As sheriff, I will take action to reduce and prevent crime in Marion County and hold criminals who prey on our community accountable. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office no longer has a team dedicated to crime reduction and prevention. In March 2024, the appointed Sheriff dissolved the Directed Patrol Unit, which consisted of three detectives tasked with crime prevention, developing strategies to deal with the underlying conditions leading to crime in problem areas and addressing community complaints. Marion County needs a sheriff who will take proactive steps to reduce and prevent crime instead of only being reactive and just investigating crimes after people have already been victimized.
As sheriff, I will re-establish the Directed Patrol Unit to continue its previous mission, along with a new focus on proactive operations aimed at addressing new crime trends, reducing and preventing street crimes, organized retail theft and violent crimes, as well as conducting sex offender stings to get would-be child predators off our streets.
I support expanding programs like LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) to get people struggling with addiction in Marion County into treatment. However, getting addicts into treatment alone won't be enough to solve this crisis. We need to stop the flow of drugs coming into our community, or we will continue to see more people get addicted to drugs.
As Sheriff, I will establish a team dedicated to investigating those who sell drugs in Marion County so they can be arrested, prosecuted, and held accountable.
The homelessness crisis is a complex issue. Most people who are homeless struggle with drug and alcohol addiction, suffer from untreated mental illnesses or both. It is not a crime to be homeless. However, we have seen an increase in behaviors and crimes committed by those living on streets that make people feel unsafe in their community and cause businesses to suffer.
The Supreme Court's recent decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson is good news for local governments nationwide trying to address the homelessness issues in their communities. However, even with the Supreme Court's decision, communities in Oregon still have their hands tied by House Bill 3115, which restricts local governments’ ability to regulate camping on public property. The Legislature must repeal House Bill 3115 so local governments in Oregon can enact ordinances to address homeless camping in their communities. Restrictions on public camping are not to "criminalize homelessness" as opponents would suggest, but so communities can have a tool for accountability to encourage homeless people to get the help they need so they can get off the streets and into stable housing.
We need to focus on solutions that address the root causes of homelessness in Marion County. Policies and programs that enable people to continue living on the streets without accountability are not compassionate or humane, are an inefficient use of tax dollars and will not solve this crisis. As sheriff, I will work to help solve this crisis to ensure our streets can be clean and safe for all to enjoy.
Gang activity, shootings and other gang-related violent crimes are on the rise in communities throughout Marion County. Gangs don't just stay within the limits of one city; they travel throughout the county. Without a gang team, it is difficult for law enforcement agencies to share information and collaborate to address gang-related criminal activity. The Sheriff’s Office should take a leadership role on this issue and be a resource to other law enforcement agencies in the county. As Sheriff, I will form a team to address gang-related criminal activity occurring in the Sheriff’s Office jurisdiction and provide a forum where law enforcement agencies in Marion County can collaborate to combat gang violence.
I will also work to create community resources for parents of at-risk youth. Over the years, I have frequently talked to parents of children who were starting to go down the wrong path and were at a loss for what to do to help their child. Parents were reaching out, desperately seeking help, but there were no resources to refer them to. Equipping parents with the tools and resources to prevent their children from ever getting involved with gangs in the first place is far more effective than law enforcement trying to intervene later and families dealing with the heartbreak of lives ruined or even lost.
Incidents of violence in schools, against teachers and involving students are at record highs. I support bringing school resource officers (SROs) back into our schools. In addition to keeping our kids and teachers safe, there are many benefits to having SROs in schools. SROs in schools help establish positive relationships between kids and law enforcement from a young age and provide opportunities for kids in need of mentorship. SROs can help with early intervention to deter kids from getting involved with gangs, drugs and other criminal activity.
The decision to bring SROs back into school is ultimately up to school districts. Until then, as sheriff, I will have deputies trained to teach D.A.R.E. and similar programs available as a resource to schools so we can start building positive relationships with kids early in their lives and educate them about making positive choices and the dangers of drug use and gangs.
Deputy staffing at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office is currently at critically low levels, which affects deputy health, safety and the ability to provide the services the community expects from the Sheriff’s Office. These are existing deputy positions that are vacant due to deputies leaving the Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s ability to retain and recruit qualified deputies is a critical public safety issue.
Patrol teams are regularly short-staffed, sometimes having as few as four or five deputies working during a shift to respond to calls for service and cover almost 1,200 square miles of Marion County. Specialty teams like the Criminal Investigations Unit (detectives) and Traffic Safety Team are not fully staffed. The Directed Patrol Unit was dissolved altogether.
Deputy staffing at the jail is so low that the jail is routinely forced to operate on lockdown. On multiple occasions, patrol deputies have been taken off the road to work in the Transition Center because jail deputy staffing was below the statutorily required minimum ratio of deputies to people in custody.
During the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the Marion County Commissioners approved the funding to hire the deputies and staff needed to re-open G-Pod in the Marion County Jail, which would add 55 additional beds to the capacity at the jail. Those beds were supposed to be open by June 2023. As of July 2024, those beds were still not open because the appointed Sheriff failed to retain and hire the deputies needed to open the additional beds. This is unacceptable when Marion County needs additional jail capacity more than ever before.
New deputies cannot be hired and trained fast enough to keep up with the vacancies created by the number of deputies leaving the Marion County Sheriff's Office. As a result, this has created a crisis of persistent, critically low staffing in the jail. Instead of addressing why our jail deputies are choosing to leave the Sheriff's Office to fix the staffing crisis, the appointed Sheriff announced he would close the 144-bed Transition Center in August 2024 and transfer the deputies who worked in the Transition Center to the jail. The Transition Center is a minimum-security facility that houses work release offenders transferred from jail, offenders serving sanctions for probation or parole violations and offenders sentenced by the courts.
