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MCSO eNewsletter
and Public Safety Agency
Spring 2015
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Multnomah County Sheriff's Office to begin providing police services to the City of Troutdale on July 1, 2015
 | | Sheriff Dan Staton |
On Thursday April 23, 2015, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office to begin providing police services to the City of Troutdale beginning July 1, 2015. This approval moves forward the consolidation of law enforcement services between the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and Troutdale Police Department. Over the next two months, both agencies will strive to ensure a seamless transition and look forward to providing enhanced police services to the City of Troutdale as the transfer of Troutdale Police Department personnel moves forward.
The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office is pleased to welcome the experienced officers and staff from the Troutdale Police Department and continue to build on the excellent service they have provided over the years to the citizens of Troutdale. Beginning July 1, 2015, the officers will continue to patrol the City of Troutdale as they do today but as deputies and/or sergeants for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. MCSO Supervisors are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week expanding the coverage provided to the City of Troutdale.
This process took place over several years and was introduced as a concept by Sheriff Staton during conversations at an all-cities meeting shortly after taking office in 2010. Over the next several years Sheriff Staton continued to research his idea and worked tirelessly with his MCSO Executive Staff to see if consolidation with Troutdale would result in the efficiencies he envisioned and realize a positive benefit to the community and Multnomah County as a whole. The Executive Division of the Sheriff's Office discovered significant economies of scale that could be realized through the consolidation of a number of operational functions including law enforcement records, property and evidence control, investigations and supervision.
In the Spring of 2014, Sheriff Staton talked with Chief Anderson and began the process to bring his proposal forward for further consideration by the City of Troutdale and the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. As part of this process, a workgroup was formed to work through the financial and operational details to determine the feasibility of the proposal and build a more defined service model.
On March 24, 2015 the Troutdale City Council approved a resolution approving the consolidation of law enforcement services with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. On April 23, 2015 the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners adopted resolution 2015-033, which served as the final step in bringing Sheriff Staton's vision for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and the City of Troutdale to reality. The contract will be implemented on July 1, 2015.
All current sworn and civilian staff of the Troutdale Police Department will transfer from the city of Troutdale to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. All personnel will maintain employment.
A lease agreement for the Troutdale Police Community Center was also presented and approved. The Troutdale Police Community Center will now be the home of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office patrol division. Patrol services will be centered out of the Troutdale Police Community Center, which will remain under the ownership of the city, effective July 1, 2015.
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MCSO 2015 Spring Awards Ceremony
On Wednesday April 29, MCSO honored over fifty of its members at the MCSO Spring Awards Ceremony. Among the awards presented was a Community Service Award to Sgt. Phil Anderchuk for all of his volunteer work with Special Olympics Oregon and his continuing efforts to involve and recruit other Sheriff's Office volunteers to help support Special Olympics Oregon at events and fundraisers throughout the year.
Just one of the creative ways he worked to involve staff in fundraising included a costume contest for the 2015 Polar Plunge encouraging staff to vote for their favorite costume idea through a small donation to Special Olympics Oregon. The winning costume would be worn by Sgt. Phil Anderchuk at the Polar Plunge. This year's costume theme winner was - Sonny and Cher. Another Sgt. Randy Kendall joined in on the fun to make the costume pair complete (See photo below in article on the Polar Plunge). While they didn't take home any awards for their singing, both represented in their costumes at the Polar Plunge and over thirty MCSO staff joined them as MCSO raised over $5,000 for Special Olympics Oregon. In addition Sgt. Phil Anderchuk received a Distinguished Service Award for his exemplary leadership and service to MCSO over his 25 year career.
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| | Sgt Anderchuk with Sheriff Staton |
Corrections Counselor Vivian Parker was also honored with a Distinguished Service Award for her continued work with the offender population in MCSO jails. Vivian originally retired in 1998 but returned three different years from 1998-2007 to assist as a Counselor. In 2008 Vivian was hired as a part-time counselor and continues to serve in that role today.
The Life-Saving award was presented to Deputy Todd Byron who saw a small child fall into a drainage ditch along SE Division Drive just before midnight on October 18, 2014. Deputy Byron had just completed working swing shift at the Inverness Jail and was headed home. After seeing the child Deputy Byron quickly stopped and retrieved the child. He brought him to his vehicle and let the child warm up from the rainy, windy and chilly night as he called for assistance. Deputy Byron had spotted a door open on a house near where the child had fallen into the drainage ditch and informed responding MCSO deputies when they arrived. The deputies attempted to make contact with the occupants of the house, but after not receiving any response to their hails, the deputies proceeded to enter and clear the house. Reaching the master bedroom on the 2nd floor of the house deputies discovered both parents asleep in the bedroom and woke them up. Both parents had no idea their child had found his way out of the house in the middle of the night and were relieved the boy was fine. Deputy Byron's actions averted a potentially much more tragic ending.
