Newberg‑Dundee police chief briefs council on staffing, body cameras, drones and school safety

Newberg‑Dundee Police Chief Jeff Kossnick told the Dundee City Council that his department remains accredited and is investing in technology and community policing to serve roughly 30,000 local residents and about 4,000 college students. Kossnick said the department provides 24/7 policing, recently staffed a second school resource officer and is expanding detective and technical capacity.

Kossnick said the department has been accredited since February 2004 and uses Lexipol for policy updates tied to court decisions. He described the department’s structure, including five detectives in the special investigations unit and a computer‑forensics specialist who supports investigations across Yamhill County. “We are accredited,” Kossnick said. “We provide police services for Newberg and Dundee 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for about 30,000 folks.”

Why it matters: the department’s investments and staffing choices affect day‑to‑day public safety, crime investigations and how the city responds to school and mental‑health incidents.

Kossnick described several current and recent initiatives. He said the department answered 97% of 9‑1‑1 calls within 10 seconds and 98% within 15 seconds. The agency now stores body‑worn camera and other digital evidence in evidence.com (Axon) rather than locally; Kossnick said about 16 terabytes of data have been created since July 1 and the department is required by statute to keep much of that footage for six months. “On an average day, we create 60 new body worn camera videos and almost 12 hours of recording,” he said.

The department purchased Axon body cameras and two dashcams for traffic officers; Kossnick said those devices are designed to start automatically in high‑risk events (for example, when a pistol is drawn) and to integrate with other systems. He said the evidence platform lets the department keep photos and videos together in one cloud archive without relying on local servers.

Kossnick outlined school safety and outreach work: the department has two SROs (school resource officers), a DARE‑style curriculum focused on decision making, an “Operation Safe Schools” deployment that places officers at schools at the start of each year and a Citizens Academy returning in September. He said the SROs are intentionally visible and that the department conducts daily patrols to keep traffic and student areas safer.

The chief also discussed specialized equipment and capabilities: four drones (two outdoor, two indoor), robotics obtained through the federal 1033 program, a canine unit and an MRAP armored vehicle obtained through a federal program. He said drones are used in searches and to assess dangerous scenes without sending officers into immediate risk. “We can put drones up and check and, just see before if we decide to go in,” Kossnick said.

Council questions ranged from traffic enforcement on Ninth Street to how the department handles homelessness and mental‑health incidents. Kossnick said traffic stops and citations dipped in 2023 while staffing was being onboarded; he said patrol staffing has been fully filled for about two and a half years but new officers require time in the field to reach full capacity. On homelessness and behavioral health, Kossnick urged stronger programmatic guardrails and more treatment resources, saying shelter models with few rules can limit progress toward independence for some clients.

Ending: Kossnick closed by reiterating the department’s community focus and offering to answer further council questions. He said he would remain after the presentation for follow‑ups and that staff would continue to coordinate with council on local traffic, school safety and outreach priorities.