PENDLETON — A rural Oregon county will be without law enforcement officers after a sheriff and his deputies announced their departures.
Wheeler County Sheriff Chris Humphreys, a former Portland police officer dogged by controversy, notified county officials last month of his plans to leave, giving officials up to six months to find a replacement, the East Oregonian reported.
The department’s three full-time deputies are also leaving, and the one part-time deputy is resigning, said Humphreys, who was elected for the role in 2013.
The mass departure was not planned, Humphreys said. He recommended for the deputies to consider taking his job, but they weren’t interested, he said. The deputies were recruited by larger law enforcement agencies.
“It’s just kind of like when a band breaks up,” Humphreys said. “When one person leaves no one else wants to be here.”
Humphreys’ decision to leave was a result of exhaustion and the growing workload placed on the office.
“I’m doing all the administrative stuff at 2 p.m., then getting called out at 2 a.m. and trying to work again the next day,” Humphreys said.
Commissioner Rob Ordway said there is not a plan yet to replace the sheriff and he does not know how law enforcement services will be provided.
The county, which covers about 1,700 square miles (4,400 square kilometers) and has about 1,500 people, does not contain any other city police departments.
Wheeler County Judge Lynn Morley did not return the newspaper’s call for comment.
Humphreys said he plans to stay in the county, but he will not continue working as a law enforcement officer.
“Believe me when I say I am not worried about not being a cop,” Humphreys said.
Humphreys was a Portland police officer for 11 years before taking a medical retirement in 2011.
He was at the center of a $1.6 million settlement with the city in the arrest of James Chasse Jr., a man with mental illness who died in police custody in 2006. Humphreys had chased Chasse and knocked him down.
Humphreys again faced scrutiny in 2009, when he shot a 12-year-old girl in the leg at close range with a beanbag gun after she punched another officer in the face. He was suspended during the department’s investigation but was cleared of wrongdoing.
— The Associated Press and The Oregonian/OregonLive
The Ruling Class will soon create so many rules that the enforcer class will NEVER have a chance to sleep. GOOD!
Happy Happy Dependence day.