Holmes County Sheriff's Department

The **Holmes County Sheriff's Department** is the local police headquarters in Erie Harbor, Washington.

## Series

### Season 2

In "*Not Giving Up*", it's been eight months since the election of Sheriff Trip Johnson, though the acting deputies still struggle to adapt to the change in leadership. Their distrust amplifies when the Attorney General sends an investigator to look into the HCSD's cases after the national headlines on their mistake with the Richie Fife case and Sam Gillis. Hilde enters the station with questions regarding a loud noise the night before. She meets Agent Rutherford, the investigator the Attorney General sent, before Trip takes Hilde into her office. She reminds Hilde that she can’t keep coming into the station. Now that she's Sheriff she has more responsibilities, especially with Rutherford lurking around. He decides who keeps their jobs, so in a way, he's Trip's boss. She also reveals that she can't be Hilde's source anymore, as leaking information to the press isn't a good look for a Sheriff.

In "*I Believe You*", following a break-in at her law office, Bridget Jensen files a police report with Lieutenant Frank Briggs Jr.. Investigator Frank Rutherford enters the office and Frank introduces the pair. Rutherford is there to audit the department on behalf of the Attorney General. He decides to sit in on the interview.

In "*Fighting His Ghost*", Trip talks to a deputy who is annoyed as his numbers have gone up but she's still on him. She explains that they're under investigation for closing 35 cases they shouldn’t have closed. He barks that he'll close fewer cases. Before she can respond, Hilde and her friends enter, earning a “no comment” from the desk lieutenant Bob. Hilde asks who put up the fence at Pinewood Park, to which Trip gives them the standard press speech. Spoon interrupts that they aren’t there as reporters but as private citizens. Trip doesn’t know anything about a fence so Hilde wants her to find out. Bob gives Trip a look so she tells Hilde this is a sheriff's station and not her clubhouse. She can't drop everything to look into a mysterious fence. Trip gives her a form to fill out like everyone else does. She tells Bob to take care of it, but Frank intervenes to handle the situation. He apologizes to the kids for things being tense around the station with Rutherford there. He offers to help them with whatever they need. His kindness and willingness to help makes Hilde realize that he can be her new source.

Trip and Frank investigate a brick that was thrown threw the window of the Johnson Farm. She wants it to be treated like any other vandalism case as to avoid Rutherford blaming her for diverting resources. Frank obliges to her orders and checks the perimeter just in case the culprits left anything behind.

The next night, Briggs enters the station causing all of the employees to freeze. He greets them cordially and walks to Trip's office, closing the door behind him. He takes a seat and explains that he ran into some of the deputies the night before and they were bragging about sending a message with a brick. Trip thought it was Wott Management trying to intimidate her father. She asks what message they were trying to send. Briggs tells her it was a message to her. They might be loyal to him but he isn’t loyal to them and their cowardly behavior. He gives her the names of the deputies responsible and tells her to take them down, calling her Sheriff for the first time. He then walks out of the office and stops at Frank’s door. He gives his son a nod and a half-smile before leaving.

In "*Dark Rooms*", Trip asks Frank into her office as she needs to expand his patrol territory. His response makes her believe he has an attitude, but he didn’t mean it that way only as him following orders. She apologizes for the misunderstanding. She’s stressed with Rutherford on her, always tracking her movements. He jokes about her coffee intake but then asks how he can help. She appreciates even the offer but just wants him to take the extra patrols and run interference with Hilde and her cohorts.

In "*The Black Box*", Trip and Rutherford talk in her office at the station. He’s almost done with his report. He doesn’t think she will like some of the conclusions he’s drawn. She thinks they’ve made progress even if it is slow. He thinks she did the right thing firing the deputies, as there’s no place for racist behavior even in small towns. But the fact it happened at all shows a lack of respect for her leadership, so the town might not be ready for her. She’s offended and tells him she won’t quit, then shows him the door.

That afternoon, Hilde and Matt go to Trip in the hope she’ll investigate the plane, but she’s more interested in why Hilde was in the basement in the first place. Matt argues that it was a party and there’s no law prohibiting a journalist from investigating a public event. He asks her to help them out. Rutherford observes and states he loves the first name basis thing the town has going on. Matt reveals that it might be Hank Gillis’s plane. Rutherford interjects that a wild-goose chase totally isn’t a waste of time. Trip asks Hilde if she’s sure she saw that so Trip and Rutherford head to the manor. This ends up as a dead-end and Trip is threatened with repercussions by Rutherford.

## Employees

### Current

* Sheriff Trip Johnson
* Lieutenant Bob
* Two deputies

### Former

* Sheriff Frank Briggs Sr. (Stripped of rank between "*Bigger Than All of Us*" and "*Not Giving Up*")
* Lieutenant Frank Briggs Jr. (Fired in "*Just a Bird*")

## Notable Cases

* Richie Fife's Disappearance (Closed)
* Penny Gillis' Murder (Closed)
* 35 Closed Cases (Under Investigation)
* Vandalism at the Johnson Farm (Closed)
* Break-in at The Law Office of Bridget Jensen (Open Case)
* Trespassing on island (Closed: fined Hilde Lisko, Matthew Lisko, Donny Davis, and Wesley Witherspoon)
* Investigation of Strata Tech Industries (Open Case)

## Appearances

**Season 1**

**Season 2**

* Not Giving Up
* I Believe You
* Fighting His Ghost
* Dark Rooms

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 As seen in "Fighting His Ghost"