Hello Mayor and council members. Let me start off with apologies for not keeping current with my report the last couple of months. I will get all of you up to speed in this report and maintain them in a timely manner moving forward.

The last few months have been challenging to say the least. With all the civil unrest and the novel coronavirus pandemic, we have been more busy here at the police department. In July of this year, the city police department had two members at an incident in the Welches area that resulted in an officer involved shooting. I’ve had an incredible amount of phone calls, emails etc. regarding this terrible traumatic event. As of this time, Officer William Wetherbee is back to work after completing the necessary protocol including our own Sandy Police Department internal investigation. Officer Michael Boyes is still on non-punitive paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation conducted by the Clackamas County Major Crimes Team. This is all standard procedure for an incident of this nature. With that said, Officer Boyes and Officer Ling started the basic police academy today, August 3rd. Both officers were scheduled to start the academy in June of this year but that got pushed back when the academy closed for a period of time as a result of the pandemic.

This has been a very difficult time for my entire department. We are a close family here as are many of our departments in the City of Sandy and all were affected by this traumatic incident. My thoughts and prayers are with the officers involved as we try to work through this difficult time. I’ve been in contact with both officers involved from the beginning and can say they are both doing well but will need our continued support and guidance as they deal with the effects of such an incident. Their physical and mental well being is my highest priority.

I have also been watching very closely the governor’s special session, including the upcoming session that is supposed to be scheduled in August. Their are a number of bills on the agenda that are concerning to say the least. Some of these bills it seems were written with very little thought of how they could effect law enforcement. The Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police and the Oregon State Sheriffs Association have been heavily involved in these sessions. I’ve had regular meetings to develop talking points for presentation on these matters. Last week, representatives from both groups had the opportunity, albeit a very short time span, to make suggestions and explain why some of these bills will be devastating for our law enforcement officers and agencies. I will have those talking points and summaries soon and will send them to all of you. I encourage each of you to read through what is being proposed and contact our local legislators to weigh in on these items that are being pushed through at a truly short time span and alarming rate. I completely understand and see the need for change on many issues but I do not believe this is the way to make that change happen. Please feel free to reach out to me anytime after you see these bills and we can discuss what they will mean for our police department.

The police department is still short one position from an officer that recently retired. I have made a conditional offer to the top candidate and we will begin the background investigation later this week. I look forward to all of you meeting our newest officer soon.

That is all for now. I hope all of you and your families are doing well during these unprecedented times and thank you all for your continued commitment to our wonderful community.

Hello all. I hope you and your families are doing well during this ongoing pandemic. It’s certainly been challenging and trying times to say the least. Your police department continues to operate as normal, except for the closure of the business office. All police department employees, including records personnel are essential to the overall function and mission of our police department. We’ve been very fortunate and have not had any members of our department display COVID-19 type symptoms thus far.

Our two new members continue to become acclimated to our agency and the profession of law enforcement as a whole. Officer’s Boyes and Ling continue their field training program until the basic police academy classes resume as normal. Both are enrolled. I am hoping they will be able to complete the basic police course sometime this summer but at the time of this writing, I have no set date for when those classes will resume at the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.

An official employment offer was made by me to another candidate to fill the position left when Officer Way retired. The background investigation has now been started. This process will take at least six weeks to complete at which time a decision will be made whether to proceed with hiring. If this candidate successfully completes each phase of the process and is hired by the City of Sandy, we will be fully staffed once again. I’m looking forward to this as we have been short handed for some time now.

I have been spending a large portion of my time on COVID related items, meetings etc. One of our concerns as we try to fully understand the governors plans for reopening the economy is local business. It’s confusing to say the least regarding which businesses are allowed to open on May 15 and which ones are required to wait for phase 1 of the plan. I am educating our officers and staff so they understand what is allowed in the governors plan and what is not allowed. As I’ve said before, it is our intention to educate those that are found to not be in compliance before any other action is taken.

