News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
After a bruising campaign, Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp decisively won election as Deschutes County Sheriff. Vander Kamp garnered 59.32 percent of the vote while his opponent Captain William Bailey recorded 40.06 percent.
“It was a pretty loud message — enough is enough,” Vander Kamp told The Nugget.
The Sheriff-elect told The Nugget that his immediate priorities revolve around community engagement, a comprehensive budget review, enhancing traffic safety initiatives, and building his command staff.
Vander Kamp said that he will hold a series of “good, old-fashioned listening sessions” with stakeholders across the county, recognizing that different areas of the county have different needs and expectations of law enforcement. He is particularly keen on building, rebuilding, and/or enhancing “good public safety partnerships,” not only with other law enforcement agencies, but also with social service providers, and public officials. He acknowledged that strong partnerships already exist in Sisters.
“Sisters we’ve been very blessed with, because we get along so well with the City, the fire department, Black Butte Ranch,” he said.
An immediate priority is enhancing traffic safety initiatives on the Highway 97 and Highway 20 corridors. Drug enforcement, which has been Vander Kamp’s particular focus as field operations leader for the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team (CODE), will continue to be a priority. Vander Kamp is particularly concerned about the presence of the deadly opioid fentanyl.
“Fentanyl continues to be just a monster in our community,” he said.
Vander Kamp intends to spend more time interacting with his personnel, and with the public, and he will have the same expectation of his command staff.
“Visibility and accountability are really important, especially when it comes to leadership,” he said. “Just getting out and being visible is important, I think.”
The Sheriff-elect also plans to initiate an immediate, line-by-line comprehensive budget review to identify potential cost savings. He plans to establish strong performance metrics to gauge how well expenses measure up against public safety pay-off. He believes that the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office has spent too much on “ancillary products that we didn’t use,” including vehicles. He also plans to reduce vehicle turnover.
“We’re probably not going to replace cars as often as we are (currently),” he said.
Vander Kamp also pledges greater transparency and public scrutiny on budgetary issues, including seeking input on priorities from members of the community.
“I know there’s people who want to get involved,” he said.
He also believes that there are ways to streamline operations and reduce redundancies with services provided by other law enforcement entities.
The national election has put a spotlight on enforcement of immigration laws. As the incoming Trump Administration vows to deport illegal immigrants, local people have enquired about the role DCSO would play. Oregon statute prohibits local law enforcement from assisting federal authorities in immigration actions.
“We won’t participate, just based on state law,” he said. “We can’t.”
He noted that he expects immediate constitutional challenges over immigration matters.
“I suspect there’s going to be a lot of constitutional challenges,” he said.
A significant aspect of Vander Kamp’s election mandate centered around culture and morale issues internal to DCSO. He was overwhelmingly endorsed by the Deschutes Sheriff’s Association.
He told The Nugget that there is considerable relief in the office that the election is now over.
“This was a hard election for our office,” he said.
He interprets his election as a mandate for change.
“We have to build trust,” he said.
He said that he plans to have key command staff positions filled in the next week or two, pending his assuming of the office in January. He plans to retain the position of Undersheriff.
He does not anticipate any lingering rancor from supporters of Captain Bailey, or from Bailey himself.
“I know that Bill’s a professional, and we’re going to work right through it,” he said.
He told The Nugget that Bailey will continue to have a place at DCSO, even though they “don’t see eye-to-eye” on some issues.
“We haven’t had an in-depth conversation, but we will,” he said. “Bailey is welcome. He’s always going to be welcome. I have a place in my heart for people who have dedicated their life to public service.”
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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