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S moke S ignals
july 15, 2014
Latest police recruit making way through training
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal member Tyler Brown, 22,
has been a police officer since June
13, the day he finished 16 weeks of
training at the Salem-based Oregon
Public Safety Academy, where he
won the health and fitness award
in his class.
“I am a big fitness nut,” Brown
says. “I work out about two hours a
day or more. That was a huge deal
for me, because three years ago that
would have never happened.”
“Tyler takes his physical fitness
very seriously,” says Field Train-
ing coordinator and Grand Ronde
Police Officer Patrick McConnell,
“which shows determination and a
good mindset.”
Successfully finishing the acad-
emy training, Brown says, “was
a big accomplishment for me. A
dream come true.”
The five-phase training lasts an
additional 14 to 17 weeks or more.
It includes everything from paper-
work requirements to the operation
of police radios and computers to
making arrests and booking the
arrested into jail.
Brown also is graded on his
appearance and dress, attitude,
communication abilities and prob-
lem-solving skills.
During these five phases, Brown
rides with McConnell and fellow
Grand Ronde Officers Tim Her-
nandez and Ron Wellborn, and
Sgt. Jake McKnight. He starts by
watching the others work, and does
more and more work under the su-
pervision of his training officer.
“We have a great group of officers
here from the Chief (Al LaChance)
all the way down to Tyler,” McCo-
nnell says. “We have each other’s
back 24/7 and trust our lives to each
other. Tyler is learning though that
cops are never truly off duty, from
training on your days off or having
to go to court.”
Brown was about to begin his
fourth week riding with McKnight
during the second week in July.
“He’s been teaching me the ropes.
It’s a blessing to have his help,”
Brown says.
Brown is the latest addition to
Grand Ronde Police Department
and he says he couldn’t be happier.
He has wanted to be a police officer
his whole life.
“I know it sounds corny,” he says,
“but growing up, all I wanted to do
was protect people and make them
feel safe. So, this is a perfect fit for
me. You have to be able to give up a
lot of things you want for (the ben-
efit of) other people in this job.”
Learning the job has taken Brown
into some uncharted territory. Of
course, he is learning how things are
done in the department, but the curve
of his people skills is going up fast.
Brown has been learning “how to
treat people with respect, the same
respect you would want,” he says.
“I’ll have to deal with people a lot,
so I’m learning how to take calls,
how to handle different people with
their issues. Jake’s been really good
to teach me.”
Together, McKnight says, they
have been “making traffic stops,
taking people to jail, finding people
with drugs, taking them to jail, go-
ing through the booking process at
the Polk County Jail. In cases from
Yamhill County, he’ll be taking the
arrested to McMinnville and the
Yamhill County Jail, though he
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department Officer Tyler Brown checks registration
and insurance paperwork during a traffic stop in Grand Ronde on Tuesday, July
. Brown is a Tribal member and the department’s newest officer.
hasn’t had to deal with a Yamhill
County resident yet.”
“It’s a lot to take in,” Brown says,
“but it’s a good experience. There’s
always more to learn. I’ve learned
a lot but there are situations you
get into and I don’t want to mess
up. I don’t know how to react some-
times. Everyone wants you to have
answers. I’m young and haven’t
really had this experience before.
People older than me are looking to
me for answers. That’s tough, but
nothing I can’t handle. I’ve always
liked challenges.”
“Tyler is smart, energetic and
eager to learn,” says McConnell.
When not at work or in the gym,
Brown says, “I love sports: football,
basketball and mixed martial arts
are my favorites.” He never saw
McKnight compete in the mixed
martial arts arena, but he notes,
“We train hitting the pads together
after work some days.”
Brown also has a lot of experience
working in other Tribal depart-
ments, including jobs at Culture,
cutting trails at Natural Resources
and as a pre-school aide.
Brown is the son of Wayne and
Phyllis Brown. He graduated from
Perrydale High School in 2010 and
attended Chemeketa Community
College for three years studying
personal training, health and fit-
ness, and criminology.
“I also mixed in a few nutrition
classes for my own personal ben-
efit,” he says.
