End of the Newberry Eagle
After many years of serving the communities in Southern Deschutes, the Newberry Eagle has ceased operations – effective with distribution of its August 2020 issue. Exacerbated by the economic hardships resulting from Covid-19, the newspaper’s sole source of revenue – local advertising – dwindled to the point that continuing to publish was no longer possible.
‘The Public Can Know Whatever I Know,’ Claims DCSO’s Public Information Officer, Lieutenant William Bailey
By Andrea Hine, Editor
When a major multiagency search effort was launched in May 2019 to find a very small child somewhere in the woods, “it was scary for all of us,” recalled Lieutenant William Bailey. Discovered by Detective Doug Jackson of the DCSO, the infant – who had been left alone for at least six hours, when overnight temperatures dropped to 43 degrees – was wrapped in his jacket until medical help arrived. “The story went national,” Bailey said.
A two-humped camel wandering through backyards in Sisters, and a baby with a broken leg abandoned on a forest floor overnight, wouldn’t seem to have anything in common beyond their unusual and potentially dangerous circumstances. But to Lieutenant William Bailey of the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO), sharing these situations with the public is all part of a day’s work.
As the agency’s public information officer, and a consistent point of contact with the media, “providing an accurate version of what occurred is always my number one goal,” he emphasized. “Whether it’s a search-and-rescue mission, mental issues, civil disputes or criminal activities, my job is to furnish information, as long as DCSO is allowed to legally release it. The public can know whatever I know.”
As Bailey explains, “The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office receives tens of thousands of service calls each year – 70,000 in 2019 alone. We might have three separate suicide calls simultaneously, including someone armed with a gun. Yet by using de-escalation techniques, we’re able to resolve these situations safely and peacefully. This happens all the time.”
Which leads to another of Bailey’s fundamental objectives, in line with the commitment of Sheriff Shane Nelson: “to build trust and expand transparency by showing that this is who we are every single day – human beings doing a difficult job, and doing our best to serve the community. I want the public to see behind the scenes a little bit.”
Bailey relies heavily on social media – which he terms “a conversation.” As he described, “not only is it another avenue to communicate DCSO’s message, but we’ve used social media to get the public involved in identifying suspects and helping solve crimes – including car thefts, fraudulent use of credit cards, and finding owners of lost animals.”
“I try to find humor, when appropriate, in sharing DCSO’s everyday stories of heroism and solving problems,” noted Lieutenant William Bailey, “such as a deputy trying to wrangle a 3,000-pound bull with huge horns, or corralling a camel that walked onto the property of a Sisters’ resident after eating the breakfast of his neighbor’s horse.”
In one instance, an elderly man from Bend was reported missing and – because of an alert on social media – was seen by someone at a gas station near Mt. Hood. “Law enforcement was there 30 minutes later,” said Bailey. “Time is of the essence in cases like this – every minute is a mile from where we last spotted the individual. Ninety to 100 percent of the time we’re able to find the missing person or animal (including a horse from Sisters that had been stolen the previous month).”
Bailey, who grew up in a small fishing town on the Oregon Coast and later spent four years in the Coast Guard, “always wanted to be in law enforcement for the honor and service of it, the moments of excitement and the rewarding work. I can’t change the world with my job,” he reflected. “But I can impact individuals on a daily basis, connect with kids in bad situations, and help make our community a safer place.”
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