Newport is awash in sunshine on a summer morning, looking every bit like a small town going about its business.
The one cop on duty, Sgt. Larry Osterman, rolls his cruiser through shady neighborhoods, waving at everyone. When he sees two young boys he stops and rolls down his window.
"How you doing, guys? Excellent!" he responds to their enthusiastic greeting. "Ready for school?"
In Newport, an old river town with about 3,500 residents, Osterman has become the new police chief — even though he works for the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
That's because Newport is the latest Washington County city to contract with the Sheriff's Office for policing. But the City Council's decision last fall to scrap its police force didn't come without controversy.
"There was some opposition. It was about mending and listening to different sides of the story," said Osterman.
The city's five police officers became deputies under Osterman's command. "I've got total confidence in them. They are accountable to us," Mayor Tim Geraghty said.
'We're the Newport Police'
Last fall, Newport reeled over disclosures of scandalous behavior by some former officers and the news that the police department's unsecured evidence room was a mess. That's when the City Council turned to Washington County for help.
Newport joined 14 other Washington County cities and six townships where Sheriff Bill Hutton's department provides law enforcement. Hutton puts strong emphasis on community policing — meeting people and building relationships to prevent crime the old-fashioned way.
That expectation, said Sheriff's Office patrol commander Brian Mueller, was why Osterman was sent to Newport.
"He's down there because he understands the business of policing," Mueller said. "Even more important is that Larry's ability to work with the community and get things done is unprecedented."
Newport's contract with the county will cost the city an estimated $696,498 in 2016. Geraghty said the city will save at least $100,000 a year by not having its own police.
"The economies of scale provided by the Sheriff's Department could result in better services in some areas, for example investigations, than the city could expect to receive from its currently staffed, autonomous police department," the city resolution said last fall.
Osterman, who has worked in every Sheriff's Office division except the jail, was sent to Newport to train and mentor the new deputies and to bridge community misunderstandings. It reminded him of his first job as a cop in Mora, Minn.
"People need to see the end of the story," he said, meaning that deputies must stick with complaints until they're resolved.
Mueller said Newport residents receive all Sheriff's Office services, including investigations and narcotics. When more deputies are needed for critical incidents, they will come.
The five former Newport officers who now wear brown instead of blue have acquired new training from the county. One has joined the Sheriff's Office SWAT team, another is a crisis negotiator. A third joined the department's community engagement team.
"We're continually find ways of putting our deputies in with the community to build that trust," Mueller said.
Osterman was asked to clean up the Newport police evidence room. In a letter to City Administrator Deb Hill, Hutton said 14 confiscated weapons were missing, sexual assault test results were contaminated and property relating to 1,138 cases wasn't tracked. The Sheriff's Office now stores evidence from Newport in a high-security room at the Law Enforcement Center in Stillwater.
When county vehicles began patrolling Newport eight months ago, hardly anyone waved back, Osterman said. Now things are different and the Sheriff's Office is planning "Safe Summer Night" from 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 30 at Newport Lutheran Church, 900 15th St.
"We're the Newport Police Department. This is where we work," Osterman said.
Kevin Giles • 651-925-5037