Closing the Transition Center and transferring those deputies to work in the jail is not an effective long-term solution to the staffing crisis. If the reasons why deputies are leaving the Sheriff’s Office are not addressed, attrition will continue to outpace hiring and training new deputies. The appointed Sheriff doesn’t conduct exit interviews or make any effort to understand why deputies are leaving the Sheriff’s Office and, as a result, is not doing anything to address why they are leaving. It is not a responsible use of taxpayer dollars to hire and train deputies only to continually have them leave the Sheriff’s Office to work at other law enforcement agencies.
Marion County needs a Sheriff who takes this critical public safety issue seriously and will address the immediate staffing needs of the Sheriff’s Office as well as the long-term retention and recruitment of qualified law enforcement professionals.
As Sheriff, it will be a top priority to implement effective strategies to retain our current deputies and to make the Marion County Sheriff's Office the top choice of applicants looking for a career in law enforcement
Creating an organizational culture where employees know they are supported, valued and empowered to do their job starts with the sheriff and is essential to retain and recruit a skilled, professional workforce. The taxpayers, citizens and deputies of Marion County deserve better.
As Sheriff, I will ensure Sheriff’s Office policies promote accountability and law and order in Marion County. Marion County Sheriff’s Office policies should not prevent deputies from engaging in proactive activities that address crime in Marion County.
One example is the appointed Sheriff’s pursuit policy, which, under most circumstances, prohibits Marion County deputies from initiating a pursuit on a vehicle that eludes them. This includes initiating a pursuit of a stolen vehicle and a long list of other felony crimes.
For example, suppose a Marion County deputy tries to stop a stolen car, but the driver doesn't stop and instead eludes the deputy. In this case, the appointed Sheriff's pursuit policy prohibits the deputy from initiating a pursuit of the stolen vehicle. The appointed Sheriff's policy requires the deputy to turn off their red and blue overhead lights, pull over to the side of the road and stop, allowing the criminal and stolen vehicle to get away.
What messages do policies like this send to criminals in Marion County? How do policies like this affect Marion County deputies’ ability to get justice for crime victims? There are so many laws and court decisions that tie law enforcement's hands and make it more difficult for us to hold criminals accountable. Sheriff’s Office policies shouldn’t be part of the problem.
As a 19-year law enforcement veteran and a small business owner in Marion County, I understand the effect crime and instability can have on businesses, families and the community. Law and order is necessary for businesses and the community to thrive. We have seen how rampant drug use, untreated mental illness, a poorly managed homeless crisis and lawlessness have hurt businesses and the community in Portland. We have already started to see the effects of those issues here in Marion County and we can't let these issues continue to get out of hand.
Marion County and communities around Oregon are dealing with the consequences of bad public policies. As sheriff, I will always fight against proposed legislation, ballot measures or policies that jeopardize public safety or Constitutional rights. As your next Sheriff, I will proactively maintain law and order and work with community partners to find real solutions to these problems so we can create an environment where existing businesses, new businesses and people will want to make Marion County their home.
Protecting life and property, maintaining public order, ensuring those who break the law are held accountable and respecting and protecting the Constitutional rights of all people are fundamental duties of law enforcement. I will always stand up for the rights of all people and fight against government overreach and any policies or attempts to infringe upon our Constitutional rights.
I strongly support the Second Amendment. I will always defend the Constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms and to protect themselves and their families.
To maintain the public's trust, elected officials must be transparent to the people in all matters, not just what they want to be transparent about. The government works for the people and answers to the people, not the other way around. The people have the right to know what is going on behind the closed doors of their government agencies.
As Sheriff, I will always hold our law enforcement professionals to the highest ethical standards of unwavering honesty, professionalism and integrity and expect them to treat all people fairly with dignity and respect. In return, when our law enforcement professionals uphold these standards, follow the law, follow policy and do the right thing, it is important they know they have a leader who will have their back and support them when they go out and do the job our community has asked them to.
As sheriff, I will be fiscally responsible and ensure the Sheriff’s Office is making good use of your tax dollars.
As sheriff, I will continue to be engaged and involved in our community to strengthen relationships and build trust. It is essential that people trust the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and feel like they can call us in their time of need. People want to feel heard and understood. By being authentic, listening and understanding others' points of view, we can build connections, strong relationships and trust with the community we serve.
When someone runs for public office and does not intend to complete the term they are elected to, it is misleading to the voters, dishonest and frankly unethical. Candidates know the length of the term of the office they are running for. If a candidate is thinking about retirement, or there is some other reason they aren’t sure they can complete the term if elected, they shouldn’t be running for office.
When an elected official in Marion County resigns from their office before the end of their term, the Marion County Commissioners appoint a replacement person and hold that office for the remainder of the term until the next election.
This has been the practice for the last 26 years regarding the position of sheriff in Marion County. For the last 26 years, the elected sheriff has resigned before the end of their term and the Marion County Commissioners then appoint a replacement sheriff to serve the remainder of the resigning sheriff's term. Then, when election time came around, the appointed sheriff has run unopposed every time - until now.
This is not the way our system of government was meant to function, nor does it function best when our public officials are selected in this way. Elections are how the people hold their government and elected officials accountable. Sheriffs are the only law enforcement position in our entire system of local, state and federal government that the people have a direct say in selecting. Sheriffs were intended to be chosen and elected by the people. The attempt to control who the successor will be and give that person an advantage in the next election by an elected official resigning before the end of their term and a small handful of people selecting the replacement takes that choice away from the people, and it is wrong.
I pledge to the voters of Marion County that I will not engage in this practice and will fulfill any and all terms the voters elect me to.