POLICE CHIEF HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR MORE DIVERSITY, MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT

On the day that the winners of Mt. Hood’s student government election were announced, there was another important event going on: Robin Sells, chief of the Gresham Police Department, came to the Student Union to have lunch with some of us.

Sells started her career in Orange County, California, 34 years ago, where she was a records clerk in her department. 

She found her true calling in law enforcement at 17, when she saw a bicycle stolen before her very eyes, she said. 

She told the story in detail: “A young lady had her bicycle stolen from this store, so I jumped into my car and followed the suspect. He went into a residential area and I just kept following him with my little station wagon. Finally, the guy got off the bike, he just dumped it and left.

“So I thought, ‘I can just grab this bike, put it back in my car and take it to the little girl who lost it,’ ” Sells continued. “As I was driving away, I saw the suspect getting into a truck, so I wrote his license plate number down. When I got back to the store, the police officers were already there. And they were just astonished that I had done all that.

“They kept saying that I was a hero. I didn’t feel like a hero, but all of the attention was pretty cool.”

This started a long career spent working in law enforcement. After moving to the Portland metro area, Sells has spent four years with the Gresham police, three of which have been spent as the chief.

Sells then touched on several subjects important for the police, and the Gresham community.

“Currently, the Gresham department has 136 officers. For a city the size of Gresham, we should probably have around thirty more,” she said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the budget for that.”

She said mental health is one of the top four priorities for the Gresham PD, along with homelessness, stolen cars and opioid addiction, all of which are serious issues facing the city.

In Gresham, around 50% of 911 calls are caused by mental health issues, said Sells. Out of those 136 officers, two specialize in mental health. A sergeant, an officer and two behavioral clinicians from Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare serve on a task force created to deal with this rising trend.

The chief made it clear that this team isn’t as big as it really needs to be, but the department is making due with the budget it has. 

Thankfully, unlike in most other cities, Gresham police officers actually live in the city they are protecting with their lives, Sells noted.

People in the Student Union crowd shared their stories about how the Gresham PD officers were very polite and nice, contrary to how police are sometimes portrayed.

Sells said the officers care about this city, and this is clearly shown in another story she told the gathering.

“We had pursued this car, and because of our pursuit, spike strips (metal strips thrown out in the roadway to puncture car tires) popped three of the car’s tires. The man who they were chasing was arrested and his wife had to pick up the car,” Sells said.

“She was devastated. It was the only car that they had and she was pregnant with their fourth child. She had no means to fix this car. One of the officers on the scene, using his own money, took her and bought her three new tires. The officer didn’t want anyone to know that he had done that, but word got back to me,” she said.

“These officers really care about their community,” she said.

Sells was asked specifically by the Advocate what her force’s top need, or needs, are – besides a bigger budget. She said they need more officers, people who speak other languages (than English) and are from different backgrounds.

Sells hopes that some readers might see this article and take the chance to protect and serve the people.