Busy month for my admin staff as I was away in Germany for two weeks on vacation with friends and family. As always, my admin staff did a great job of making sure your police department ran smoothly while I was away. I was provided regular updates via email while I was away.

The rest of the month was spent working on budget issues. With the budget now adopted by council, we can all breath a sigh of relief as we enter into the new biennium soon. A lot of work was put into this budget as we had a deficit coming into the cycle. Everyone worked together on this. A lot of late nights for me and all of you as well. I appreciated your input along the way. Thanks to all of you.

As the summer approaches, the police department is preparing for events, including the Longest Day Parkway Ride, 4th of July Fireworks, Noah’s Quest and Mt. Festival to name a few. All of these events require police services for traffic control, crowd and event security etc..Our goal is for families to attend, have a great time and not have to worry about their safety while enjoying time with their families.

The police department is still in the process for hiring an officer, possibly two. This process was put on hold until the budget could be passed so we are playing catch up to get two vacant positions filled. The selection process is nearly complete and we have one candidate that will be in the background phase of the process soon. We will continue the process when funding is secured for our budget.

Looking forward to seeing all of you at our great family events in Sandy.

I am completing this a little early as I leave for vacation on May 1st and will not be back until May 17th. Budget process continues and we have presented a balanced budget. Balancing the budget meant not filling two vacant positions at the current time. The traffic officer position will be pulled back into a patrol position for this biennium unless at least one of the positions are filled.

The hiring process that was started in late February was completed as we anticipated hiring at least one officer to fill the vacant patrol slot. The process was a success and yielded far more eligible applicants than the last time we recruited for an officer. The top three candidates were selected and notified of their status on our list. Since taking those positions out of the budget, no offers of employment have been made to any of the top candidates. We will keep the list active until further notice while exploring other funding options with council.

The records department has nearly completed all the training for the fingerprinting program and we are set to begin in May. Our staff has already begun to take walk ins but the scheduling of fingerprinting will not formerly begin until approximately the second week of May. We are excited to once again offer this service to our citizens.

Finally back from the 275th session of the FBI National Academy. I graduated on March 15th and was able to come back home the same day. It was a long ten weeks of training but well worth the effort.

Recruitment for the open patrol officer position continues and we are in the interview stage of the process now. We have narrowed our search down to approximately ten very well qualified applicants. Our new search process, headed by Sgt. Sean Lundry and HR Manager Angie Welty, yielded over 90 applicants. A significant increase over our last recruitment effort.

Budget process continued as I returned. More to come on that at a later date.

The records department will begin offering fingerprint services soon. Most likely, this will begin sometime in May of this year. There has been a high demand for this service since we stopped offering this to our citizens over two years ago. Now that we have a fully staffed records department, we are able to offer this to the public again. This will provide the police department with an additional revenue stream as well.

Our new records specialist, Tessa Ryan, began work at your Sandy Police Department this month. We are very happy to have her on board. We are now back to two records specialists and a records manager. We have not had this for the last year so they have been very busy while they were short handed. Tessa is now in the training phase which could take up to fix months to complete. She is doing well.

Recruitment process continues for the vacant officer position. Candidate applications have been screened and we are in the process of contacting top applicants to participate in the next phase of the hiring process.

I continue my work at the FBI National Academy and will graduate on March 15. I have been actively working on the budget in the evening hours while I am here. I anticipate meeting with all of you before the process is complete and look forward to having some conversations regarding budget issues we currently face.

I have been in contact regularly with my staff while I am away. I feel very lucky to have such dedicated staff that are taking care of daily operations while I am gone. This is truly a testament to the quality of folks you have working at your police department.

Also this month, we had the first union negotiations meeting. It went very well and I do not foresee any issues at this time. The next meeting will be in mid March.

I am excited to finish up the national academy. It has been an unbelievable training experience for me. I am looking forward to getting back home and back to work. There are many things to accomplish in the coming months. Please stay safe in all the cold weather we’ve been having and I will see all of you soon.

As of this writing, I am halfway through the FBI National Academy in Quantico Virginia. I left for the national academy on January 6th. It has been a wonderful experience so far with some of the best leadership training I have had the opportunity to take during my entire career. Less than 1% of all law enforcement officers get selected to attend the National Academy and I’m honored to represent our wonderful city. I am part of session #275 and our class has over 250 police administrators from the United States as well as 26 other countries represented.

During my time here, Sgt. Sean Lundry has been acting chief of your police department and he’s been doing a wonderful job. I have weekly teleconferences with him to keep up on the activity at our department. I also have been actively working on budget items when time permits. The goal is to keep myself up to date so I’m ready to hit the ground running when I return on March 15th.

Interviews are completed for the open Records Specialist position and Records Manager Julie Smith informed me she was extremely pleased with the results of the recruitment process which has been refined with the addition of our wonderful HR Manager, Angie Welty. We have narrowed down the candidates and will be ready to make a final decision by the end of this week. I’m told all the candidates that interviewed were well qualified and did a great job.

The recruitment process for the open Officer position is moving forward as well. We are still in the process of accepting applications and the first round of interviews are scheduled for late February. Again, Angie Welty helped us update our recruitment and we’ve seen the results of that with many more applications then we had last time we recruited. Your officers and staff had many ideas on how to change our process and their hard work has paid dividends.

I hope all of you had a great new year. I am having a wonderful time here but at the same time, I’m missing Sandy, my home. We have a lot of work to do in the coming months, with budget, contract negotiations etc. It’s always a challenge. We face them together.

