The reason I want to be in law enforcement is I want to be there for people when they're most in need. I want to be able to help people, not just enforce laws, but also make a difference.

I'm Deputy Komal Tamber, and I work for the King County Sheriff's Office. I started in June, 2019. My job is to keep the community safe, and also address calls to service, as well as community issues. Sometimes we just say hi to people. A lot of times, I'm driving around neighborhoods, talking to kids, or we'll go to the park and we'll say hi to families—being present, and being around, and knowing that if they call, someone's going to be there. And being a familiar face, that "Hey, I've seen this person a few times." Being able to have that open communication within the community.

For me, personally, I grew up with, "Cops are a good thing, and they're there when we need them." When I interact with people, I want to make sure they're getting that quality of service that I always received while I was growing up, or the experiences that I had.

I'm first generation American. My parents immigrated here from India, and I was born here as a Sikh-American. In Southeast King County, we have a lot of Indian-Americans, so I can speak another language, Punjabi, which helps me when I'm translating or when we go on certain calls.

For me, being a Deputy makes me very proud. I enjoy what I do. I enjoy when people see me and they are proud that there's a female in law enforcement. I'm also a person of color, which, people in the community also like that, because they're seeing diversity within the department. I feel very proud of what I do.

So, I treat people how I would want my family to be treated, and I like to be that change. As a woman, some of my concerns going into law enforcement were, of course, my size—would I be able to handle certain situations—but, they taught me everything I needed to know. We have a lot of training before you actually become a Deputy, so it gives you a good grounding to become a great officer. So, there's a wide range; we have de-escalation, we have bias training, if you want detective training or you want undercover training you can ask to go in that direction. For example, I'm going to bike school. Where I work in the area, there's a lot of bike trails, and there's a lot of lakes, so it would be nice, if I'm communicating or talking to the people in the community, to be able to get on a bike and go to where they are, and you can be a little more involved within the community that you're working in.

I think King County Sheriff's Office is a good agency to join, for many reasons. One of the reasons is that you can work in an unincorporated area, you can work in a city area, we have an air unit, we have a fire unit, we have a marine unit. There's a lot of opportunity to grow within the agency. I like that, because if you want to make a change you're able to do that; you don't have to wait a few years to make those changes, and you're learning from so many different people. A lot of my partners that I work with, we consider each other brothers and sisters.

One of the rewarding things for me is when there's a situation we go to that is very traumatic, that they're maybe having the worst day of their life, but I was there in their time of need, that I'm protecting them. At least for that one night, I know that I made a difference in someone's lives, and they know that someone cared. That's what I'm here for.

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For information on careers with King County Sheriff's Office, email us: kcsorec@kingcounty.gov, or visit Careers.

Early on I’ve always wanted to say, "I’m a Sheriff’s Deputy." I have the best of both worlds. I love what I do, but then I get to do it in such a beautiful environment.

I’m Deputy Joe Winters. I’m with the King County Sheriff’s Office.

I’m currently assigned to Park Patrol. Roughly 28,000 acres of designated parks, trails, natural areas, interacting with the public as we go along, and being out there for the public to have access to us.

I’ve always wanted to work for a Sheriff’s Office. It’s kind of unique compared to a city agency. You’re not stuck to one small area. We patrol unincorporated and contract cities within King County for police services. Our parks are also part of that community.

What makes the King County Sheriff’s Office so unique is your ability to move around and try different units out, or be part of different teams. We have many precincts. We have many specialty units. Each precinct has detectives, street crimes, burglary/larceny detectives, so if that’s something you’re interested in you have the ability to be able to go and be part of those teams. If you just want to be part of patrol, you can be part of patrol.

What I love about the King County Sheriff’s Office is we have so many opportunities for you. What do you like? What do you grow into? My opportunity for a city environment, which was our Metro Transit Division, on the Bicycle Enforcement Emphasis Squad, also known as the Bees. Riding in the city of Seattle, we made sure that the buses were safe, that the community members using our transit were safe. It allows us to get up close and personal with our community members. They like seeing their law enforcement out in the areas where they are. It allows them to approach us, and us to get community engagement.

I’ve had the honor of being part of the Crisis Negotiation Team. We’re a specialty unit, trained to de-escalate, and most of the time what we do with an individual in crisis is just listen to them. We build a rapport, and let them know that we’re there to help them, and be able to link the individual with the services they need, to get help. 

My 22-plus years with the Sheriffs Office it’s absolutely what I wanted. It has given me everything that I had looked for, and more.

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For information on careers with King County Sheriff's Office, email us: kcsorec@kingcounty.gov, or visit Careers.

Deputy Tamber

I'm Deputy Komal Tamber.

Deputy Winters

I'm Deputy Joe Winters.

Deputy Tamber

Being a Deputy makes me very proud.

Deputy Winters

Early on, I've always wanted to say, "I'm a Sheriff's Deputy."

Deputy Tamber

The King County Sheriff's Office is a good agency to join for many reasons.

Deputy Winters

We have so many opportunities for you. What do you like? What do you grow into?

Deputy Tamber

We have an air unit, we have a fire unit, we have a marine unit.

Deputy Winters

We have many precincts.

Deputy Tamber

You can work in an unincorporated area, you can work in a city area.

Deputy Winters

You just want to be part of patrol, you can be part of patrol.

Deputy Tamber

There's a lot of opportunity to grow within the agency.

Deputy Winters

I'm currently assigned to Park Patrol. Being out there, for the public to have access to us.

Deputy Tamber

My job is to keep the community safe, and also address calls to service. I'm also a person of color, which people in the community also like that, because they're seeing diversity within the department.

Deputy Winters

I've had the honor of being part of the Crisis Negotiation Team. What we do with an individual in crisis, we build a rapport, and let them know that we're there to help them. And be able to link the individual with the services they need to get help.

Deputy Tamber

One of the rewarding things for me is when there's a situation that we go to that is very traumatic, that I was there in their time of need. That's what I'm here for.

Deputy Winter

My twenty-two-plus years with the Sheriff's Office, it's absolutely what I wanted, it has given me everything that I had looked for, and more.