Mason County Sheriff Ryan Spurling on Fentanyl, Overdose Rankings and Washington's 19 New Sheriffs | Sheriff Sit-Down, November 2026

This month on the Sheriff Sit-Down, presented by Our Community Credit Union, I caught up with Mason County Sheriff Ryan Spurling just after the November election — and we covered a lot of ground.

We started with the person of interest the Sheriff's Office is looking for in connection with a recent shooting, and what you should do if you ever see someone they're searching for: call it in, don't make contact. Then the Sheriff showed me the door hangers deputies leave when they check businesses in the middle of the night — a program that goes back to Sheriff Casey Salisbury, now with a QR code full of business-safety resources.

The biggest part of our conversation was fentanyl. Mason County is no longer number one in Washington for overdoses per capita, but the Sheriff says the danger hasn't gone anywhere. His message from a recent DEA briefing: if a pill didn't come from a pharmacist, assume it's been cut with fentanyl. He explained carfentanil, why backyard pill presses cause clusters of overdoses, and why the office keeps investing in D.A.R.E. and school outreach.

We also talked about the court ruling striking down key parts of Washington's sheriff standards law (the state has said it will appeal), the at least 19 new sheriffs taking office across Washington — and the Sheriff's role in training them — and why he believes law enforcement should be nonpartisan: "we all either suffer together or we benefit together."

We wrapped with a reminder for snowbird season: talk to your neighbors, keep your cameras running, and report what you see to the non-emergency line.

Send me your thoughts or questions: jeff@kmas.com. KMAS is the local radio station in Mason County, Washington.

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