That is all for now. Stay safe everyone. Chief Roberts

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

Hello all. Good news from the police department concerning our hiring process. I now have two new officers who have completed all phases and have start dates of March 24th of this year. Michael Boyes and Halai Ling will sworn in at the April 6th council meeting. Both candidates successfully completed our program. We are happy to have them. Both will be spending their first few weeks with us at the police department before heading off to the DPSST academy where they will begin their 16 week basic police course. After completion of the academy, they will return and begin their field training program which usually lasts 12 to 16 more weeks. They have a lot of training ahead of them but I’m confident both will be great officers for our city.

The third candidate is in the background phase of the process. This candidate will replace Officer Kevin Way, who is retiring on March 31st of this year. Officer Way spent 22 years with the Sandy Police Department. We all wish him well as he begins the next chapter in his life. Happy retirement Officer Way.

As you are all aware, Covid-19 continues to spread across the country and there are many concerns and questions. Your police department members are constantly vigilant and have been briefed on personal protection during this time of concern. I am currently monitoring the Clackamas County Emergency Operations Center and am getting daily briefings. That information is being passed to appropriate personnel.

I look forward to having you all meet our new recruits soon. That is all for now.

Hello all. I hope all of you had a great holiday season. At the police department, we had our first annual Christmas party. In years past, we have just participated in the city wide get together put on for all employees. We took a poll and folks at the police department were really excited to do our own Christmas event. It went fantastic and the attendance exceeded my expectations. Aside from police department employees, we also invited former Chiefs of Police and some other folks that had retired from our agency. We were able to do this with little to no cost to the department. We are already looking forward to making plans for next year.

An update on the hiring process as we have made some progress. As of this date, I have made offers to three candidates. Background investigations are completed on two of those candidates and they are scheduled for the next phase of the process, to include psychological evaluations, medical exams and drug screening. The third candidate will be to replace an officer who will retire on March 31st of this year. We are hoping to have that position filled shortly after our officer retires. All three candidates have done outstanding throughout the process thus far so I am hopeful they will have no problems completing the remaining phases. Two of the candidates are new to our profession so they will have to attend the Oregon Police Academy after their orientation with the department. The third candidate that will fill the vacant position caused by our retiring employee, is a lateral candidate from another state. This means he will not have to attend the 16 week academy so that will speed up the time that he will be on the road and working for us. We have been working hard to get the very best candidates available for our city.

We are also still working on replacing our existing firearms. As I mentioned months ago, our current issued firearms are at end of life and have been for some time. We have ordered the new firearms and holsters and have begun to plan for training sessions for all sworn officers. This had little impact on our budget as we were able to get credit for numerous items over a long period of time utilizing surrendered and unclaimed property items. These items over time have earned us a credit through our local firearms dealer which in turn, we have used to make the purchases needed to replace our existing firearms.

Have a great month everyone, that is all for now…

First off, l apologize for missing a few of my reports. I will strive to keep them up to date for all of you. December is typically a busy month for the police department. Mostly, scheduling issues as our folks like to have the Christmas holiday off if possible. Though we’d like to give the holiday off to all our employees, this is just not possible for the police department as we always need officers on duty.

A rash of vehicle break ins and mail thefts took many hours for us to solve these incidents and find the suspects. With help from community members, we were able to identify suspects and make arrests.. This was a great example of our police department and community members working together. As you’ve heard me say this many times before, we cannot do this alone. We need the communities help to be successful.

The hiring process continues for us. We currently have one candidate in the background phase and are hoping he makes it through. The last three candidates have all failed one or more of the final phases of our process. It’s been frustrating for all involved but we must adhere to our high standards and continue to strive to get the best possible candidates for the open positions. To date, I have three more candidates that I have scheduled for chiefs interviews. When those are finished, I will advance at least one of those candidates to the background investigation phase of the process. I will keep all of you posted on our progress as it develops.

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and happy new year. That is all for now.

Another update on the hiring process for the police department. As reported last month, we had two candidates in the background phase of the process. Neither of those two candidates were able to pass this phase of the hiring process. With that said, we’ve exhausted all the names on our current eligibility list.

On September 30th, Sandy Police reopened the job announcement and posting in an attempt to establish another hiring list. I have already seen some applications come in and many of them look promising. We will close the application period at the end of October and interviews are scheduled in early November. I am hoping to have two officers hired sometime early next year.

