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Sheriff Dennis Dotson

OREGON SHERIFF Magazine News

Dennis Dotson was appointed Lincoln County Sheriff by the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on July 2, 2003 and took office August 1, 2003.

In his most recent position, Dennis served as administrator for the Oregon Senate Business and Labor Committee during the 2003 Legislative Session. During the 2001 Legislative Session, he served as Legislative Assistant to Oregon State Representative Alan Brown of Newport.

The Oregon State Police employed Dennis for 28 years, serving in the Portland area, Baker County, Deschutes County, and served the last 12-1/2 years of his career as OSP's Lincoln County Area Commander. Since 1972 he has worked in a variety of capacities including commander of the Lincoln Interagency Narcotics Team from 1990 to 2000, OSP's representative on the Governor's Juvenile Crime Task Force, OSP's representative on the Lincoln County Local Public Safety Coordinating Council, and the Governor's liaison during the New Carissa disaster in Waldport.

Sheriff Dotson has also served as a board member for the Lincoln County School District Resolving Conflict Advisory Board, Local Alcohol & Drug Abuse Planning Committee, Lincoln County School District Commission on Student Violence and Behavior, Lincoln County Children's Advocacy Center, Lincoln County Partnership, Partnership Against Alcohol & Drug Abuse, Olalla Treatment Center for Children and Families, and the Rotary Club of Newport. He also served as a member of the Lincoln County Interagency Gang Task Force, Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians Child Protection Team, and the KIDS Committee.

Dennis was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He is married, has three sons and five grandchildren.

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OREGON SHERIFF Magazine News

Summer, 2010 -- Your Lincoln County Jail is still operating below previous years' costs and we're holding more inmates. This is due to the great efforts of your jail team. Did you know that four restructurings in jail operations since July 2005 have saved more than $1.5 million in operating costs?

We continue to prove our commitment of giving our citizens a good return on their investment of tax dollars in their Sheriff's Office. We are supervising more inmates and doing it with less staffing while not compromising our commitment to deputy safety, the wellness of inmates, and facility security.

All of this works best when we have all of our funded positions in the jail filled, but that is an ongoing challenge given retirements, and medical and family issues.

Shrinking county revenues resulted in budget cuts again this year and your Sheriff's Office will be feeling the pinch along with all the county offices and departments. Come July 1st there will be two fewer patrol deputy positions, one less corrections deputy position, and one less person who provides administrative support to your Patrol Division.

How this potentially affects our citizens will be shared when final changes to current service levels are approved. Rest assured that the quality of customer service will not suffer; in other words, your deputies will provide professional and attentive services to our customers. Stay tuned.

Please read our weekly Tip of Week column in the News Guard, News Times, and Depoe Bay Beacon. Don't forget to listen to our radio show, "Roll Call" with Sheriff Dotson, every Thursday morning at 8:35 on AM 1230 KCUP. If you live outside the Newport area, you can tune in on their website and listen from anywhere in the world: www.KCUP.net and click on the one-time download link.

If you would like more information about your Sheriff's Office, please subscribe to our free e-mail service by visiting our website at www.lincolncountysheriff.net.

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