Oregon City police chief delivers 2025 annual report highlighting staffing, calls and reduced use-of-force

Chief Davis presented the Oregon City Police Department’s 2025 annual report to the commission on July 1, detailing staffing, operational statistics and areas for future investment.

The report said the department has 46 sworn officers and about 15.5 non‑sworn staff; Davis said the agency hired lateral officers, a recruit, a records specialist and a code enforcement officer during the year and retired several long‑tenured employees. "You're going to see a lot of the great work that our staff has accomplished and our stats over the last year," he said.

Why it matters: the presentation described both rising demand for policing services and reductions in force-related incidents. Davis told the commission calls for service rose about 4% year over year and that 26.9% of calls were self‑initiated, which he said signals proactive policing. He also noted a 7.1% decrease in reported stops compared with 2024 and 6,265 reported stops submitted to the state.

Key details and figures: the department reported a use‑of‑force rate of 4.42% (Davis described that as 127 use‑of‑force reports from a larger number of incidents), seven taser deployments, two K9 deployments that year (one resulting in a bite), one firearm discharge and one officer injury during a use‑of‑force incident. Detectives handled 152 cases referred to them and investigated more than 493 police reports, including multiple homicide investigations that resulted in guilty pleas and sentences, Davis said.

Davis also highlighted the department’s accreditation, training hours (several thousand across sworn and non‑sworn staff) and the work of specialized units: three detectives on the major crimes team, a special investigations team that executed search warrants, and an active traffic team. He noted that K9 teams recovered substantial quantities of illegal drugs during deployments, characterizing those seizures as evidence of dangerous substance availability in the region.

Commissioners’ reaction: Commissioners repeatedly praised the department’s community engagement and training. Commissioner Mike Mitchell said the low percentage of incidents requiring force reflected well on training and community reputation: "94.1% of incidents do not require any use of force," he said, praising officers’ de‑escalation work. Other commissioners highlighted vacancies and succession planning as ongoing concerns and asked staff to continue creative staffing solutions.

Context and next steps: Davis urged continued work on recruitment and retention, and noted plans to pursue creative staffing (including coordination with transit policing) and succession planning. The commission was told the department’s annual report and slides will be published on the city’s website shortly. The presentation prompted no formal action; commissioners thanked staff for the report.

Ending: The commission accepted the report and asked for continued updates on staffing, training and program outcomes as the city addresses growth and operational demand.