Our Records Specialist, Ashlee Santos, had a family emergency this month when two of her daughters were involved in a traffic crash here in Sandy. Both girls were injured in the crash. Luckily, first responders were close by and the response time was minimal. Both were transported to Legacy Emmanuel Hospital for treatment. They are back home now and recovering from non life threatening injuries. Ashlee is taking some time off during this rough time for her and her family. She should be back to work some time in early October. We have her family in our thoughts and prayers.

I am currently updating our City of Sandy Emergency Operations Plan. The update is overdue. This will be a topic at an upcoming council work session. I do not have a date when this will be completed but I’m hoping to have the updates completed by the end of October.

I hope all of you had a great end to your summer.

The hiring process continues at the police department. Two applicants are in the background process which is quite lengthy. This process averages a couple of months but could take up to three months depending on numerous factors such as where the applicant has spent a significant amount of time during his or her life. If the applicant is not from our area, our detective will have to travel to conduct interviews with family members, employers, etc. We are hoping to be ready with two candidates whom will start at the end of September.

Firearms training was completed again this month. If you remember, we did have firearms training recently but this was a make up day for another training that had been cancelled earlier in the year. Our officers are required to have a minimum amount of this type of training per calendar year. At our police department, we strive to give them additional training, not just what is required of us through the State of Oregon. Next month we will have another session of defensive tactics training. Both of these training sessions are done in house. We have officers that are trained as instructors in these disciplines. Being able to provide this training in house cuts down on cost to our department and meets all DPSST requirements.

August is typically a busy month for your police department and this year was no different. Many of our officers take vacation time during this month so staffing is always a challenge. Overtime costs are generally up during the summer months but we do everything we can to keep those costs down.

An update for all of you on our “SWATTING” calls we had in the city limits. We have two subjects that we, along with the FBI and two other police agencies, are looking into. At this time, no arrests have been made. These calls originally required a heavy response from our police department because we will always air on the side of caution. This type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable and were doing everything we can to ensure whoever is responsible is brought to justice.

That is all for now. I hope all of you enjoy the rest of our summer.

July is typically one of the busiest months for the police department. With the 4th of July celebration and then the annual Sandy Mountain Festival just one week later, there is little time for other ongoing projects which generally get put on hold during this time.

Both events went very well and the public enjoyed coming out and having a good time in their community. The mountain festival parade used the same route through the down town core as years past but this may change in the future. Their are scheduled talks regarding this and the possible option of moving the parade route to a location outside the down town core. All of you will of course be kept up to date with this information. Every year it becomes more of a challenge to reduce Highway 26 to two lanes.

The public safety fee has been approved and I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your support during this difficult and challenging project. With that, we are now in the process of hiring two new officers. At the time of this writing, I have made tentative offers to two candidates and they are now in the back ground investigation portion of the process. I’m hoping to be able to give each candidate a final offer sometime in late August. The two new officers will fill the vacancies we have at the police department and we will once again be at full staff.

There has been some talk about one of my officers retiring early next year. Until an official notice is given, there is little to be done regarding filling the vacancy that will be left by this. I’m hoping that officer will make an official announcement soon so we can begin to plan for filling that vacancy once he leaves. Once again, I will keep all of you informed of this as I have more information to share.

I hope each of you are enjoying your summer.

First of all, apologies as this report is late getting to all of you. With that said, June is always a busy month for the police department as summer is here. Events such as the Longest Day Parkway and Noah’s quest for example, put extra strain on the police department this time of year. Both events mentioned were a success and we were happy to be a part of them. It is a great way to get out and meet community members and their families. Its also a great time for us to answer questions that folks have for us.

We continue to work on elements of the public safety fee that is now in the process of council approval. This is vital to our staffing needs at the police department. We are ready to hire officers when the time comes and promote as needed.

This is also the time of year when our employees and their families usually take much needed vacations. Filling the spots during these periods can be challenging for administrative staff. We have to balance established minimums that are set and always keep in mind the overtime expenditure.

The entire department went through defensive tactics training this month. We had some specialists come in to introduce some additional techniques for our folks to remain safe while doing their job effectively.

At this time, we are preparing for July 4th and the Sandy Mountain Festival the following weekend. Should be a good time for all that attend.