Former Clark County sheriff candidate Rey Reynolds is on administrative leave from his position with the Vancouver Police Department, pending four internal affairs investigations since September.
Reynolds, a corporal, was placed on leave Dec. 21, following two separate investigations opened Dec. 20, according to police spokeswoman Kim Kapp. Reynolds has two more investigations that remain open, filed Oct. 24 and Sept. 8.
On Tuesday morning, Reynolds initially told The Columbian he had no comment and needed to evaluate the situation further. He then said he would have a response later Tuesday, but he did not respond further.
In an email to The Columbian, Kapp said Reynolds was placed on leave, “in regards to an open/active internal investigation pertaining to policy 339 Standards of Conduct.”
The police department’s Standards of Conduct policy covers a broad range of expectations of agency members, including a section titled, “respect for diversity.” The policy also covers employee truthfulness, insubordination, accountability, rumors, abuse of authority, attendance and many other prongs. Kapp did not say which section of the policy the investigation is in relation to.
Kapp said the new investigations opened in December are not linked to the previous two. She did not elaborate on what prompted the investigations.
Still, the October investigation appears to be related to comments Reynolds made on an online Christian political show, “Cross Politic,” regarding obscenity laws, during a discussion about transgender people and LGBTQ-affiliated events in the community. Reynolds made the appearance as a candidate for Clark County sheriff.
His comments prompted a petition, which had 1,400 signatures Tuesday, calling for Reynolds to be fired and the city to reaffirm its support for the transgender community.
In response to the petition and his comments, Reynolds previously told The Columbian his stance on arresting people who violate exposure laws has nothing to do with someone’s sexual orientation or gender expression. When asked about his statements that exposure crimes were happening in Vancouver, Reynolds said he couldn’t recall any local LGBTQ-affiliated events where people were exposing themselves.
He previously said his comments during his campaign for sheriff reflect his personal views, not those of the Vancouver Police Department or city of Vancouver.
Reynolds lost the sheriff’s race in the November general election to John Horch. Horch received 54.52 percent of the vote and Reynolds received 45.09 percent. Reynolds had also previously run for state Senate in 2020.
The Vancouver Police Department’s internal affairs policy states a decision should be made within 28 days, unless the office of the chief grants a time extension. The policy states the decision-making process begins the first calendar day after the completion or waiver of the subject’s 14-day review period.
