Multnomah County

A History of Multnomah County Sheriffs  mid-1800s to 1989 Reprinted with written permission from Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association "A History Of The Oregon Sheriffs" 1841-1991 ------------- by Linda McCarthy Published by the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association Copyright 1992 by The Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association www.oregonsheriffs.org

Multnomah County Multnomah County is the smallest county in size in the state — 465 square miles — but has the largest population of any county in Oregon, with more than 600,000 people. Explorers Merriwether Lewis and William Clark recorded the Indian village of Multnomah on Sauvie Island in 1805. The name Multnomah is derived from nemathlonamaq, which probably means downriver. Multnomah County was created on December 22, 1854, from parts of Washington and Clackamas counties by the Territorial Government five years before the state came.into existence. The county's formation was prompted by residents who found it inconvenient to travel to Hillsboro in Washington County to conduct county business. More than 50 percent of the county's population lives in the city of Portland, a large metropolitan city bounded by rivers and greenery. The rest of Multnomah County includes picturesque rural land from farms on Sauvie Island to the rugged Columbia River Gorge and the western slopes of Mount Hood. Multnomah County thrives on manufacturing, transportation, wholesale and retail trade and tourism. Places to visit in the metropolitan area include Oregon Historical Center, Portland Art Museum, Washington Park Zoo, Rose Test Gardens, Japanese Gardens, Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah Falls, Blue Lake Park, Oxbow Park, Pittock Mansion, Port of Portland, Memorial Coliseum and the Convention Center. Like the population, law enforcement in Multnomah County has grown over the years from the day when the first Sheriff was appointed in the mid-1800s. Not much is known about William L. McMillen, who was appointed Sheriff of Multnomah County in February 1854. He lived in what was then Washington County when he was appointed, serving in the office unti1858, when Addison M. Starr was elected. Starr, who is believed to have been Mayor of Portland when he was elected, was Sheriff until 1862. From 1862 to 1864, Robert J. Ladd was Multnomah County Sheriff. He was followed by Jacob Stitzel, who served two consecutive two-year terms as Sheriff of Multnomah County from 1864 to 1868. He was followed by Al Zieber, who was a two-term Sheriff from 1868 to 1870. Cincinnati Bills, a native of Vermont, served as Sheriff of the county from 1870 until December 1871, when he died in office. He also served for a time on the Portland city Council. George V. James was appointed to take the place of Bills, serving as Sheriff of Multnomah County until 1872, when J.M. Claywood was elected to a two-year term. From 1874 to 1878, E. J. Jeffery was Sheriff after being elected to two, two-year terms. He was followed by Ben L. Norden, who ran law enforcement in the county from 1878 to 1880. Prior to serving as Sheriff, Norden was Multnomah County Clerk from 1868 to 1870. After leaving the Sheriffs; Office, he was Multnomah a County Coroner from 1908 to 1912. Joseph Buchtel was elected to a two-year term in 1880. A native of Ohio, he came to Oregon in 1852 from Illinois, where he had been a Deputy Sheriff for a number of years. After serving as Multnomah County Sheriff, Buchtel went on to be elected to the State Legislature, in 1882. George C. Sears was elected in 1882 to serve the first of two non-consecutive two-year terms. His second term came10 years later, when he was elected as Sheriff in 1894. Sears was born in Vermont in the early 1840s and made his way to Oregon in 1882 after spending some time in California. Before being elected Sheriff of Multnomah County, Sears served as County Assessor from 1878 to 1882 and, then was elected to the state Legislature in 1882. Four years after his first term of office as Sheriff ended, he was back as Multnomah County Assessor from 1890 to 1892. While living in California, Sears ran a mercantile center and sawmill. In Portland, he ran a grocery store and had a livery stable. Tom Jordan followed Sears as Sheriff of Multnomah County, serving two consecutive two-year terms from 1884 to 1888. Penumbra Kelly was elected in 1888 and served three consecutive two-year terms. Born in Kentucky in 1845, he came to Oregon a few years later. Before he ran for Sheriff, Kelly already had served in the State Legislature from 1874 to 1878 and 1880 to 1882 and had been Multnomah County Commissioner in 1876.  