Rowan: Legislature changes the game for law enforcement

By Terry Murry on Wednesday, October 19th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News Featured Stories

UMATILLA COUNTY – Umatilla County Sheriff Terry Rowan says he chose law enforcement as a calling because he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. The job has become harder to do, he says, because of the Oregon Legislature and its changing laws.

“It’s almost like they keep their eye on what they want to accomplish without really considering the ripple effect of that change,” he said.

Rowan said that before he makes a change in his office he thinks long and hard about possible problems that could arise.

“It’s almost like that’s absent thinking from some of our legislators,” he said. “They want this. This is what their end goal is and, by golly, they’re going to get there no matter what.”

He mentioned the voter-passed Measure 110 which decriminalizes personal use possession for a number of drugs and contrasted it to Measure 11, which was also passed by voters and set out prison sentences for serious crimes.

“They’ve been chipping away at Measure 11 for years, little by little,” Rowan said. “So I don’t see why they can’t take Measure 110 on as a priority realizing that the intended outcomes are not coming to fruition.”