State police chief leaving post with mix of pride, frustration

PORTLAND Retiring Oregon State Police Superintendent Chris Brown is proud of the advances the agency made in technology under his watch, but said the states grim fiscal picture left him frustrated as he tried to add troopers to the force.

Brown, 51, announced his retirement last week, effective Jan. 1, a decision he said he made last month. He wants to spend more time with his family.

It was purely, absolutely personal, Brown said. Ive kind of put the family second for too many years. I missed all the kids games, missed all the school events, missed the birthdays and the holidays, and canceled vacations.

Brown joined the agency in 2008 and took over as superintendent in September 2010. His 16-month term was highlighted by an attempt to bring troopers technology up to speed with their counterparts in other states. That includes implementing a computer-aided dispatch system, electronic records management, electronic citations and lower error rates in the citations.

Brown acknowledges the timing of his retirement appeared contentious just one day earlier, Gov. John Kitzhaber canceled a new class of state troopers to cut costs. But Brown said he made the decision to retire in November and praised Kitzhaber as an effective leader who is supportive of the agencys mission.

Brown seemed most frustrated with the states fiscal picture hindering any chance of developing a long-term plan for the agency.

It just seems like youre continuously pummeled over the head with these fiscal crises, Brown said. It just seems to come wave after wave after wave. The frustration is the inability to develop any kind of long-term plan.

You walk out of a budget process, and a month down the road youre already in crisis. Your plan is decimated by the time you get done.

The ugly budget situation left the state police unable to provide 24/7 coverage of the state. The state police told callers about 40 times a day in 2010 that they had no troopers to respond to accidents, crimes ! or dange rous driving.

In an attempt to secure a more stable source of funding, the state police administration sought to pull the agency out of the general fund where it competes for money with the departments of education and human services and instead use gas tax money.

But the idea failed to gain traction, and the state police had to scramble to keep the money it does have. The agencys general fund budget grew by $3 million, to $217 million, still far short of the amount needed to meet the round-the-clock staffing ordered by the Legislature.

To cope with the shortfall, troopers supervisors have resorted to calling them back into service from home.

I know theres a lot of support in the Legislature to look at alternatives, Brown said. Now its about waiting for the tension to loosen a little bit and get people back to work and get some revenue.

Brown is a former chief of the Roseburg police and sheriff of Douglas County. Kitzhaber plans to appoint Oregon State Police deputy superintendent Richard Evans Jr. to the post in January, pending state Senate confirmation.

Brown said hes unsure what his next job will be, but that it will likely focus on information sharing among agencies, something he calls an obsession of his. He said its sort of a tragic thing that working as an administrator has elevated him beyond the original duties of a law enforcement officer.

When you take the first promotion, youre looking to make a difference, show the troops the way, Brown said. You drift more and more away from what you signed up to do.

I can tell you how many pencils and paper clips we have in the entire agency, but I cant run all the switches in the patrol car.

Former Oregon State Police Superintendent LeRon Howland, who served from 1993 to 1999, acknowledged that Browns term was a pretty quick turnaround for a superintendent. But he said he believes Brown and his predecessor, Tim McLain, were effective leaders.

Its a very stressful job, Howland said. The departm! ents bee n going through a continual downsizing by the Legislature and the governor. Im sure that gets pretty stressful when youre trying to look out for the citizens of Oregon and the budget just keeps getting diminished.

Brown said the state police must find a reliable source of revenue. Linking to the gas tax was the logical option but not a feasible option, politically or otherwise, he said.

Brown noted there were good ideas being kicked around perhaps drawing money from fees associated with vehicle registration or sales, or maybe money tied to the volume of traffic on highways. Another proposal would take money from Oregon Liquor Control Commission funds or attach a fee to them, but Brown was doubtful anything will happen in the current fiscal climate.

Youd have to be blind to not recognize that the people in Oregon dont have any more money in their wallets for more fees, Brown said. I dont have a magical bullet, either.