Additional awards presented included a Unit Citation to the Classification Unit for their work in updating and revamping the Classification system resulting in a marked decrease in incidents in the jail system. Two Citations and several Letters of Commendation for exemplary service in the jails and to the community were also presented.
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Sheriff's Office work crews revitalize recreational areas around waterways
On Tuesday April 7, 2014 and Wednesday April 8, 2015 the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office River Patrol Unit and Inmate Work Crews were joined by inmate work crews from Washington and Clackamas County Sheriff's offices and River Patrol deputies from Clackamas County as they focused on cleaning up recreational waterways along the Willamette River as part of a six county Sheriff's project to enhance boat safety and the boater's experience, while taking advantage of available resources to improve the environment along the river.
River Patrol boats provided transport for the operation to previously identified refuse problem sites along the Willamette, assisting also with the removal and hauling away of debris and trash. The inmate work crews did the bulk of the cleanup work.
Metro also supported the cleanup efforts by providing trash dumpsters at different locations for refuse collected during the cleanup, and Advanced American Construction donated a small work barge to help with the project.
During the Multnomah County project days a reported 13 miles of shoreline, which is about 100 acres, were cleaned and a total of 8,536 pounds or 4.3 tons of garbage was removed.
Additional projects such as these are scheduled to take place in the communities of participating Sheriff's Office jurisdictions. Sheriff's Offices from Clark, Clackamas, Marion, Columbia and Washington counties are participating in these multi-agency efforts.
The Sheriffs will continue these partnerships in the future, when the use of combined resources enhances public safety and the livability of the communities each serves. Occasionally combining resources with surrounding Oregon counties assures the mission of each office is met and larger projects can be accomplished in a short amount of time, providing a significant benefit to the community.
The elected office of the Sheriff is unique among law enforcement entities. By statute it is responsible for several critical areas of responsibility for public safety, including operating a jail, search and rescue, waterway protection and civil services. Each Sheriff's Office also has resources necessary to meet other law enforcement needs that benefit the citizens of each county, including people who live inside incorporated cities.
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MCIJ Oak Tree
The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office along with Multnomah County Facilities Property Management are submitting an application to have this oak tree located at the Inverness Jail included as an Oregon Heritage tree. Recently an arborist was on site to assess the health of the tree as well as clean up any dead wood.
According to the Oregon website, Heritage trees are those individual trees and groups of trees that have been designated as significant on the basis of their importance in national, state or regional history. They are often acknowledged due to their involvement of inclusion in the development of landscape architecture, forestry, city planning, and culture. They possess integrity of location, setting, or design, and represent events, heritage, feeling, and association.
For a tree to be considered for inclusion in the Oregon Heritage Tree Program, it must satisfy at least one of the following criteria:
1. The tree (or group of trees) is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad pattern of our history.
2. The tree (or group of trees) is associated with the life of a person or group of historic significance.
3.The tree (or group of trees) represents a significant and distinguishable entity within a community or location.
4.The tree (or group of trees) has age, size, or species significance that contributes to its heritage status.
The review of this application for inclusion should be concluded sometime this year.
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Polar Plunge
Over 1,500 people came out and took the plunge for Special Olympics Oregon at Broughton Beach in Portland, OR on February 28, 2015. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) had more than thirty plungers as part of their team the "MCSO All Stars" ready to steel themselves to the cold waters of the Columbia River for a great cause. For the second straight year MCSO also had a representative as part of the Super Plungers team. The Super Plungers are made up of individuals who have raised more than $3,000. These brave plungers dash into the cold waters of the Columbia River once every hour in the 24 hours leading up to the kickoff of the Polar Plunge. FSO Jennifer Lindstrand rose over $3,500 to become a member of the Super Plungers this year and represent the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office as a Super Plunger. Way to go!
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MCSO Super Plunger Jenny Lindstrand, pictured third from left
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Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming out to join in the Polar Plunge to support Special Olympics Oregon. The Polar Plunge is a Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) event and is one of a series of events held throughout the year to help support Special Olympics Oregon and their mission. Sheriff Staton had not planned on plunging due to an injury but decided to take the plunge in spite of his injury and joined the MCSO All Stars and Troutdale Police Department plungers to lead off the plunge to the rousing cheers of all. Over thirty MCSO plungers rose a total of $4,700 dollars and this year's event was another great success with over $230,000 raised to help support Special Olympics Oregon.
New this year, attendees and participants were able to enjoy a "Winter Beach Party" prior to plunging with live music, food and activities all morning long it kept the energy high as the appointed plunge time approached!
Proceeds from this event go towards continuing the Special Olympics Oregon mission: to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.
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Sgt Anderchuk and Sgt Kendall in costume for the Polar Plunge
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The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office supports Special Olympics Oregon throughout the year through the LETR program and many of our staff have volunteered at their competitions, presented awards to the athletes after competitions and cheered them on during their races and events.
