By Ty Walker
The Mountain Times
Clackamas County Sheriff Angela Brandenburg is still glowing with gratitude almost two months after voters re-elected her as the county’s chief law enforcement officer in the May 21 primary. She received more than 53 percent of the vote in a three-way race to win a second term.
Getting such an overwhelming show of support from the community, which Brandenburg has called home since she was a teenager, is a huge vote of confidence for the sheriff. Her strong commitment to maintaining public safety and accountability resonated with voters.
Four years ago, voters made her the first woman sheriff in Clackamas County history when they elected her in the 2020 primary. She is the 33rd sheriff to serve the county since William Livingston Holmes first took up the post in 1845.
“I am so humbled by the support of our community in this election,” Brandenburg said. “Not only this election, but in 2020 when I won the primary election with over 50 percent, with three opponents, and in this one I had two opponents and received over 53 percent.
“It tells me that voters like the job that I’m doing and have faith in the work that we’re all doing to keep our community safe.”
Under Brandenburg’s watch, Clackamas County has become the safest county in the metro area according to data kept by the Oregon State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Unit. Of the five most populated counties in Oregon, Clackamas County had the lowest number of reported offenses per 1,000 persons in 2022 and 2023 (through November).
Using population data from the census and reported crimes on the OSP website, the sheriff calculated the Clackamas County crime rate to be 42.2 crimes per 1,000 people in 2023. The rate was 54.5 crimes per 1,000 people in 2022.
“I’m looking forward to continuing doing some really good work,” the sheriff said. “Every day is a job interview as a sheriff. As an elected official, I work for the people in this county. They’re my bosses.”
Brandenburg grew up in Paso Robles, Calif., before moving as a teenager to rural Clackamas County. She lives with her husband and teenage son and daughter on acreage south of Molalla. All told she has been a county resident for 37 years.
After graduating from high school, she didn’t really know what she wanted to do, so she joined
The U.S. Oregon Army National Guard, serving nine years before being honorably discharged as a sergeant.
She went back to school under the GI Bill and took courses in criminal justice at Clackamas Community College. During that time, she happened to go on a ride-along with a patrol deputy.
“I went on a ride-along and I was hooked,” Brandenburg said. “It showed me a way I could serve my community in some capacity to keep my community safe and have an enjoyable job profession, knowing I could make a difference.”
That moment she was hooked. She wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement. It didn’t take long before Brandenburg began as a reserve deputy and was hired in 1992 as a full-time deputy at the age of 21. Now, after more than 33 years with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, she has reached the pinnacle of her career, as sheriff.
“I’ve devoted my life to Clackamas County and the sheriff’s office for 33 years,” Brandenburg said. “I’ve devoted my life to our community. To me, there’s no greater honor than serving as sheriff.
“I get to keep our community safe. I grew up here in Clackamas County and the sheriff’s office. I’ve raised my family here. Devoted my life here. It’s such an honor to serve as sheriff.”
Brandenburg said being a sheriff, in essence, is like being the CEO of a corporation. She oversees a total staff of 590 employees and administers a $148 million budget.
Staying on top of staffing is a challenge. It takes a long time to shape a patrol deputy – about 18 months to recruit, hire and go through the training process.
The sheriff has sworn in 30 new deputies so far this year. Last year, she swore in 52 deputies (67 total staff). The office is “getting down in our positions but we’re over 90 percent hired up,” she said.
With another 33 patrol deputies currently in training, more patrol cars are expected on the streets in the next few months, especially in rural areas like Mount Hood.
“With the public safety levy, we added patrol positions,” the sheriff said. People are going to see, here in the next three, four to six months, these deputies that are going to be out patrolling the roadways, up on the mountain especially. In our rural areas, we will see increased deputy presence.”
The public safety levy has received attention recently as the sheriff and the county commission were embroiled in a county budget dispute she characterized as a fundamental disagreement over how tax dollars are spent.
The sheriff has challenged the county’s use of diverting Public Safety Levy dollars to pay for the funding shortfall created by the $313 million county courthouse building project. She argues that the levy money was approved by voters to keep them safer, not finance a courthouse.
Running the Clackamas County Jail is one of the sheriff’s main jobs. Built in 1959, the aging jail is suffering from rising costs and a rising budget. It hasn’t met bedding needs since 2000 and needs to be replaced, Brandenburg said.
She said her No. 1 priority is to keep Clackamas County safe, proudly reiterating its track record as the safest county in the metro area for the past two years. Besides Clackamas County, the metro area includes Multnomah, Washington, Lane and Marion counties.
The sheriff’s office also takes accountability seriously. In order to ensure the public’s trust, she said all complaints are investigated thoroughly.
“We are holding ourselves accountable, “ she said. “We hold ourselves to a high standard of professionalism.”
The sheriff’s website, https://www.clackamas.us/sheriff, has expanded to offer more information online. More crime data are available, with calls for service broken down by neighborhoods and uploaded to the site monthly.