AUGUST 1,2000
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Tom O'Brien
Eric Shepard
Kevin Hayes
Curtis Pitt
JeffVanLannen
Allister Bunch
Grand Ronde's Sheriff's Force grows
Continued from front page
investigations," said Bunch. "Down
there its like you get a call you go.
You take the report. Boom it's off
to the detectives. You're done. Next
call.
"I used to go home with headaches
it was so intense," said Bunch. "Here
you have time. When you get a case,
you have time to investigate it.
You've got time to see it through.
Down there you would never know
what happened."
Bunch said he likes the differences
between Los Angeles and Grand
Ronde. He said he likes being able
to talk to people and spend time in
the community.
Bunch said he hopes to start a bike
patrol and help with the establish
ment of a Grand Ronde reserve po
lice force.
One of Grand Ronde's newest
Polk County Sheriffs officers
isn't new to Grand Ronde.
Sgt. Jeff VanLaanen is now serv
ing his second stint in the area after
recently being appointed to the su
pervisor position here in Grand
Ronde.
VanLaanen, 34, served in Grand
Ronde five year's ago as a young of
ficer just getting started in Oregon.
VanLaanen began his law enforce
ment career in Sacramento, Califor
nia after attending the California
State Police Academy.
"When I got started here in Grand
Ronde, there was just two of us
(Deputy Tom O'Brien and Van
Laanen) and I was out here for two
years," said VanLaanen. "Then, I got
promoted. They didn't have any su
pervisory positions out here then. So,
I had to go back over to Dallas. I did
three years there as a supervisor. I
kept my finger on things out here
and made sure I kept up my contacts.
I would come out here and visit with
the friends that I made. This place
kept growing and growing and we
got two more officers last year bring
ing us up to four and then this con
tract year everybody made the right
decision and decided they wanted to
go to 24 hour coverage and so we
have six of us out here now. They
said they needed a sergeant and I
said 'pick me.' I was lucky enough
to be able to come back.
"About the time my son was born
(now eight years old) we started
thinking that we did not want to raise
our child in Central California. I got
an opportunity to transfer up here
and I jumped on it. My wife (Lisa)
quit her job and sacrificed all her
friends and her family and we came
up to Oregon. I got on with Polk
County soon after that and I have
been here ever since."
When asked how he likes being
part of the Grand Ronde community,
he responded in the positive.
"I love it. This is my favorite place.
This is my home away from home,"
said VanLaanen. "When I was a
young officer and out here for the
first time I met a lot of people. This
place was a lot rougher then. I es
tablished friendships out here."
He said people went out of their
way to let him know they were glad
he was here and they wanted him to
stay.
"I would be on a traffic stop at night
and see over my shoulder someone
would pull up cautiously behind me
and stay far back and then they
would stick their head out the win
dow," said VanLaanen. "I would see
who they were and it would be some
body here from the community that
knew that there was no one else that
was going to come out and help me
because it was 30 minute drive time
for the next deputy to get out here.
They were just pulling over to make
sure I was okay. That kind of re
sponse from this community and the
friendships that I made really made
a difference to me.
"And, although I'm a non-Indian,
I really connected with the culture
here and the spiritualism," said
VanLaanen. "I took a lot of that with
me when I left for those two years
and I maintained a lot of contact with
my closest friends out here and so
just to come back and be able to do it
again was fantastic. Sometimes I
wish I had never left."
VanLaanen said he is all about
helping people although he admits
to liking the excitement of being a
cop. He said it is those two reasons
that he has found his career choice
both personally and professionally
rewarding.
"I enjoy the fact that you come to
work everyday and you don't know
what is going to come out of this little
box (dispatch radio) and where you
are going to go next," said
VanLaanen. "You could save a life.
You could arrest a heinous bad guy.
You're in a fight. You can take a cat
down out of a tree. Find a missing
child. It could be absolutely any
thing and you just don't know. As
far as I know, there is no other job in
the world that that happens on a
regular, daily basis. You never
know. You can get satisfaction from
this job. Not all the time, but there
is true satisfaction.
"The best part about being in
Grand Ronde versus being anywhere
else is you get more satisfaction in a
small, close-knit community like this
because you take care of families,"
said VanLaanen.
Law enforcement and the way of
ficers are viewed by the community
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Thanks to a grant from the Grand Ronde Tribes' Spirit Mountain Community
Fund, the Polk County Sheriff's presence in the area has grown to six full
time officers. For the first time, Grand Ronde and its surrounding communi
ties now have 24-hour a day law enforcement coverage. The deputies dis
play the Tribal logo on their squad cars and uniforms.
has changed drastically in Grand
Ronde over the past few years. Old
stereotypes are being broken, daily.
"Our current administration, from
Sheriff Wolfe all the way on down,
has made a concerted effort to break
down past stereotypes," said
VanLaanen. "We're all just people.
That is the goal of every police de
partment, but I've never seen it or
heard of it being as successful as it is
out here. A lot of that credit goes to
the community for being so accept
ing and the Tribe especially for sup
porting us. And, the officers that
have been out here have all been
exceptional community relations
type officers. I know who's in the
hospital. I know who's having a
baby. You're part of the family."
Tribal Council members Bob
Mercier and Val Grout said
they and other members of
the Council have decided to put the
Tribe's money into better community
policing efforts and getting the new
deputies is the latest step in that ef
fort. "The increased law enforcement
presence is out here if for no other
reason than to show that we do have
the desire to get protection out here
that we have needed for a long time,"
said Mercier. "Their presence here
might curb a lot of things that have
gone on just by being here. We in
creased the presence of law enforce
ment because of the need for in
creased protection. Now, we have
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have taken hours for a response. A
lot of times, that is too long. We need
them to be here when we need them."
Grout said it is important to point
out that it is not just the Tribe that
benefits from the added law enforce
ment presence in Grand Ronde, but
the whole community.
"Everyone is better off with the of
ficers out here," said Grout. "In the
past, we had to wait for officers to
get here and sometimes that wait
was long. Now they are here when
we need them and they are part of
the community."
Mercier agrees with Grout that the
officers will benefit everyone in the
area.
"This area has always been a com
munity area with the Indians and
the non-Indians here," said Mercier.
"We all deserve the same coverage
from our officers. I believe that we
as a Tribe show how much we think
of that by the money that we have
put into the investment to have the
officers here."
Polk County Sheriff
Grand Ronde Substation: 879-2420
Emergency number: 9-1-1
The substation is located in far modular building
west of the Community Center.