22
Wednesday, June 24, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
TUMULT: Recruiting
is critical element
of accountability
Continued from page 1
as of July 1 4 is already act-
ing as an interim, supervising
the deputies who are currently
working in Sisters and the
west county.
City administration and
council will participate in the
final selection of the deputies
and their lieutenant. They9re
not expected to be in place till
later in the year.
<Some of it depends on the
training of the new recruits
we have on the road 4 and
some of that has been delayed
due to COVID-19,= Sheriff
Nelson said.
Recruitment for the sher-
iff9s office has been a chal-
lenge for some time, and
Nelson sees that situation
only getting more acute in the
current climate.
<I do anticipate more chal-
lenges in that area,= he said.
The Sheriff said that the
agency has done three back-
to-back recruiting drives 4
and needs to do more.
<We will not be able to fill
all of our positions in patrol
out of the third (cycle) so
we9re going to do a fourth,=
he said.
There may be more of a
reluctance in the populace
to pursue a law enforcement
career these days, but Nelson
said that a large part of the
recruitment issue comes down
to more stringent standards.
<We are seeing a higher
washout in the background
and probation period,= he
said.
That9s actually desirable,
the sheriff says.
<As you can imagine, this
job is not for everyone,= he
said. <We are looking to get
people out who don9t belong
before they become a problem
for the profession.=
Nelson considers recruit-
ment the foundation for
reform and accountability.
<The accountability piece,
look, that starts with recruit-
ment and hiring the right peo-
ple,= he said. <That9s where it
starts.=
The <right people,= accord-
ing to Nelson, recognize and
buy into a culture based on
<customer service.= Nelson
wants recruits with a positive
attitude, who function well in
a team environment; people
who have an ethic of public
service and who <have com-
passion and empathy for the
people we deal with.=
Nelson acknowledged that
there has been significant
turnover at the sheriff9s office
during his tenure since 2016
4 some of that normal retire-
ment or job-change losses,
some terminations. Several
actions flowed from the arrest
and conviction of DCSO
Captain Scott Beard who
received a five-year prison
sentence in September 2017
and was ordered to repay
$205,747 after pleading guilty
to two counts of money laun-
dering and two counts of theft
from programs that receive
federal funds.
While some see the turn-
over as evidence of turmoil
in the sheriff9s office, Nelson
considers such personnel
actions as representative of
accountability and transpar-
ency. In an interview last
spring, he told The Nugget
that he believes that the pub-
lic has a right to know about
personnel issues to the degree
authorized under the law.
< We e m p l o y h u m a n
beings, just like anybody
else,= he said then. <I don9t
expect them to be perfect, but
we will deal with personnel
issues as they come up.=
The imperative for law
enforcement officers to
hold their peers and col-
leagues accountable has
been emphasized in calls for
police reform. Activists have
recently promoted the prin-
ciple of a <duty to intervene=
among police officers. Nelson
aligns with that principle.
Nelson noted that sheriff9s
office policy has long held
that deputies are obligated to
report misconduct or be held
accountable for misconduct
themselves. The Sheriff told
The Nugget that that policy is
being amended to add a duty
to intervene in incidents of
misconduct 4 a practice that
he says is already at work in
the culture.
He acknowledged that,
<we9ve received reports of
behavior that is unaccept-
able.= At the same time, <we
Verbal Judo Institute to train
county sheriff’s personnel
The Verbal Judo Institute
will be providing Officer
to Officer Intervention
Training to the Deschutes
County Sheriff9s Office on
July 13 and July 17.
One hundred sworn
deputies are scheduled to
receive this training offered
by Greg Walker, long-time
Verbal Judo instructor and
co-author of <The Verbal
Judo Way of Leadership 3
Empowering the Thin Blue
Line from the Inside Up=.
<For 37 years the Verbal
Judo Institute has provided
timely, ground-breaking
training in tactical verbal
communications and skill
sets,= said Walker. <If you
truly want to change the tra-
ditional police culture you
have to implement a new
philosophy of action and
provide training to all levels
of an organization on why
and how to intervene when
a co-worker or peer is com-
mitting an administrative or
criminal act.=
Walker, a retired Oregon
law enforcement officer,
served as a reserve officer
and civilian CERT team
instructor for the Bend
Police Department in the
mid-1980s. In 2004, he
was a criminal intelligence
officer for the Deschutes
County Sheriff 9s Office
under Sheriff Les Stiles.
Walker9s credentials include
serving as a police officer in
both Sunriver and Astoria.
He was a DPSST
CONTENT level instructor
in multiple hard and soft law
enforcement topics includ-
ing Verbal Judo. Medically
retiring from law enforce-
ment in 2006 due to military
service-connected injuries
and wounds, Walker spent
the past 10 years working
as a Department of Defense
certified Warrior Care case
manager and advocate in the
area of behavioral health. He
retired in 2018.
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know (deputies) are interven-
ing because we9ve heard of
the examples.=
Nelson said that he is
arranging for implicit bias
training and an officer inter-
vention training is already
scheduled (see sidebar below).
Some changes have come
the hard way 4 in the wake
of serious incidents.
In 2016, Deschutes County
paid a $1 million settlement to
the family of a man who died
in custody in the jail in 2014.
Edwin Mays was arrested for
intoxication. Jail staff thought
he was high on methamphet-
amine, though Mays denied
taking drugs. Mays died of an
overdose, and investigators
reviewed his case for possible
misconduct by the Deschutes
County Jail staff. Reports
indicated that staff mocked
Mays and were slow to seek
medical treatment for him.
Nelson told The Nugget
that personnel action was
taken against three jail staff
in regards to the incident, and
that procedures and medi-
cal staffing and preparedness
were improved in response
to the incident. The jail now
has 24/7 medical staffing
and the sheriff9s office works
with a medical director, Eden
Aldrich, FNP.
Dealing with people who
have mental health-related
behavioral problems or who
are in crisis can be a fraught
and complicated problem for
law enforcement, and there
are calls nationwide to shift
away from law enforcement
intervention to the use of <cri-
sis workers.=
In Deschutes County,
dispatchers will send out a
personnel from the county
public health department9s
Mobile Crisis Unit at deputy
request to help deal with
such incidents. Nelson also
holds out high hopes for the
newly-opened stability cen-
ter designed to provide an
alternative to incarceration
for those whose brush with
the law stems from a mental
health and/or substance abuse
problem. (See related story,
page 3.)
The long-term wellbeing
of law enforcement person-
nel is also a key concern.
DCSO is in the final stages
of development of a compre-
hensive <Health of the Force=
initiative to bolster mental
and emotional well-being
among personnel 4 and their
families 4 who operate in an
exceptionally stressful and
demanding environment.
<We9re asking normal
people to deal with abnormal
situations,= Nelson said.
DCSO is enhancing its
counseling offerings on a
<no questions asked voucher
basis.= Nelson recognizes that
See TUMULT on page 22
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