S moke S ignals
JANUARY 1, 2018
9
Life, part two
Tribal member Kevin Schultz retires after 30 years with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office
By Danielle Frost
Smoke Signals staff writer
In a world that is constantly
changing, spending 30 years with
one employer has become the ex-
ception, not the rule.
But that is exactly what Tribal
member Kevin Schultz has accom-
plished.
Schultz, 53, will retire as jail
division commander in January
after three decades with the Marion
County Sheriff’s Office.
He also served on the Tribal Fish
and Wildlife Committee for seven
years and is currently a member
of the Grand Ronde Gaming Com-
mission.
The lifelong Salem resident says
he considers his biggest career suc-
cess to be serving the community
that he grew up in.
“I know it might sound sappy, but
I don’t know if there is a greater
honor than to say I served the com-
munity where I lived and raised my
family. … It is a tough, challenging,
stressful job at times, but all that
aside, there is a lot you can get out
of it,” Schultz says.
Schultz first became interested in
a law enforcement career when he
was in high school, inspired by his
older brother, Melvin.
“He was my biggest mentor,”
Schultz says. “I thought a lot about
it after high school. I wanted to
do something rewarding where I
could serve my community, I could
be humbled and make a difference.
Public safety was a natural fit.”
After attending Chemeketa Com-
munity College’s criminal justice
program didn’t pan out, Schultz
decided on-the-job training was
more his style. When he found
out the Salem Police Department
was looking for reserve officers, he
jumped at the opportunity.
A year later in 1987, his brother,
who was employed by the Polk
County Sheriff’s Office, took a job
as a deputy at the newly opened
Marion County Jail. He suggested
his younger brother do the same.
“He convinced me to give it a
whirl and was a big inspiration,”
Schultz says.
Schultz worked his way up
through the ranks until he was
promoted to sergeant in 2003, a
post he thought he would retire in.
“Once I promoted to sergeant, I
was really happy, but my career
just kind of took off from there,”
Schultz says.
Within five years, he had jumped
through the ranks from sergeant
to lieutenant and then operations
Kevin Schultz
division commander.
“It was a steep learning curve,”
he says. “I was only a lieutenant
for five months and had to go from
basically being a sergeant to being
a commander.”
Although work kept Schultz busy,
he still found time to do outreach
in local schools, where he has par-
ticipated in reading programs for
students, career presentations for
high schoolers and Sheriff’s Office
liaison to the Salem NAACP.
In his position as division com-
mander, Schultz is responsible for
overseeing 143 people.
“A majority of my job is leading
and mentoring staff,” he says. “My
job is to make sure my staff have
what they need for success. If you
do a good job taking care of your
people, you will be successful.”
Marion County Sheriff Jason
Myers has known Schultz since
the two first began their careers.
However, his first interaction was
when he stopped Schultz for a traf-
fic violation.
“Through this encounter I was
able to see Kevin's character as he
admitted to committing the viola-
tion, made no excuses for what he
had done and accepted the conse-
quences for his action,” Myers says.
In 2008, when it came time to
promote someone to a newly creat-
ed position as operations division
commander, the then-undersheriff
recommended Schultz.
“In this role, Kevin was key to
the creation of our Community Re-
sponse Team, which addresses liv-
ability concerns in the county, our
in-house Sheriff’s Academy that all
new and existing employees attend,
and he helped to revamp our office’s
business and budgeting practices,”
Myers says.
In 2014, Schultz expressed inter-
est in returning to the jail as the
Polk County seeking Tribal
veterans for photographs
Polk County Veterans Service Officer Marie McCandless is seeking Tribal
veterans for a project that is taking photos of area veterans.
Veterans who would like to participate should call the Veterans Service
Office to schedule an appointment with the photographer at 503-623-
9188. n
commander.
“He has worked diligently to
ensure the best practices for di-
rect supervision jail are in place,
ensuring that we are developing
our most important resource, our
employees, and caring for those
who are entrusted to our custody,”
Myers says. “Kevin's passion for
all of these areas has come shin-
ing through each and every day. I
would like to commend him for his
commitment and dedication to our
office and community.”
Schultz says the biggest chal-
lenge during his career is how
public safety and the very nature of
communication has changed since
the late 1980s.
“It is much more scrutinized now
and you need to be able to manage
those perceptions,” he says. “That
is always a challenge.”
Another challenge is effectively
managing three different gener-
ations in the workplace, and the
subsequent varying communication
styles.
“Millennials see things very differ-
ently,” Shultz says. “For example,
they are used to communicating with
text, e-mail or Snapchat, and some-
one in my generation would usually
rather pick up the phone and call.”
However, with social media, the
entire manner of communication
for everyone has changed, he adds.
“It is so important in our job,
and the manner in how you do it,”
Schultz says.
He cited the example of someone
who may be very skilled in commu-
nicating via e-mail or text, but has
difficulty conversing in person.
“When we pull someone over for a
traffic stop, that is the main contact
they have with us,” he says. “Their
experience sets the tone for the en-
tire Sheriff’s Office. That can work
very well for us or very poorly.”
After he retires in January,
Schultz says he plans to take about
six months to decompress before
starting any new projects.
“A lot of counselors have said
when you get out of public safety
to wait until you make any big life
decisions because you need to get
some things out of your system
first,” he says.
However, Schultz plans to con-
tinue serving on the Gaming Com-
mission.
“As long as the Tribe will have
me, I would love to continue,”
Schultz says. “Coming from a pub-
lic safety background, it’s a very
good fit.”
He also is planning long week-
ends in Seattle with wife, Julie,
after Mariners’ baseball starts in
the spring, as well as attending the
Indianapolis 500 held Memorial
Day weekend.
“It’s always been one of my
dreams to watch that,” Schultz
says.
He also wants to get his family
together, which includes his wife
and their three children, Jordan,
29, Spencer, 25, and Olivia, 17, for
one last, big family vacation.
“I owe everything to them,”
Schultz says. “They have made
more sacrifices than I have made.
When you are a young public safety
professional, you have very little
seniority. Early on, I missed school
functions, birthdays and holidays
because of work. There were lots
of sacrifices.”
Although he will miss the cama-
raderie of his workplace, Schultz
says he is looking forward to the
next chapter of his life.
“I’m at a point where there are
less years in front of me than what
I have behind me,” he says. “I want
to make the absolute most of those
years. … It is like I get to hit the
reset button, and I am excited to
see what happens.” n
Adult Foster Program
“A Place To Call Home”
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providing the personalized assistance they need. At our lodges, a wide range
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Foster Program Director Peggy Shaver at 503-879-1694. n