New Tenino Police Chief Appreciates Small-Town Life

Robert Swain was recently sworn in as Tenino’s newest police chief. He brings with him nearly four decades of service and involvement in some high-profile cases.

Swain worked for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from 1999-2001 in Colorado Springs. During that period, that division of the ATF helped capture the Texas Seven, a group of escapees from a maximum-security prison located southeast of San Antonio, all of whom are either dead or awaiting execution in Texas. 

ATF also conducted a multi-year undercover operation that resulted in the arrest of nearly 40 members of the Sons of Silence motorcycle gang and pursued gang members in California for crimes committed in Colorado Springs while Swain was there.

Stints as a public safety leader with the Denver County School District and Tulsa, Oklahoma Public Schools also afforded Swain the opportunity to oversee student populations of 82,000 and 42,000 and dozens of officers. 

So why sign on to lead a police department of a Southwest Washington town with a population of 1,800 and a staff of fewer than 10? The answer lies 40 years in the past.

“As the story goes, we had met and hung out back in 1978 in Colorado Springs,” Swain said. “We both went on with our separate lives. She ended up calling me about three years ago. She was single, I was single. We sort of rekindled our friendship that grew into a relationship, and it was easier for me to move out here to her.”

Swain left his position as Chief of Police for Tulsa Public Schools and moved to Lacey in July of last year, having married his high school acquaintance the month before. They hope to move to town in the near future.

He served as chief of the school public safety department in Tulsa from 2014-2017. Prior to that, he worked for seven years as a police commander for Denver schools.

Before his career in school safety, Swain spent 22 years working for the Colorado Springs Police Department. He began his career in 1980 in Manitou Springs, Colorado, a town of about 5,000.

He plans to use his experiences to inform how he shapes and runs the TPD, but stressed he’s not looking to enact great change.

“I always liked the small city culture and just the fabric of a small city,” Swain said. “I always enjoyed that part of that community and being part of that community. I’m not here to bring the big city to the people of Tenino.”

The walls of his office in Tenino feature certificates and memorabilia from his decades in law enforcement. A photo of the ATF gun unit he was part of is centered on a bookshelf. Swain says the message he hopes people get when they walk into his office is that he’s proud of his career,  and is an open book.

Mayor Wayne Fournier offered the job to Swain in May. The city council affirmed the hire on July 24 after he completed the state-mandated vetting process that includes a polygraph test and psychological exam.

Fournier said he hopes Swain’s administrative background (he holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Colorado Technical University) will lead to the city applying for and receiving more public safety grants. The department still has an open police officer position Fournier held off on filling so the new chief could hire their choice for the job.

Swain replaces Don Moody, who took a job with the Yelm Police Department earlier this year. Fournier had served as acting police chief during the interim months. Swain spent the time waiting for the state to sign off on his appointment getting to know his officers and meeting the public via weekend breakfasts at Scottie B’s 50’s Diner and the Sandstone Cafe.

During his first two weeks in office, Swain has met with Thurston County Sheriff John Snaza and Tenino Schools Superintendent Joseph Belmonte. Much of his meetings with Belmonte have centered on the roles of school resource officers. The school district contracts with the police department for resource officers.

“One of the challenges of a small system is that we wear a lot of different hats,” Belmonte said. “We don’t always have expertise in specific areas. He’s going to have that expertise.”

Swain said his relationships with school communities changed as school violence became more prevalent and frequent across the country. He helped implement a version of the “see something, say something” campaign in Denver schools and again in Tulsa that used social media platforms to give students a place to anonymously report bullying or threats.

Citing reports that the school shooter in Parkland, Florida was known to law enforcement, Swain said he plans to instruct his officers to take any complaint they get as truth until they determine that it’s not.

“Even if it’s just a gut feeling that people have that something doesn’t look right, call it in and leave it up to us to determine if it’s worthwhile to check out,” Swain said. “We have to be careful to maintain constitutional rights, including privacy, but we have to follow up. It’s our duty.”

Swain knows that he’ll be a much more front-facing member of law enforcement and city government as a whole in Tenino than he was at any of his previous three stops. He’s already made a point to be a presence in the community on weekends and during the Oregon Trail Days festival. A “coffee with the chief” event is expected to take place later this month.

The impact of positive relationship between a community and law enforcement is not lost on Swain. He fondly recalls having two Colorado Springs officers coach his youth football teams. Both were still in uniform when he joined the department in 1985.

“I never forgot them,” Swain said. “When I joined the force, one remembered me, but the other didn’t. He couldn’t believe I was on the same force as him after he coached me as a kid.”

As he continues to acclimate himself to his new surroundings, Swain said he hopes to still treat every incident as he would if it happened on a larger scale, in a larger jurisdiction.

He still wants to meet with more members of the public, including those who have lived most of their lives in Tenino and can give him an understanding of the town’s history.

“I do expect a slower pace,” Swain said. “After 30-plus years, I’m ready for that. I see it as a real opportunity to make an impact and finish out what I would call a great career in excess of 40 years by the time I’m done.”