PORTLAND, Ore. — There's a new sheriff in town in Portland — or rather, three sheriffs over the past four years. And now for the first time in history, all three sheriff's in the city's tri-county area are women: Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell, Washington County Sheriff Caprice Massey and Clackamas County Sheriff Angela Brandenburg.
All three sheriffs were guests on this week's episode of Straight Talk.
Historic moment
Morrisey O'Donnell acknowledged the historic nature of having three women serving as county sheriffs at the same time, and said she hopes it can serve as an opportunity to break down barriers for people who want to lead organizations and set their goals high.
Brandenburg added that it's "amazing to be part of" the trio, noting that there were few women in leadership in law enforcement in any of the counties when she started her career. Massey also praised her collaborative relationship with the other two sheriffs, saying that the three of them have quickly begun to provide each other with informal peer support.
"When you're at the top, it's difficult to be able to confide in others and to experience what you're going through and to really just reach out and say 'hey, I have this issue' or 'what do you think about this?' Brandenburg said.
Other sheriffs throughout Oregon have also been incredibly helpful, she added, but the Portland metro area has its own specific challenges and its tri-county sheriffs are very close together, so they have unique opportunities to collaborate.
Tri-county collaboration
Massey said the departments especially rely on each other to make sure things are being done transparently and ethically, such as if something happens in one county that might make it problematic for that county's sheriff's office to investigate — that's where one of the other departments can step in and provide an unbiased perspective. That can also apply to ideas and best practices from the neighboring counties.
"I think about things like medically assisted treatment, for instance, in our jails," she said. "And I happen to know that Sheriff Brandenburg is doing it incredibly well. And so I reach out to say 'hey, teach me about how you have implemented this in your agency so that I can improve my agency.'"
The three offices' tactical teams also back each other up, Brandenburg noted, and the sheriffs have also collaborated on initiatives like a recent St. Patrick's Day DUII patrol.
Drug use and Measure 110
All three counties have struggled with drug use challenges in recent years, and the Oregon Legislature passed a measure this year to partially roll back Measure 110 and recriminalize possession of hard drugs. Morrisey O'Donnell called the update encouraging, describing it as the product of a lot of collaboration between lawmakers, law enforcement and other parties. All three sheriffs said they were responding by preparing for the changes, which take effect in September.
"This is really an opportunity for all of our partners, not just public safety but all of our service providers, to rebuild those relationships, be innovative, build strong partnerships and help determine what are the best avenues to end the addiction cycle," Morrisey O'Donnell said.
Multnomah County has also been working to open a new sobering center, and Morrisey O'Donnell said she's been involved in those discussions to help provide a law enforcement perspective, and called the opening of the center "critical."
Washington County is also building a sobering center, set to open in 2025, and Massey said the county is also working to implement short-term resources by September. Increasing community resources is essential to decrease the number of people who wind up in jail, Brandenburg added.
Sheriff Morrisey O'Donnell
Morrisey O'Donnell has been with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office for more than 27 years, rising from deputy all the way to undersheriff, and then winning the election to become sheriff in 2022. She's one of only a few sheriffs to hold dual certifications in corrections and policing.
She said she didn't initially imagine a career in law enforcement at all; she was a music major in college and at one point considered a career in teaching. But she eventually decided to find another way to serve her community and landed at the sheriff's office. Once there, she quickly set her sights high.
"I knew several years ago when I was moving through the leadership ranks and leading our training unit, I had just a sticky note in my office that said 'sheriff someday,'" she said. "And I knew that this was the opportunity that I was going to take. I was going to walk through every door, no matter what I thought the challenges or barriers would be."
Sheriff Massey
Massey has served for 24 years and began her career in the U.S. Navy before transitioning to law enforcement. She started in Washington County as a corrections deputy in 2004, eventually rising to the rank of undersheriff. She was appointed to become sheriff last fall after former Sheriff Pat Garrett retired.
She said she initially envisioned staying in the Navy much longer, but she didn't like how much her deployments kept her away from her children, so she transitioned into law enforcement in Norfolk, Virginia, then moved back to the Portland area after a few years to be closer to her mother and father.
She said it wasn't until 2020 that she began to aim for the role of sheriff, due in part to the way the racial justice protests after the death of George Floyd — she said she wanted to make sure that the sheriff's office was changing to meet the community's expectations for law enforcement. Massey's husband is African-American, and she said he helped convince her that she could make an important difference in a leadership role.
Sheriff Brandenburg
Brandenburg has served for 33 years in Clackamas County, starting as a volunteer deputy, and she also served nine years in the Oregon Army National Guard. She was the director of Safe Place Family Justice Center for five years before becoming undersheriff in 2019. She won election to the sheriff's office in 2020.
Brandenburg said she wasn't aiming to become sheriff when she started out — she climbed the ranks because was consistently seeking out new challenges and "pushing myself to be uncomfortable," and that mindset carried her all the way to into the leadership of the department.
"So when Sheriff Craig Roberts reached out to me and said 'I'd like you to be my undersheriff, it was a great opportunity and I seized it," she said.
Straight Talk airs Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 p.m., and Monday at 7 p.m. Straight Talk is also available as a podcast. The three sheriffs stuck around for a bonus episode to discuss diversity in recruitment, improving relationships with groups that have historically had negative interactions with law enforcement, and better communicating the role of law enforcement to the community. That episode is available below: