From Tillamook County Sheriff Joshua Brown
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Roll Call, so I thought it’d be good to put out a bit of review of last year, while also looking ahead to the rest of 2024.
Last year, our Patrol Division handled a total of 18,467 calls for service. Of those, 2278 were traffic stops and 32 of them were Search and Rescues. We responded to 397 motor vehicle accidents, 400 property related crimes, 184 mental health crisis related calls, and 486 child abuse calls.
Our Community Corrections Division had 201 justice involved individuals (JII’s) on their caseload with 138 new intakes. They had 15 individuals assigned to community service and 36 that were new intakes for DUII charges.They had 605 monthly contacts with JII’s on average throughout 2023.
Our Corrections (Jail) Division had 1750 new intakes with no forced releases due to overcrowding. There was a total of 187 transports for a total of 8134 miles as well as 34 medical related transports. There were 43,151 meals served at a cost of $2.64 per meal. However, these numbers don’t always tell the whole story. There has actually been a significant increase in the types of calls that require much more intensive investigations, and those that take longer to complete — such as homicides, narcotics, and child sex abuse cases. To help with this, in the past 12 months, we’ve assigned two Deputies to fill Detective slots. Kris Wood and Martin Zepeda joined Detective Sgt. Michelle Raymond in our Detective Division.
During last year’s budget meetings, the county proposed removing six positions from our budget. This proposal was unsuccessful as it would have been detrimental to this office and the county. Throughout last year and beginning of this year, we have continued to work diligently on recruitment with positive results.
We have hired ten new staff members since last year’s budget season. In fact, I was honored to swear-in three new staff members in February, and will be swearing-in two more in March. With the county wage study currently being reviewed by me, and upcoming contract negotiations with the deputy’s union, it is my hope that the county will choose to provide the funding needed to bring our deputies wages up to a fair market value.
Currently, our deputies are among the lowest paid law-enforcement officers in the northwest corner of Oregon, as well as within Tillamook County – and this is something that needs to change. I truly believe that our employees are our most important asset, and that investing in them, and recognizing their worth, is the recipe for creating recruitment and retention success for TCSO.
In an effort to continue positive movement in the area of recruitment, we will be hosting a testing event on April 5, 2024, at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds (more info to follow). This will help to create a hiring pool from which we can select applicants to move through the next phases of the hiring process. We will also be posting new job opportunities very soon.
We are very fortunate to have the quality of people we have working within all of the divisions of the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office. I am honored to serve them, and the community, as Sheriff. I am committed to TCSO staff’s wellbeing — just as they are committed to the wellbeing and safety of this community.