Outgoing Lane County sheriff reflects on career in law enforcement 

Growing up, Lane County Sheriff Cliff Harrold figured he would work on his family’s dairy farm in rural Lane County when he grew up. 

His job at a gas station in Creswell as an inquisitive 16-year-old changed that. At the station, a Lane County deputy dropped by for coffee regularly and chatted with the workers. Harrold often asked him about his job. Eventually, the deputy invited him on a ride-along to observe his job firsthand. 

“I  jumped in his car for about six hours and went home and told my parents I knew what I was going to do with my life,” said Harrold, 51, who is retiring May 16 as Lane County sheriff and taking a job as security manager of PeaceHealth’s Oregon network of hospitals and clinics.

The ride-along experience played a central role in his decision to begin a career in law enforcement that has lasted for more than 30 years, most of it in the Lane County sheriff’s office. Thirty-five years later, Harrold’s memories of that experience are not centered on the excitement associated with police work — he doesn’t even remember the deputy turning on his sirens during that first ride. Instead, he remembers he enjoyed listening to the radio traffic, riding around and getting opportunities to help people. 

He asked for another ride-along. Instead, he was told to join a cadet program for young people interested in law enforcement. He did just that, spending nights with deputies in the field after closing the gas station at 9 p.m. After high school, he worked as a dispatcher for the Cottage Grove Police Department and joined the sheriff’s office in 1995 as a deputy. 

Lane County deputies all start their careers working in the jail. For  Harrold, the experience reminded him of challenges people face and their disadvantages compared to the blessings he’s experienced.

New deputies are trained about drug addiction and its impact on the brain. 

“Oftentimes we’re dealing with folks that are struggling with issues that maybe our staff have never struggled with,” he said. “And we want to recognize that up front and develop strategies to be thoughtful about the way we deal with that.”

Harrold worked in jobs throughout the sheriff’s office before he was appointed sheriff in 2019. He worked in roles that include court transport, traffic safety, patrol, field training, marine patrol and detective.

His work as a homicide detective stands out in his memory. He worked the case of David Ray Taylor, who was convicted in 2014 for the kidnapping and murder of 22-year-old Celestino Gutierrez Jr. 

Taylor, with two accomplices, led that effort so they could use the victim’s car as a getaway vehicle while robbing a Mapleton bank. 

The grueling hours working the case and lack of time with his wife and children took a toll. After notifying Gutierrez’s parents that police had recovered their son’s remains, he called his wife. He had worked for days with very little sleep.

“I remember leaving his parents’ house and calling my wife to see if I could set up an opportunity to meet with her and (our) kids,” he said. “And I basically couldn’t speak when she answered the phone for a little bit.”

As sheriff, he works with new deputies so they are prepared to balance their family life with the demands of their work life. 

In separate interviews, Harrold’s colleagues in the office say the outgoing sheriff understands the rigors of field work and remains a calm administrator. 

Lt. Tom Speldrich, the police services lieutenant, said Harrold stays focused on long-term solutions when making decisions that affect people without quick knee-jerk reactions.

“There’s a lot of times if he has personal feelings about anything, I have no clue what they are,” he said. 

Capt. D.J. Mann joined the sheriff’s office in 1996 and spent his career working with Harrold. He said Harrold put a lot of thought into decisions that impacted communities, including evacuation orders for wildfires. 

“He didn’t take any of those decisions lightly at all,” he said. “He put in a tremendous amount of time to make sure the community was taken care of.”

For the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, challenges will persist after Harrold’s exit. Lane County is strapped for funding and has fewer deputies out on patrol than it needs. 

The sheriff’s office has a minimum staffing level of three deputies and one sergeant for a patrol shift that spans more than 4,600 square miles. The patrol division has nearly 70 staff. That figure doesn’t include sworn officers assigned to other tasks, like the jail and detectives. 

But it’s not enough and forces residents to wait for help. Response times for domestic disputes average an hour and a half, Harrold said. 

It’s a lengthy wait that he called “unacceptable,” he said.

And it’s an issue his successor will face. For now, Chief Deputy Carl Wilkerson will fill the sheriff’s role when Harrold exits. 

Lane County commissioners will need to appoint someone to fill the spot temporarily until the next election. Commissioners could take that up as early as Tuesday, a process that involves setting timelines for how long the next sheriff will serve before the next election.