Bend Police Chief Jim Porter's Letter of Endorsement For Kent Vander Kamp

As submitted to the Bend Bulletin 10/30/2024

I have had the pleasure of working with and at times supervising many of the current Deschutes County deputies, sergeants, lieutenants and one captain while serving with the Bend Police Department. I have known and worked with all five of the Deschutes County Sheriffs prior to the appointment of Shane Nelson.

Many of the current deputies have spoken with me about what they describe as the current culture of fear, targeting of deputies who exercise their rights, the dismal morale, and the disconnect between the current Sheriff and his staff. The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Department’s effectiveness and deputies’ moral is at the lowest point since the mid 1980’s when the Department struggled to secure adequate funding.

The foundational principles for a law enforcement agency to be successful are: having the trust of the community they serve; exercising sound fiscal, administrative, operational planning and execution; and to have an internal culture of trust, accountability, and fair treatment of all members.

Trust in our community has been eroded by the Sheriff’s wasting of tax dollars to settle law suits as a result of his poor judgement, with one single court judgement alone costing over one million dollars. At last report, the aggregated total costs in settlements and legal fees as a result of poor and unethical decision making by the Sheriff has exceeded $2.9 million dollars.

This mismanagement is compounded by the reports of hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on golf carts, slurpy machines, hiring of unqualified consultants and the unneeded large-scale purchases of equipment. Now there is an unconfirmed report of yet another possible internal funds control issue, on top of the theft of over two-hundred thousand dollars by one of Sheriff Nelsons captains earlier in his tenure.

Fiscal stability was achieved by Sheriffs Larry Blanton and Les Stiles, both respected leaders who recognized a need for a robust reserve contingency fund for emergencies. The balance of this fund was $18.8 million in 2019, but Sheriff Nelson has steadily been drawing on this fund for general operations over the past four years, reducing the balance to $13.1 million in 2023. Sheriff Nelson is leaving the Department facing a fiscal emergency, additional law suits of his making, with morale at rock bottom. The fiscal shortfall can be tied to a culture of fiscal mismanagement, extremely inaccurate cost forecasting, paying the cost to settle his law suits, the spending on the Sheriff’s personal pet projects and the Sheriff’s decisions to pull back from several cost saving partnerships.  

Lastly, the reported caustic and threatening environment our deputies are being subjected to is unacceptable. The reported use of internal investigations by the Sheriff’s Office to intimidate or silence deputies who report abuse, misconduct, or who dare to express a contrary opinion has reportedly increased. This has led to an internal culture of intimidation and fear, impacting not only the deputies, but also their families.

Why is this look back at the Sheriff’s culture and history important? Because of the position candidate William Baily, Sheriff Nelson’s chosen replacement and Kent Vander Kamp have taken. Baily has stated he feels the Sheriff’s Department is ran pretty well, just about right. Conversely, Candidate Kent Vander Kamp has expressed a need to control spending, seek opportunities to reduce costs, better utilizing tax dollars and the need to immediately restore a healthy work environment for the nonsworn staff and our deputies.

Is it any wonder the Sheriff’s Deputies Association, County Commissioners Chang and Adair, and I have all chosen to support the Sgt Kent Vander Kamp for Sheriff.

We need Kent Vander Kamp and his private sector business experience as Sheriff. He has committed to making the needed changes, better use of tax dollars, and is dedicated to ending the toxic culture resulting in over $2.95 million in settlements and legal costs.

Join me in voting for Kent Vander Kamp as our next Sheriff.

Respectively submitted by:

Jim Porter

Chief of Police City of Bend, Retired and

Current member for the Central Oregon Community College Board of Directors.