Smoke Signals 7
Where Community Policing Got Its Start In Grand Ronde
Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Tom O'Brien retires after 18 years on the force.
OCTOBER 1, 2005
By Ron Karten
After 18 years policing the Grand
Ronde area, recently retired Polk
County Sheriffs Deputy Tom
O'Brien still remembers the fish
balls in Bunnsville.
"We went through Bunnsville
and just parked the cars and
walked through and handed out
our cards. We did this all day. We
sat down with them. Half a dozen
people were having barbeques. We
asked, "What are you cooking and
what are those round things? She
said, 'Fish balls.'
"'What are fish balls?' we wanted
to know. That was that kind of
thing we did."
The "we" is O'Brien and his first
partner, Jeff Van Laanen, now a
Lieutenant with the Polk County
Sheriffs office.
Just into his second retirement,
this one from the Sheriffs office,
O'Brien remembered this and some
others that "are pretty humorous,
but I don't think we can print
them." He thought a little further
and added, "I don't even want to
bring that one up."
In his 18 years with the depart
ment, O'Brien ushered in an era of
community policing unlike any the
Grand Ronde area had ever seen. He
and Van Laanen, who were the only
one's patrolling Grand Ronde in the
pre-casino days, took enough time
with the community, that when they
pulled somebody over in town, an
other resident would pull in behind,
to make sure the police were ok.
"Having someone pulling up be
hind is normally unnerving," said
Van Laanen recently, "but when it
is somebody who you've had coffee
with, then you feel, 'OK,' that you
won't be one of those that end up
on the road. That to me is a symbol
of success, and it's because of Tom.
He taught me pretty much every
thing I know about community po
licing." O'Brien came to the job at 39,
when his children were getting big
and he had just retired from his first
career as a mechanic with United
Airlines. His sense of community
policing came naturally to him from
"my life experiences up to that point.
It was just my personality," he said.
His understanding and experi
ences really came together, he
added, because his first case - the
Little by little, O'Brien became
part of the community here in
Grand Ronde, but with the arrival
of the casino in 1995, the popula
tion increased, the crime increased,
"We went through Bunnsville and just parked
the cars and walked through and handed out
our cards. We did this all day. "
-Tom O'Brien
Retired Polk County Sheriff's Deputy
rape of a seven-year-old girl - "set the
tone for everything that followed."
"I remember being so humbled by
this seven-year-old who was able to
describe what happened to her. . ."
"He was our child abusesex
and though the Tribe funds six po
sitions for the Sheriffs substation
here, times changed for the police
who patrolled the area.
"Nobody can tell you that it isn't
more businesslike today," said Van
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Retired Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Tom O'Brien
abuse officer," said Sergeant
Nathan Goldberg, who supervised
O'Brien in recent years. "More of
ten than not (on these cases), he
was called in. He was very thor
ough, very empathetic with victims.
These are cases that police officers
generally shy away from."
Not O'Brien. Even today in his
retirement, O'Brien has applied to
work with CASA (Court Appointed
Special Advocates), the Salem
branch of a national Seattle-based
group that supports abused and
or neglected children as they
move through the courts and fos
ter care systems.
Laanen, "and less informal. It used
to be that people would walk over to
the substation and have a cup of cof
fee. Now, most come to report a crime.
With increases in crime, the busier we
are reacting to crime, the less we can
put into relationship building."
"Things have changed," said
O'Brien. "We were the only depu
ties out there and we were our own
bosses about hours. Now, it's all
shifts. Just not enough guys to cover
everything. Jeff and I could work
together for 4-5 hours. We don't
have the manpower to do that now.
"It's important that police get out of
their cars and become known in the
community. One deputy at a time
does not have that ability. You can't
get that far from your car," he said
referring to frequent calls for help.
Over the years, O'Brien served
not only as a model and teacher for
other officers, but also in many
ways a workhorse.
"If it hadn't been for Tom," said
Goldberg, "my job would have been
10 times harder. He was a wealth
of information, super easy to work
with, a real resource that we'll
never be able to replace.
O'Brien also had many friends in
the Tribal community.
"He and another were on the
scene when we had some Tribal ve
hicles stolen," recalled Tribal mem
ber John Mercier. "They recovered
all of the vehicles. They even gath
ered enough evidence to arrest some
of the perpetrators."
"He was very dedicated to doing
his job," said Mercier. "Very dedi
cated to trying to be a friendly pres
ence, at the same time of enforcing
the law."
"Tom is a very compassionate,
caring man," said Tribal Elder and
Facilities Manager Mike Larsen. "It
wasn't something that everybody
got to see with him because of his
job, but if you were in his inner
circle, you got to see that. We talked
about a lot of family things. He
loved becoming a grandparent.
And he's very proud of his kids. Just
a standup guy."
"We'd get calls," said Goldberg,
"messages: 'Tom, would you call me
later,' and they'd hang up. He'd
know who it was from their voice on
the machine. Since he's been gone,
our voice mail has dropped a quar
ter from what it was."
"I have just now in the last six
weeks felt my body relaxing and I'm
starting to sleep," said O'Brien "I can
tell I'm losing my stress." For fun,
he said, "I like to draw. I work with
models. I make World War II planes
from when I was in the Navy."
"He really cared about the Tribe,"
said Larsen. "I heard when people
in the community used to say, "If
O'Brien took care of this, it would
have been different."
Tribal Member Helps City of McMinnville Fight Crime With New Dog
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Detective Scott Fessler and Tribal
member Veronica Gaston with drug
sniffing dog Laika.
By Toby McClary
On Thursday, September 1, the
city of McMinnville welcomed the
new drug-sniffing dog, Laika, at
Wortman Park. Tribal member
Veronica Gaston helped raise
$20,000 for the purchase of the
dog due to the growing drug prob
lem in the surrounding area.
Laika is a Belgian Malinois and
was trained at the Hill Country
Dog Center in San Antonio, Texas.
She will be under the direct super
vision of Detective Scott Fessler of
the McMinnville Police Depart
ment. Gaston was on the Narcot
ics K-9 Replacement Committee
and explained that through car
washes and other fund raising ac
tivities, "It only took us about 40
days to raise over $20,000."
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