Jefferson County Sheriff's Office - OREGON

Sheriff

Sheriff's Message

 

The Mission of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is to "Safeguard all people and their property, serving all equally, with empathy, dignity, and respect".

 

The Office of Sheriff is a constitutional office for the State of Oregon and is the only elected law enforcement position in the state or in the country for that matter. It is important that the "Sheriff" is elected and thus accountable directly to the people. The "Sheriff" answers only to the people and is not directed by any other body, elected or appointed person. Being answerable only to the voters provides for integrity in enforcing the law by not having a "boss" that might dictate otherwise. 

As your Sheriff, I have an open door policy to the public that extends to staff as well and I will see you if you drop by and I’m available, or you can make an appointment by calling 541.475.6520 to ensure I’m in when you stop by. As Sheriff, I understand that my true authority comes from you, the citizen, and at any time you can elect to take that support and authority away.  I strive to keep the community safe and informed as to the happenings of the office. We have an active Facebook page that is regularly updated.

The County Government and I are fiscal conservatives and thus are cautious with how money is appropriated for growth to meet service requirements. The Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division still only has, at times during each day, one deputy on duty for the entire county (population about 22,000 and 1,781 square miles) but we are working with County Government to add enough deputies to have a minimum of two on duty at any given time both for officer safety issues and to timely meet the requests for service from the community.

The County Jail has an average daily population of about 70 inmates in custody each day. The county jail is the single most important tool law enforcement has to hold criminals accountable for their behavior. Jail operations are primarily funded by an operations levy that was last passed by voters  on November 02, 2021. This was  the sixth time the levy was renewed or increased since 2000.