Most reform laws were already in effect for HPD

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

HERMISTON – Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston said many of the police reform laws that were passed in the last session don’t impact his department, because they are already part of HPD’s best practices.

“I think it’s just a lack of understanding of the Legislature that a lot of these practices are already in place,” he said.

There is one new law that concerns Edmiston. It would establish a 15-member panel at the state level to deal with discipline of law enforcement officers. He sees that as potentially delaying discipline when it could be dealt with quicker at the local level.

“All of our communities are slightly different,” he said. “If I’m not doing my job, if Chuck Byram (Pendleton’s police chief) is not doing his job, then we should be dealt with locally and swiftly. It is a little depressing that we’re going to take a step backward, in my opinion, and go to this kind of a cookie-cutter approach.”