As presented by Deputy Frank Ward to the Banks City Council.
This month’s police log is atypical – it is an audio transcription of a brief report verbally delivered by Washington County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Frank Ward on Tuesday, November 14 to the Banks city council. We’ve taken the audio, used a transcription tool to capture most of the report, and then manually edited it as well for clarity. Read on, or listen to the audio clip below.
Good evening. Believe it or not, minus one or two fairly major calls that we’ve already discussed and talked about, it was actually a fairly uneventful month.
I struggled to come up with an actual written police report for this month. Let’s give you two of note. There was an overdose on Wilkes Street about midnight, 11 o’clock at night one night. Deputies were dispatched to an overdose on Wilkes Street. Upon arriving, deputies administered three doses of Narcan. Paramedics arrived shortly after, took over patient care, and that patient was subsequently transported to a local hospital for further treatment. So the three doses of Narcan certainly saved his life.
[The drug at that time was fentanyl]. So word of warning, if you don’t think it’s in your town, you’re wrong. It’s everywhere.
We had a criminal mischief, believe it or not, right here at city hall. For several weeks leading up to this criminal mischief, there is a person here in town who we know has some mental health issues. Um, and this person likes to text 911, “I’m going to kill myself, nobody cares about me” that kind of stuff. That’s kind of his baseline. And our mental health response team has been trying to work with him and the family and trying to get them some resources, but he won’t engage, refuses to engage.
At which point it is… everybody else’s fault. And so at one time, at one point during this mass of texting 911. “You know what? I’m just going to go down to city hall and break the window. I’m gonna throw a rock through the window.” A week or so, went by, and I get a call or text message from another deputy. Who was here with Jolynn (Banks’ city manager). 10:30 at night, 11 o’clock at night, something like that, “hey, by the way, somebody broke city hall’s window.”
So I said “I think I know who it is.”
So I called him, came to work the next morning, called him, just kind of on a whim, cause I really didn’t have anything to prove it, other than his text messages a week or so ago and none of the cameras on the bar face far enough to get any evidence. The cameras next to us here at the salon don’t work (Editor’s note: The business owner called and confirmed that at the time, the cameras were not working, but do now). So, it’s literally “I’m gonna throw some dice, and see what I can get.
So he answers, and I said “Hey, Mr. So-and so, why did you break the window?”
“Oh, you guys piss me off”
I went, “Cool, why don’t you meet me and I’ll give you a citation for criminal mischief.”
So we met, we met at Arbor Park and he got a ticket and then he actually decided he wanted to engage in some services at that time. So I gave him a ride to the hospital where he could hopefully get some help.
And that’s really all. For some traffic complaints and things, we’ve asked our motor team to come out and do a little saturation for us, I don’t have those numbers compiled quite yet.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