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MCSO Take your Child to Work Day 2015
On April 23, 2015 More than fifty children of MCSO staff members participated in Take Your Child to Work day activities. Participating MCSO staff brought their child to work to observe what they do on a daily basis serving the citizens of Multnomah County. Activities were also planned throughout the day so kids could get a view of some of the different functions performed by Sheriff's Office staff.
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| | Sheriff Staton swearing in all of the Jr Deputies |
Staff was able to stop by the Human Resources Unit of the Sheriff's Office throughout the day with their young ones and have their child's pictures taken for a souvenir Sheriff's Office ID card. The kids and parents joined Sheriff Staton for lunch at the Hansen Building auditorium and all of the kids were sworn in as junior deputies by Sheriff Staton.
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| | Deputy Weber and his K-9 partner Ranger. |
A static display of MCSO vehicles was set up in the parking lot for kids to check out various specialty vehicles and boats MCSO utilizes and a K-9 demonstration was provided by Deputy Todd Weber and his K-9 partner Ranger.
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MCSO HONORS LOCAL WWII VETERAN
On February 17th, 2015 the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office was invited to the Gresham Library at 385 NW Miller Avenue to help honor the military service of Gresham resident Merritt Kelsay.
Mr. Kelsay was invited to speak to the Gresham Library's Teen Council about what life was like growing up as a teenager in the 1930s and 1940s. Mr. Kelsay was born in 1924 and grew up in The Dalles, Oregon. He was a senior in high school when Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. As soon as Mr. Kelsay graduated high school, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps (now the US Air Force). Mr. Kelsay jokingly told the Teen Council audience that he "couldn't swim and didn't want to crawl through jungles, so the Air Corps was the best choice!"
Mr. Kelsay boarded a military recruitment train in The Dalles and made the cross-country trip to the USAAC training facility in Florida. After completing his basic training in Florida, Mr. Kelsay was selected to continue his training at the West Point Academy in New York. Once his training was done in New York, Mr. Kelsay was sent to Mississippi to finish up his flight training. While in Mississippi, Mr. Kelsay was selected to train as a Flight Officer on the B-25 bomber. Mr. Kelsay was in the last graduating class of USAAC pilots before WWII came to an end. As a result, Mr. Kelsay's squadron was kept stateside as peace in Europe was finally reached. At the time of his honorable discharge from the USAAC, Mr. Kelsay had been promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant.
Mr. Kelsay shared numerous stories about his life growing up in the shadows of the Great Depression and his experiences as a young man in his late teens and early twenties as our country united to support the war effort at home and abroad.
MCSO Sgt. Bryan White represented MCSO at the request of Gresham Teen Librarian Amy Miller, in his MCSO Honor Guard uniform and presented Mr. Kelsay with a "Letter of Appreciation" that was signed by Sheriff Daniel Staton. Sgt. White also presented the "Sheriff's Coin" to Mr. Kelsey on behalf of Sheriff Staton and all of the employees of the MCSO. Mr. Kelsay was honored and moved by the letter and coin.
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Troutdale Police Department Awards
The Troutdale Police Awards Ceremony took place on Wednesday April 1, 2015. As part of the Awards Ceremony, Chief Scott Anderson presented several awards to assisting agencies that responded to assist at the Reynolds High School shooting on June 10, 2014. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office was presented with the Chief's Award of Distinction for the Sheriff's Office assistance provided during the incident and aftermath on June 10, 2014. MCSO Deputy Matt Adams received the Medal of Valor for his actions as part of the entry team into the school and MCSO Lt. Steve Alexander received a Letter of Appreciation for his assistance with PIO duties during the incident and aftermath.
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MCSO Soars at Special Olympics Oregon dodgeball tournament
On Saturday April 18, 2015 over thirty MCSO personnel went head to head against other area agencies in the LETR 2015 Dodgeball Tournamant supporting Special Olympics Oregon (SOOR). In the round robin tournament MCSO teams played their way into the Championship Bracket afternoon play holding the #1 seeds in both sides of the Recreation Division. Five team entries from MCSO were entered into the dodgeball tournament this year, a new high for the Sheriff's Office and a fun way to support Special Olympics Oregon.
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| | MCSO "Phil the Heat" Team |
In its fourth year, the SOOR dodgeball tournament once again excelled in bringing fun and competitive recreational play from all of the teams involved. Dodging its way into the championship MCSO teams, "Probable Cause" and "Phil the Heat" met each other in a hard fought championship match. "Phil the Heat" prevailed 3-2 taking the championship as MCSO finished with four teams placing 1st through 4th in the Recreation Division!
About Special Olympics Oregon:
Special Olympics Oregon serves the largest disability population in the state and this year they will celebrate their 40th Anniversary. Special Olympics Oregon provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community. Special Olympics Oregon is Training for Life. Additional information can be found at www.soor.org.
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creational beauties that Oregon has to offer.
