Your Sandy Police Department will be seeing a few changes in the near future. I have learned that one of our officers will be leaving us soon. Officer Jesse Steffanson has accepted a job with the Oregon State Police and will start late next month. In preparation for this, we have started the recruitment process to replace Officer Steffanson. This will take some time but we are in a more fortunate situation than before we ended the Estacada contract. All patrol positions are once again filled and we have what I would call a full staff. During the recruitment time, the traffic officer will convert back to patrol while we get another officer to fill the vacated patrol slot. This will only be temporary. The traffic officer will revert back to traffic duty when the position is filled.

I have begun to prepare for departure for the FBI National Academy. I have been accepted to attend and will leave on January 6, 2019. This is fast approaching so I have been busy preparing Sgt. Sean Lundry as he will be acting Chief while I’m away. The academy is a wonderful opportunity to receive some of the best leadership training in law enforcement that is offered in the country. I will be gone for ten weeks but will be communicating with Sgt. Lundry at the end of each week, more often if I need to be updated on any incident that requires it. Sgt. Lundry will attend council meetings and have other duties while I’m away.

We are also in the process of filling another vacancy the police department has had for some time. We are currently recruiting for another Police Records Specialist. We have been short this position for some time now. Your Records Manager, Julie Smith, has been doing an outstanding job training her staff and making sure all our records are up to date and in compliance with state and federal law. We are hoping to have this position filled before the end of the year.

Halloween was a success and all the little ghosts and goblins were once again safe in our neighborhoods.