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Washington County sheriff outlines specialty teams, jail needs and drone first-responder pilot
Summary
Sheriff Massey and county presenters told the council about countywide specialty teams (CART, SWAT, crisis negotiation), mental-health response, drone-as-first-responder testing that aided robberies and fire assessment, and jail infrastructure repairs and expansion planning supported by a local levy.
Sheriff Massey and county staff briefed the King City council on Washington County public-safety capabilities and recent investments at the July 15 meeting.
The sheriff's office described the role it plays countywide — statutory duties such as civil process and operating the county jail plus contract policing support to smaller cities. Presenters highlighted specialty, interagency teams that serve the region: a community-violence reduction unit that removed more than 200 firearms last year, a crisis negotiation unit, a tactical team (SWAT), an air support plane, and CART (Crash Analysis and Reconstruction Team), which provides detailed collision reconstruction and forensic documentation.
County presenters emphasized investments in technology and partnerships. They described body-worn cameras and expanding in-car video. A major focus was a drone-as-first-responder (DFR) pilot: County staff said pilots can launch drones to an incident address within a minute or two, provide overhead situational awareness and in some tests allowed deputies to reduce large, risky containment responses. Presenters said the DFR test (mid-April through June) produced several hundred flights and delivered immediate benefits for robberies, missing-person searches, tactical events and fire assessment; county staff said fire partners adopted the capability quickly for hotspot detection and scene assessment.
Sheriff Massey also reviewed jail infrastructure work and a continuing need to modernize capacity, saying the county jail (built in 1998) has had 18 months of critical repairs (roof, HVAC, piping, fire suppression) and that planning for expansion and trauma-informed design is underway. Presenters credited the recent public-safety levy with helping fund mental-health response teams, increased investigative capacity, and jail operations.
Council members asked about local drone sightings and whether the county would publish a public-facing page to let residents check whether a county drone was in the area. County staff said they currently do not operate continuous DFR sites in every location and that public-facing identification (tail number and associated 911 call) was under consideration as outreach measures.
The presentation concluded with an offer to return for more in-depth briefings and to answer council questions about capabilities and interagency support for King City.
