A second Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office veteran has entered the race for sheriff, even as the longtime sheriff has not made public whether he will seek reelection.
Lt. Brian Jensen, 49, of Tualatin filed this week to run. Jensen has been with the agency for 21 years and has served in a number of roles, including as Sheriff’s Office spokesman. He joins patrol Sgt. Lynn Schoenfeld in the race.
Sheriff Craig Roberts has told people privately that he does not plan to run and is considering challenging incumbent Clackamas County Chair Jim Bernard but has made no announcement. The deadline to file for all races is March 10.
Jensen said his experience on a range of teams in the Sheriff’s office makes him “uniquely qualified to successfully face the many challenges our office is currently facing and will undoubtedly face in the future.”
“I believe a sheriff should be transparent, fiscally responsible, and professional – which is what I am,” he said in a statement announcing his candidacy. “I hope to instill a sense of pride for their Sheriff in every citizen, and that can be accomplished by a genuine care for their concerns, establishing trust and inclusion, and being an active participant in our community.”
It’s likely that Roberts’ controversial plan for search-and-rescue will figure into the race. He plans to create his own search-and-rescue unit and will move away from the handful of independent volunteer-led organizations based in the county that have taken part in search-and-rescue missions for years, notably on Mount Hood, one of the most climbed peaks in the world. Clackamas County is among the state’s busiest for search and rescue missions overall.
Three days after The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on the plan, the Sheriff’s Office released details in a news release, saying response times and communication will improve with a single unit.
Roberts assigned Jensen to supervise the new unit.
“Our research says this is the right way to go -- it’s a model that’s raised the bar for search and rescue in other counties,” Roberts said in a statement.
Portland Mountain Rescue, Mountain Wave Search and Rescue and Pacific Northwest Search and Rescue have lobbied against the plan, which would effectively put them out of business. A fourth organization, North Oregon Regional Search and Rescue, supports Roberts’ plan.
Portland Mountain Rescue representatives said they have reached out to both candidates to talk about preserving the group’s role in search-and-rescue missions.
Schoenfeld said on Twitter that if elected, he would work with Portland Mountain Rescue and other search- and-rescue organizations.
I agree with @JimBernardOR , this does sound absurd. As your Sheriff I’ll work with #PMR and the #SAR community to ensure the best possible service to the residents and visitors to Clackamas County. https://t.co/Xrl0OzN0bN
— Lynn4Sheriff (@Lynn4Sheriff) February 15, 2020
Jensen said he is “intimately familiar” with discussions surrounding search-and-rescue. He said the “best model” is one that Roberts supports -- the formation of “one unified team” with multiple disciplines, such as alpine rescue and search dogs.
“The model that Sheriff Roberts has proposed is a best practice model,” Jensen said in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
He said he hopes “there is some middle ground” that addresses the Sheriff Office needs and those of the volunteer organizations.
“If elected, I would continue a change to our SAR program, but, I have the ability and drive to work closely with the volunteer groups to come up with a mutually agreeable outcome,” he said.
-- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
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