Round-Up causes few law enforcement problems

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, September 21st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories

PENDLETON – The people who attended the events surrounding Pendleton Round-Up week were well behaved and thoughtful for the most part, unless too much to drink entered into the picture during the nights.

Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan is tasked with providing patrols of the Round-Up Grounds and the Pendleton Convention Center, and he was pleased with what his officers encountered.

“I didn’t see any spike in any numbers in terms of arrests, people going to jail, whatnot,” he said.

The Pendleton Police Department is charged with everything outside the grounds, and Police Chief Chuck Byram said in spite of two firearms-related arrests during the week, things went well, but his officers were busy.

“We either generated or answered over 800 calls for service for the week of Round-Up, which is twice as many calls for service as we would normally get,” he said. “We put in well over 300 additional overtime man hours.”

Byram agreed with Rowan that the attendees were “great.” He said the main problems seemed to come later in the evening, and often involved too much alcohol.

Both the sheriff’s office and PPD get help from other law enforcement agencies, and both Byram and Rowan said that support is deeply appreciated.