussion,” he said. 

Hutchings said he was excited to get to work when Fournier approached him with the opportunity. Many things have changed since his last departure, he notes, including implementation of a new records management system, a new department security system and a new school resource officer program. 

Many of those developments were just beginning when he was on his way out in 2015. 

“It’s kind of weird to come back and see the changes that have taken place — I’m not patting myself on the back,” he said, but he did help establish the roots of those changes. 



It’s only been a week, but Hutchings said he’s been “steeped” in revisions to the city’s law enforcement policy in response to the Legislature’s recently passed legislation. That includes restrictions on the use of force and no-knock warrants and limitations on when police can initiate a pursuit.

“We have a whole new slate of legislative actions that take place July 25, just a few weeks out,” Hutchings said. “It’s going to change law enforcement in this state tremendously.”

The relationship between Hutchings and the city wasn’t rosy after his firing, though. 

In 2015, shortly after his firing, Hutchings filed an $850,000 defamation lawsuit against the City of Tenino and its former mayor. The city filed a counterclaim, and about a year later both withdrew their claims against each other. 

Fournier, newly elected at the time, said of the lawsuit being dropped: “It’s nice to have it behind us.” 

As police chief, Hutchings currently oversees three full-time officers and three reserve officers. Unlike his last stint, he’ll work this time solely as an administrator and not as a “working chief.” 

“They’re really self-sufficient,” Hutchings said of the department. “They’ve run a really tight ship.” 

Calls and police activity generally become more frequent during the summer months — as the city hosts events, such as the upcoming Oregon Trail Days — so it was important for Fournier and the city to have someone in the top police spot sooner rather than later. 

Tenino’s two previous police chiefs both left within the last year due to medical reasons. 

Lougheed, who made the news late last year when she was hired on as Thurston County’s first female police chief, retired due to a persisting neurological injury in her hand. Robert Swain, the Colorado Springs transplant who led the department for the two years prior, retired last September due to stage-five kidney disease. He died days later.

As an Independent on the three-seat Thurston Board of County Commissioners, Hutchings was often seen as a middle-ground politician who made many prominent decisions on complex county legislation, perhaps most notably surrounding the county’s effort to build a new courthouse complex in downtown Olympia. 

Though people have recommended he continue pursuing public office, Hutchings told The Chronicle that he doesn’t currently have any political aspirations. But then again, he said, he also didn’t when he left the Tenino Police Department six years ago. 

“I don’t know. I don’t have any political aspirations at this point,” he said. He added later: “I always keep my ear to the ground and my eyes open.”