“My goal,” says McConnell, “and
the goal of this department is to
produce the best officers to serve
this community to the highest
potential possible. Field training
is very stressful for a recruit but it
teaches them to be able to work on
their own.”
That’s the next challenge for
Brown. When training is done, he
says, “I’ll be on my own; making my
own decisions.” n
Tribe also creating job opportunities
DEVELOPMENT continued
from front page
lington, Wash. The company makes
drinking cups out of recyclable plas-
tic bottles and has seen its business
grow as it contracted with several
major airline companies.
Along with the investments, the
Tribe is creating job opportuni-
ties for Tribal members who live
throughout the Pacific Northwest.
SAM Medical Products has offered
seven new jobs to Tribal members
and/or spouses at its Wilsonville
facility while Shasta has offered
nine positions for possible Tribal
employees in Redmond.
On July 1, SAM Medical recruited
for four positions in Smoke Signals
and applications went through the
Tribe’s Human Resources Depart-
ment. Asghar said two more posi-
tions will be offered by the end of
the year.
The Tribe also has been recog-
nized for its “innovative restruc-
turing of deal making,” receiving
a Deal of the Year Award from
the Native American Finance Of-
ficers Association in April for its
$10 million equity investment in
MicroGREEN. The Tribe also has
loaned money to the company at a
“significant spread,” Asghar said.
With the res-
ignation of Fi-
nance Officer
Julio Martinez
earlier this year,
Asghar has tak-
en over guid-
ing the Tribe’s
endowment
Titu Asghar
investments.
Besides stocks
and bonds, which are public securi-
ties, he also received Tribal Council
permission to invest in a private
equity fund whose performance
is not tied to the performance of
public securities. This is called an
uncorrelated investment.
“The benefit of adding uncor-
related investments in a portfolio
such as our size gives us diversifica-
tion of risks. It spreads our risks,”
Asghar said, “and provides better
protection of Tribal endowments.”
Ultimately, Asghar said, the Eco-
nomic Development Department
wants to bring jobs to the Grand
Ronde area for Tribal members.
Discussions are currently occurring
with MicroGREEN Polymers with
that goal in mind, he said.
Asghar added that a SAM Medi-
cal distribution or assembly plant
near Grand Ronde might be a pos-
sibility.
“We want to showcase Tribal
properties to bring businesses
here,” he said, adding that the
Tribe will fight to not give up Tribal
sovereignty in doing so.
Mercier added that the possible
positions would be living wage
jobs.
In addition, the Chemawa Sta-
tion project in Keizer, a collabo-
ration between the Grand Ronde
and Siletz Tribes, is closing in on
its final leg with the selection of a
master developer and contractor.
The Tribe’s two major real estate
holdings – Cherry City Shopping
Center in Salem and the Portland
office on Southwest Barbur Bou-
levard – are showing healthy oc-
cupancy rates (84 percent and 78
percent, respectively).
“We have a lease in negotiation
right now,” Asghar said about the
Portland office. “We are keeping
an eye on other properties in our
ceded lands.”
Grand Ronde also is looking to
expand its economic relationships
with other Tribes across the nation,
such as the Seminoles in south
Florida. “There is definitely a need
for Tribe-to-Tribe collaboration on
economic development,” he said.
While not investing or analyzing
possible investments, the Economic
Development Department monitors
where the Tribe’s money has been
invested.
“All this is in addition to all of
the meetings with all of the in-
vestments we have done,” Asghar
said. “Just because we have put in
money does not mean our respon-
sibilities are over. We get monthly
financials from SAM, Shasta and
MicroGREEN, and now that we
have invested in the private equity
fund we are going to manage that
relationship as well. I sit on all
of their boards and attend SAM
Medical meetings on a quarterly
basis. We are passive investors. We
don’t dictate terms, but we listen
and give our opinion to protect our
investments.”
Asghar added that he is hopeful
that the Securities and Exchange
Commission will change an ac-
creditation rule that currently does
not allow Tribes to invest money as
accredited investors.
“Tribes, for all intents and pur-
poses, are left out of that loop, and
as a result some of the investments
we wanted to pursue to protect
our investments we cannot unless
we throw a lot of money at fund
managers, which we will are not
willing to do. It defeats the purpose
of diversification.” n