Challenging times right now for all of us, including law enforcement. We were able to bring on two new officers this month. Officer Hala Ling and Officer Michael Boyes started on the 23rd of this month. They were scheduled to spend about two weeks with us here at the police department and then begin the basic police academy in mid April. This has changed as the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training has closed it’s facility to all basic police classes until further notice. This was a problem for us because we had completed their schedules to include orientation here and at other facilities such as the Juvenile Department and the Clackamas County Jail. All those facilities canceled our tours in light of Covid-19. We elected to begin their field training and will continue with that until the basic police academy reopens, at which time both officers will attend for 16 weeks.

Another challenge for us are the restrictions placed on all municipal police departments in the county regarding custody arrests. Earlier this month, Sheriff Craig Roberts announced these restrictions, limiting physical custody to certain crimes, mostly person to person crimes such as domestic violence. This means that most criminals being arrested for property crimes are not being accepted at the jail at this time. We are now seeing an increase in these crimes, especially burglary and vehicle theft, because these criminals know that they will not be taken to jail at this time if they are apprehended by police. For example, Sandy officers apprehended a suspect that had stolen a vehicle on McCormick Street here in Sandy. That suspect had to be released from the scene because the jail would not take him into their facility. At the time of this writing, I just learned of another similar circumstance where three criminals were apprehended by Sandy Officers in a stolen vehicle. The vehicle also contained a large amount of stolen items from area stores and construction sites. All three suspects were also released from the scene because the jail would not accept them into their facility.

Even with the challenges we are facing at this time, your police department continues to provide the same operations as before, albeit fewer person to person contacts as necessary given the circumstances. Thankfully, I have no illnesses to report from my employees at this time. We are taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our officers and staff. Additionally, I would like to thank all of you for adapting to our current situation and still continue the important work all of you do. It’s much appreciated. That is all for now..Chief Roberts