Retired Marion County Sheriff Jason Myers dies from cancer

Retired Marion County Sheriff Jason Myers, who gained a reputation for integrity and an ability to mediate challenging conversations about law enforcement policy, died Monday after a long battle with cancer at his Stayton home. He was 56.

Sheriff Nick Hunter announced Myers’ death Tuesday evening in a statement.

“Jason did not have to ask or order, he led by example and people were drawn to his professionalism, charisma, character and pride,” Hunter wrote. “Few men have ever embodied the spirit of a leader, the quiet and consistent mentorship, and the unquestionable caring and friendship we all experienced from Jason.”

Myers retired as sheriff in June 2019 after almost 30 years with the agency. He then took a job leading the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association as executive director, stepping down at the end of last year to focus on his health.

Colleagues remembered Myers as both a skilled law enforcement officer and mentor, as well as a leader who could effectively communicate to legislators about the realities of the profession and its needs.

Paige Clarkson, Marion County district attorney, said Myers was “just as comfortable behind the wheel of a patrol car running code to an emergency” as he was investigating a complex homicide case, making difficult decisions as the leader of an agency of 350 people or testifying to lawmakers about challenging policy issues.

“That’s a rarity in this profession. He was a unicorn among us that he could navigate all of those demands of a law enforcement career and do it seamlessly, do it professionally,” she said.

Myers began his career with Marion County as a summer cadet in 1989.

The Board of Commissioners appointed him sheriff in 2009, following the resignation of Sheriff Russ Isham. He ran for the position unopposed in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

“I try to listen more than I talk,” Myers told Salem Reporter in a 2019 interview ahead of his retirement. “With an organization this size and the nature of the business we do, you have to really meet and plan and follow up on things and be sure you’re bringing whatever the project is in for a landing.”

As sheriff, he pioneered the county’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, an effort to keep people struggling with homelessness and addiction out of the criminal justice system. That launched in 2018 and is now a model other counties are using as they launch their own such programs following the recriminalization of hard drugs.

Clarkson said Myers was an early advocate for getting law enforcement out of the business of responding to mental health issues. He recognized behavioral health as the largest challenge facing law enforcement over a decade ago, she said, when many others were focused on methamphetamine, and lobbied for years for better treatment options and more resources to address mental health.

“He was ringing that bell before it was popular to do so,” Clarkson said.

Even as his career became more demanding, he kept a strong focus on his wife and two children, who are now adults.

“Despite the fact that he made the whole community his family in his work, there was no bigger priority to him than his wife and kids. If you knew Jason then you knew that,” Clarkson said.

Myers was a personable man who always offered a listening ear, according to Mark Garton, the Polk County sheriff and vice president of the state sheriffs’ association.

“He cared so much about this profession,” Garton said.

Myers’ advocacy in the Legislature began when he served as Marion County’s sheriff and continued in his role at the statewide association.

Garton said he is not looking forward to the upcoming legislative session without Myers, a skilled advocate who effectively voiced the concerns of sheriffs across Oregon to lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle.

“He really did portray the needs of the office of the sheriff, instead of just going up and saying, ‘We need more funding. We need more funding,’ but going up and explaining the ins and outs of the profession,” Garton said.

Having grown up in Marion County, Myers “just knew everybody,” Garton said. “He knew who to go get answers from and who to ask questions of and to get those bills over the finish line that we really needed.”

Kevin Campbell, executive director of the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police, is a longtime lobbyist who worked closely with Myers and became a close friend.

He said Myers was able to broker compromise on contentious issues, most notably as he helped craft a package of statewide reforms to policing in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

“He had this ability to step into the most tense environments in some of the most difficult negotiations, and because of a well-earned reputation for being somebody who was thoughtful and treated people with dignity … he was just universally respected and when he spoke,” Campbell said.

The new laws included a ban on chokeholds and a requirement that officers report misconduct they observe in fellow officers.

“He was willing to engage in some hard conversations. I think we had some of the best police reform legislation in the nation as a result. It wouldn’t have happened without him,” Campbell said.

Campbell said Myers’ integrity was clear to everyone who knew him.

“He was a person of a deep faith conviction and it translated into all the things that he did,” he said.

Ardeshir Tabrizian contributed reporting.

Correction: Due to inaccurate information provided to Salem Reporter, this article originally listed Myers age incorrectly. He was 56, not 55.

Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.

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