Two supervisors at the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office have been fired following a monthslong outside investigation that found they violated workplace conduct and sexual harassment policies. Sheriff Donnell Tanksley terminated Lt. Keith Linderman and Sgt. Courtney Polinder on June 29, with the firings closely tied to their handling of a disturbing incident in which a detective in their unit created an artificial intelligence-generated video depicting a female colleague. The detective who created the video remains employed by the sheriff's office.

What the Investigation Found

The terminations followed a 168-page third-party report compiled by PST Investigations, which Tanksley commissioned to conduct an independent review of the situation. The investigation was prompted by a 30-million-dollar tort claim filed in Whatcom County last October by the lawyer representing Detective Samantha Robinson, the officer depicted in the deepfake video.

According to records obtained through a public records request, Tanksley lambasted both Linderman and Polinder in individual termination letters. The letters detailed failures as law enforcement leaders, failures to comply with sexual harassment policies, and failures to address a growing culture of inappropriate communication within the detective unit. The PST Investigations report substantiated those allegations across its 168 pages of findings.

The deepfake video at the center of the investigation was created by Detective Derek Jones, who generated an AI-produced video depicting Robinson, his subordinate, open-mouth kissing his father. Despite the severity of that act, Jones remains on the force. Tanksley's decision to fire the supervisors while retaining the detective who created the video has drawn significant attention and is likely to face continued scrutiny.

h2>The Supervisors' Role

The investigation focused not just on the video itself but on how Linderman and Polinder responded to it and to the broader culture within the detective unit. A supervisor's responsibility in a situation like this includes taking prompt action to stop harassment, documenting complaints, and escalating to appropriate channels. The investigation apparently found that both men fell short of those obligations in ways that the sheriff determined warranted termination rather than lesser discipline.

Lt. Linderman had been with the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office long enough that a photograph shows him being promoted from sergeant by former Sheriff Bill Elfo in 2023, just three years before his termination. Sgt. Polinder's tenure is not detailed in available records, but both are described as longtime leaders whose dismissal represents a significant personnel change for the department.

On July 6, Tanksley sent an all-employee email announcing the terminations without detailing the specific findings from the investigation. That communication acknowledged the departures publicly within the department while leaving the specifics to the termination letters and the PST Investigations report, which became available through public records.

The Broader Context

The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office has faced a range of personnel and operational challenges in recent years. The department is in the middle of a staffing and budget period complicated by a new collective bargaining agreement that secured six-percent raises for deputies, even as the county navigated broader fiscal pressures. Workplace culture issues in law enforcement have drawn national attention, and the use of artificial intelligence to generate non-consensual intimate imagery is an emerging area of concern for departments across the country.

Washington State has laws addressing non-consensual intimate imagery, and the creation of a deepfake video of a colleague in a workplace context raises questions about potential criminal liability as well as the civil claim already filed by Robinson. The 30-million-dollar tort claim remains active, and the outcome of that legal action will likely depend in part on the findings in the PST Investigations report and what the county knew or should have known about conditions in the detective unit.

The retention of Detective Jones, who created the video, while his supervisors were fired for failing to address the culture he contributed to, is a tension that Robinson's legal team and workplace advocates are likely to continue highlighting. Whether Jones faces additional discipline or a separate investigation is not addressed in currently available records.

What Comes Next

The terminations of Linderman and Polinder are final as of June 29, though both could potentially challenge their dismissals through civil service proceedings or legal action of their own. The 30-million-dollar tort claim filed by Robinson's attorney will proceed on its own timeline through the courts.

Sheriff Tanksley, who was elected to lead the department, has now taken public action on the supervisory failures identified in the investigation. Whether further discipline follows for other members of the detective unit, including Jones, remains an open question that residents and department employees will be watching closely. The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office has not released the full PST Investigations report publicly, though records requests have produced the termination letters and confirmation of the report's existence and length.