I have spent some time preparing for my departure to the FBI National Academy in January. Sgt. Sean Lundry will be acting chief while I’m away. There was considerable work getting Sgt. Lundry up to speed on his additional duties which will include a change of schedule for him. Sgt. Lundry will switch over to a schedule similar to my own while I’m away. He will be on duty Monday through Thursday during the work week. Sgt. Bickle will assist him as needed. I do have access to city email and cell phone while I’m at the academy.

The National Academy will last ten weeks and will begin on January 7th. I actually fly out the 6th, the day after your council retreat. I’m excited for the opportunity to get some of the best leadership training the country has to offer. The last day of the academy will be March 15th. I’m not so excited to be gone for that period of time but rest assured, the police department is in good capable hands while i’m gone. I will have weekly teleconferences with Sgt. Lundry to keep me up to speed on what is happening in Sandy.

Now for news concerning your police department during the month of December. We are in the middle of recruiting another Police Records Specialist. The applications have now been screened and a written test has been administered. Top candidates have been selected from the written test and panel interviews will follow soon. We have a great pool of candidates so I’m excited to get someone on board soon. We are hoping to have a candidate selected by the end of January.

We are also recruiting for another patrol officer position that is currently vacant. The position was previously filled by Jesse Steffanson. Officer Steffanson accepted a position from the Oregon State Police in November of this year. We are in the beginning stages of this recruitment. With that said, we are changing the way we recruit officers to our city. With the help of HR Manger Angie Welty, we are putting together a completely new recruitment packet and will advertise in a variety of different ways. The goal is to attract additional candidates to our wonderful city by letting them know everything our city and our police department has to offer.

I hope all of you had a merry Christmas and a happy new year. See you all in March.

As mentioned in Octobers council report. Officer Jesse Steffanson has taken a position with the Oregon State Police. His last day was November 23rd. Our traffic officer (Officer Dale Willcox) has been transferred back to patrol for the time being to cover the slot left behind by Officer Steffanson. We continue to recruit for a new officer to replace Officer Steffanson and I expect to have the position advertised by the end of December.

Recruitment for our open Records Specialist continues. We are about to close the application process and begin the testing phase soon. We have a higher number of applications than expected so were excited to begin the next phase of the process. Records Manager Julie Smith is working with me on this process. A selection for the position is expected some time in late January if all goes according to plan. This will be a big help to our records/front desk staff who have been understaffed for some time now. This will allow us, after our new employee is trained, to offer more services to the public, such as fingerprinting services.

I am continuing to prepare for my departure to the FBI National Academy which is just a short time away. Sergeant Sean Lundry has attended numerous meetings with me in preparation for his role when I am away. You will see him at council meetings and other functions during my absence.

I will continue with council reports while I’m away. I am hoping each and every one of you has a safe and happy holiday season.

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.

The beginning of the school year is here and our new School Resource Officer has been selected. Officer Armando Olmos began his second assignment at the school district. Officer Olmos was chosen after a series of testing that included written tests and oral board interview. Congratulations to Officer Olmos. I know he will represent our agency well.

The Sandy Police Department now has two resource officers in the school district. Plans began to take shape months ago to make this happen. With the growth in the school district it was much needed. This will allow our officers to reach out to other schools in the district on a more regular basis as typically, our resource officer spent the majority of his time at the high school.

Another change in your police department took place this month as well. We have reinstated the traffic officer position. Officer Dale Willcox will start traffic duties this month. His schedule is still being worked out at this time but his primary function will be traffic enforcement throughout the city. Officer Willcox will also eventually be part of the Clackamas County crash reconstruction team after his training is complete. This team investigates major crashes throughout the county. Congratulations to Officer Willcox.

The contract for police services for the city of Estacada is finished. Our officers have returned to patrol and other duties here in Sandy. This means we are finally back to having a full staff for the time being. I’m happy to be able to focus all my time and energy to our city.

Lt. Shawn Burns retired at the end of September. He did not want to have a retirement celebration although we did a small get together here at the police department without telling him. He has requested to stay on as a Reserve Officer for a while to finish some projects that I had him start earlier this year. Shawn Burns spend his entire law enforcement career serving the City of Sandy. He will be missed.

August presented some challenges for the police department. With summer events in full swing at Meinig Park and other areas, extra staffing is needed for security purposes. Many staff members are taking much needed vacations this time of year after the festivals in July. We always find a way to get through these challenges and staff always steps up to fill the gaps wherever they are needed. This does put extra strain on our overtime budget.

Scheduling preparations are nearly complete for the end of the Estacada contract for police services. I am looking forward to having all patrol slots filled. Its been a long time since your police department has been fully staffed. There are still budget challenges ahead associated with this. In addition to being fully staffed, the police department will reinstate the traffic officer position and is in the testing process for that position. We have not had a dedicated traffic officer since I had the position in 2006. Once the officer is chosen and starts his new duties, I believe we will see a reduction in traffic related complaints over time. The schedule for this position has is yet to be determined but I do know that it will flex at times to cover changing traffic conditions.

We also are still working on replacement of our mobile computer systems. The current computers are in need of replacement and I have asked for help from our wonderful IT staff to help with recommendations for new laptops. The goal is to get the best product for the lowest price possible.

The final details are being worked out for the additional SRO (School Resource Officer) for the Oregon Trail School District. I am working with the district to ensure a smooth start to the school year. We are all excited to be able to provide an additional officer for the district. More to come as this develops further.