What is the task force that killed Portland suspect? Its goal is ‘the worst offenders’
The task force that shot and killed Michael Reinoehl has been tracking violent offenders throughout the Pacific Northwest for a decade.
The Pacific Northwest Violent Offender Task Force, created by the U.S. Marshals Office in 2010, includes 69 personnel from 10 agencies in four counties. They focus on cases in Western Washington.
“The Marshals concentrate on the worst offenders — the murderers, the rapists, the child predators,” said Marshals spokesman Dave Oney. “We’re really good at finding people who don’t want to be found.”
Currently on the task force are representatives from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Lakewood Police Department, King County Sheriff’s Office, Seattle Police Department, Everett Police Department, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Lake Stevens Police Department, Arlington Police Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Department of Corrections.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said it has four members on the task force.
Lakewood police joined the team in April 2017, adding one of its investigators.
Joining the task force was a no-brainer because it offers “quicker access to federal resources for Lakewood cases,” said Lakewood police Lt. Chris Lawler.
Oney said many local and state agencies want to join because cases worked by the task force can lead to federal prosecution, which often means longer sentences for people convicted.
“Most agencies are consumed with calls for service and are strained by finances or personnel,” said Craig McCluskey, task force supervisor. “They’re pushed to being reactive. We allow them to become a huge proactive piece, and we become a force multiplier.”
Any law enforcement officer on the Violent Offender Task Force is deputized with the U.S. Marshals, meaning their authority is extended while working task force cases and they can cross jurisdictional lines when necessary.
In the Reinoehl case, Pierce County sheriff’s and Lakewood police were able to search for him in Thurston County even though it’s not the area they typically cover.
So far this year, the task force has arrested 96 fugitives, according to U.S. Marshal statistics through Aug. 30.
More than 93 percent of those cases involved violent crimes.
About 15 percent of the warrants served in that time were for violent crimes — 3 percent for homicides and 40 percent for drugs, McCluskey said.
One of the biggest cases this year was the capture of Jaromir Prokop, a 54-year-old fugitive wanted by Interpol for more than a decade for kidnapping, extortion and murder in the Czech Republic.
Prokop was taken into custody at an auto parts store in Auburn, Washington.
The U.S. Marshals Office also provided numbers related to fugitive arrests for their office.
During 2019, the Marshals and its task forces arrested 60,441 state and local fugitives and 29,798 federal fugitives. They also served 105,009 warrants.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 5:28 PM.