Kelly was the great uncle of Don Clark, Sheriff of Multnomah County in the 1960s. William Frazier, a native of Scotland, was Sheriff of Multnomah County from 1896 to1902. He moved to Oregon in 1863 from Illinois and owned a livery stable when he wasn't running county law enforcement. Frazier had a son, Charles R., who was a Multnomah County Sheriff’s Deputy. William A. Storey followed Frazier, with a two-year term as Sheriff from 1902 to 1904. He served as Mayor of Portland from 1899 to 1900. Tom Word was elected to a two-year term to succeed Storey, serving as sheriff from 1904 to 1906. He came back later and was elected to another two-year term from 1913.to 1915. After leaving the Multnomah County Sheriff s Office, Word went on to become a United States Special Agent. In 1906, Robert L. Stevens was elected and served until 1913, when Word was back for two more years. Thomas M. Hurlburt was elected in 1915 and remained as Sheriff of Multnomah County until he died in office in December 1931. Hurlburt was popular among his peers, serving as the first president of the .Oregon State Sheriffs' Association from 1916 until his death. Martin T. Pratt, a Portland native, was Chief Deputy in the Multnomah County Sheriff s Office when Hurlburt died and was appointed to take his place. Pratt later ran for the office and ended up serving as Sheriff until 1949. Pratt joined the Sheriff s Department in 1913 as a Deputy and was promoted in 1916 to Chief Deputy. Prior to joining the Sheriff s Office, Pratt was deputy county assessor from 1901 to 1912. He had a nephew, Ard Pratt, who later was a Captain with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department. Marion Leroy "Mike" Elliott was elected in 1949 but served only 10 months before he was recalled after being charged with campaign fraud. Terry D. Schrunk was appointed to take Elliott's place and went on to serve as Multnomah County Sheriff until December 1956, when he left to become Mayor of Portland. William Francis Lambert, Multnomah County Treasurer from 1936 to 1948, was appointed to take Schrunk's place. Lambert later ran for the office and won, serving until 1963. He was Sheriff during the famous Peyton-Allan murders.  Prior to serving as Sheriff, Lambert was assistant vice president at First National Bank of Oregon from 1948 to 1949. He also was a real estate broker. In 1963, Donald Edward Clark was elected to a four- year term as Multnomah County Sheriff. A native of Silverton, Clark worked in California as a Corrections Officer for a time at San Quentin Prison. From 1956 to 1962, he was a jail counselor in charge of the correctional program and Sheriff's Civil Service Liason Officer. Since serving as Multnomah County Sheriff, Clark has been elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. He also at one time was an investigator for the United States Civil Service Commission and was a teacher in the Portland Public School District. Byron H. "Barney" Shields was appointed to take Clark's place, serving as interim Multnomah County Sheriff from January 1967 to September 1967. Before being appointed for the job, Shields had spent nearly 30 years with the Portland Police Bureau. He retired in 1966 as Chief of Detectives. In September 1967, James C. Holzman was appointed Sheriff of Multnomah County. He came to the Sheriff's Office from the Chicago Police Department and was not a popular Sheriff. He resigned on February 1970 and later committed suicide in Arizona. Bard Purcell was appointed Sheriff when Holzman resigned, serving for a little more than four years before he resigned. In Apri1 1974, Louis Rinehart was appointed as Sheriff of Multnomah County, serving less than a year before he was replaced by Lee Brown, who was Sheriff from January 1975 through June 1976. Edgar E. Martin, a native of Eugene, was appointed Multnomah County Sheriff in June 1976 and remained until June 1982, when he resigned. Martin worked for the Monmouth Police Department from 1964 to 1965 and was a Multnomah County Sheriff s Deputy from 1966 to 1976. After he left as Sheriff of the county, Martin went on to become Chief of Police for the Kodiak Police Department in Alaska. Fred B. Pearce, who was appointed in 1989 by Gov. Neal Goldschmidt to run the state Corrections Division, was Sheriff of Multnomah County from 1982 until his resignation to take the state job. He was appointed to the Multnomah County position in 1982 but later elected when Multnomah County voters decided to amend the county Home Rule Charter to allow for an elected Sheriff. When Home Rule was established in the 1960s, the office of Sheriff became an appointed position. Pearce joined the Multnomah County Shenff’s Reserve Program in 1953 and went on to become a temporary Deputy Sheriff in 1954 to fill in for vacations. In 1957, Pearce received permanent appointment as Deputy Sheriff with Multnomah County, assigned to patrol and office work. In 1960, he headed up the River Patrol Section, a newly-created unit in the department. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1966 and Lieutenant in 1970, overseeing a number of areas from river patrol to the department's search and rescue unit. Pearce was promoted to Captain in 1972 and assigned as an aid to Sheriff Bard Purcell. He was assigned as Commander of the Operations Division in 1973 and became Assistant Director for the department in 1976, working closely with Sheriff Edgar Martin in the administration of the department. Pearce was appointed Sheriff/Director of Public Safety in June 1982 and four months later, was running for the Sheriff s position after voters changed their minds about home rule. When he left Portland for Salem, Pearce was replaced by Robert G. Skipper, who was appointed to serve as Sheriff until he was elected in a special election in June 1989. Robert Skipper became the 32nd Sheriff of Multnomah County in 1989 after he was elected in special balloting following the appointment of then-Sheriff Fred Pearce to head up the state's Corrections Division. Skipper began his career with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in October 1960 as a Patrol Deputy. Over the years, he worked as a Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain in the Patrol Division. He was appointed Assistant Sheriff in 1987, Chief Deputy in March 1989 and elected Sheriff of Multnomah County in May 1989. Skipper, who was the Chief Deputy when Pearce resigned, served for three months as interim Sheriff until the election in May 1989. Multnomah County Sheriff’s Of the Past  Multnomah County Sheriffs 1854 to 1991 2/1854 to 1858........... William L. McMillen 1858 to 1862............. Addison M. Starr 1862 to 1864............. Robert I. Ladd 1864 to 1868............. Jacob Stitzel 1868 to 1870............. Al Zieber 1870 to 12/1871.......... Cincinnati Bills 12/1871 to 1872.......... George V. James 1872 to 1874............. I. M. Claywood 1874 to 1878............. E. I. Jeffery 1878 to 1880............. Ben L. Norden 1880 to 1882............. Joseph Buchtel 1882 to 1884............. George C. Sears 1884 to 1888............. Tom Jordan 1888 to 1894............. Penumbra Kelly 1894 to 1896............. George C. Sears 1896 to 1902............. William Frazier 1902 to 1904............. William A. Storey 1904 to 1906............. Tom Word 1906 to 1913............. Robert L. Stevens 1913 to 1915............. Tom Word 1915 to 12/1931........ Thomas M. Hurlburt 12/1931 to 1949........ Martin T. Pratt 1949 to 10/1949........ Marion Leroy "Mike" Elliott 10/1949 to 12/1956.. Terry D. Schrunk 1/1957 to 1963.......... William Francis Lambert 1963 to 1967............. Donald Edward Clark 1/1967 to 9/1967....... Byron H. "Barney" Shields 9/1967 to 2/1970...... James C. Holzman 2/1970 to 4/1974....... Bard Purcell 4/1974 to 1/1975....... Louis Rinehart 1/1975 to 6/1976....... Lee Brown 6/1976 to 6/1982....... Edgar E. Martin 6/1982 to 3/1989....... Frederic Boyd Pearce 6/1989 to 11/94 .................. Robert G. Skipper This is where the history book ends.  The following is new information not contained in the History of Oregon Sheriffs.  11/94 to 5/95 ..................... John Bunnell 6/95 to 12/02 ...................... Dan Noelle 1/03 ....................................... Bernie Giusto JOHN BUNNELL When Robert G. Skipper retired in 1994 before the end of his term, he appointed Chief Deputy John Bunnell to head the agency.  Sheriff Bunnell took the oath of office on November 30, 1994.   Bunnell, a native Oregonian who was born in Pendleton, was first hired in January 1969.  He rose through the ranks over the next 25 years and was officially recognized time and again for his supervisory skills while managing the drugs and vice unit in the 1980s.  The sheriffs office is nationally known for its sophisticated investigative skills and patrol expertise.  The Special Investigations Unit was invited to appear on the Fox TV series COPS and subsequently ABC American Detective.  During 1989 and 1990 the Sheriffs Office was featured in 15 episodes of COPS and in 1991, 13 episodes of American Detective.  John Bunnell hosted the first season of American Detective.  DAN NOELLE  In the spring of 1995, Sheriff John Bunnell ran for election against Dan Noelle, a 29-year veteran of the Portland Police Bureau.  Noelle won the election and took office June 1, 1995.   Sheriff Noelle's many years in law enforcement led him to make certain the corrections end of the system was run in a cost effective manner. One of his campaign promises was to add jail beds and end the early release of prisoners.  During the next few years under Noelles direction, Multnomah County expanded its jail capacity by more than 700 beds, bringing the total to 2,063.  Sheriff Noelle implemented double bunking at the Detention Center, dramatically lowering the per-bed cost of locking up inmates, and expanded both the Inverness Jail and downtown Restitution Center.  Beginning in 1996, Noelle led a community effort to site and build a new 550-bed county jail.  The Wapato Corrections Facility, scheduled to open in late 2003, will combine a treatment facility for drug and alcohol afflicted inmates.  Noelle was elected for a second term and gradually instituted behavior based management techniques for offenders.  He reorganized programs in the jails to concentrate on offender re-entry to the community in an attempt to combat recidivism.  Also during his tenure, Sheriff Noelle created a nationally recognized mental health dorm at the Inverness Jail to more effectively manage offenders with mental health issues.  This dorm is the first of its kind in the state.  After 36 years in law enforcement, Sheriff Noelle retired on December 31, 2002. BERNIE GIUSTO  Multnomah County voters elected Bernie Giusto as their 35th sheriff.   Giusto spent 22 years with the Oregon State Police before heading the Gresham Police Department.  Giusto will be sworn-in on January 3, 2003.