The Gladstone Police Department (GPD) is the law enforcement agency of Gladstone, Oregon, United States.

Services

The Gladstone Police Department provides many services to the citizens of Gladstone and the surrounding communities, including: ;Patrol :Patrol operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, staffed by uniformed police officers and sergeants. These officers provide

9-1-1 , usually written 911, is an emergency telephone number for the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Palau, Argentina, Philippines, Jordan, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency nu ...

and emergency response, along with responding to routine requests for service and assistance. ;Traffic :With portions of Interstate 205 and Oregon Route 99E falling within city limits, in addition to many local roads, traffic enforcement along with accident response and investigation are a major function of GPD. ;Detective :GPD staffs 2 full-time police

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

s that investigate various felony crimes. ;School Resource Officer :The department dedicates a uniformed school resource officer (SRO) for Gladstone School District, along with a high-visibility SRO vehicle. ;Municipal Ordinance Specialist :With a focus on maintaining a high standard of community livability, GPD staffs a Municipal Ordinance Specialist (MOS) to enforce compliance of city code. ;Reserve Police Officers :In addition to the 15 full-time sworn personnel, GPD maintains an active reserve officer program, fully staffed with 5 volunteer police officers. ;Other Services :In addition to the above, GPD maintains a number of other activities and functions, such as a records unit, property and evidence, and a citizen volunteer program.

Location

GPD currently shares a building with

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, and is located on Gladstone's main street, Portland Avenue.

Ranks

History

The Gladstone Police Department was founded the same year as Gladstone itself, in 1911. In a state that was only a little more than 50 years old, early Gladstone was very rural, and its police force spent much of its time dealing with rural problems, such as rounding up escaped livestock. In 1913, a large, rabid bulldog was reported to have been menacing the Gladstone's citizens. Chief Miller's last official act as chief, before leaving the position to be a full-time

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

, was to kill the bulldog. In 1918, GPD appointed a "special woman policeman" to help with combating the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

. Gladstone fired officer Lynn Benton due to the murder of his wife in May 2011. Benton was fired in December 2011, and was later charged with the murder. The department eliminated its canine unit in April 2014. In 2014, GPD received accreditation for attaining a high standard of professionalism, making it one of only 20% of Oregon law enforcement agencies to have received accreditation at that time. Chief Jim Pryde retired early in 2015 after issues with the city council over his paid consulting work.

Police chiefs past and present

Source: *Asa F. Parker (1911 – 1912) *Morton Bell (1912 – 1913) *William H. Miller (1913) *Percy A. Cross (1913 – 1916) *Victor Gault (1916) *Morton Bell (1916) *R.L. Blancharce (1916 – 1919) *Thomas E. Gault (1919 – 1925) *J.C. Wallace (1925 – 1928) *Harry Morrell (1928 – 1934) *Henry Strebig (1934 – 1938) *George Fisner (1938 – 1943) *Henry Streibig (1943 – 1945) *Fred Smith (1945 – 1946) *Henry Strebig (1947) *Louis Biby (1947 – 1951) *Clarence E. Moore (1951 – 1957) *William A. Lewis (1957 – 1961) *Charles L. McCarthy (1962 – 1965) *William D. Preble (1966 – 1970) *David R. Clemens (1970 – 1981) *Max Patterson (1982 – 1990) *Robert Beard (interim chief) (1990 – 1991) *Robert King (1991 – 2002) *Richard Rye (interim chief) (2002) *Willie F. Grace (2002 – 2008) *Joe Simon (interim chief) (2008 – 2009) *Jim Pryde (2009 – 2015) *Lee Jundt (interim chief) (2015) *Jeff Jolley (interim to fully appointed) (2015 – current)

References