Nick Hurley prepares for Corvallis Police Chief role

By MICHAEL EUBANKS Crime Beat Reporter

For Corvallis Police Captain Nick Hurley, who becomes Chief on June 30, even making a career out of law enforcement was not in his initial plan.

Hurley’s first exposure to law enforcement came in 1995, when he started as a seasonal Cadet Officer for the Oregon State Police while pursuing a degree in American Sign Language at Western Oregon University.

While he enjoyed his time as a Cadet, Hurley still was uncertain if he wanted to work in law enforcement for the rest of his life and continued to pursue a career as an interpreter. However, Hurley soon learned that being an interpreter wasn’t in the cards for him.

“I did one job and realized that it wasn’t what I wanted to do as a career,” Hurley said. “I still sign and I still have a lot of deaf friends, but the interpreting piece was a whole different role that I didn’t mesh well with.”

After changing his mind on interpreting, Hurley went back to school, and received his Master’s in Education from OSU in 1999. He then worked a year in Student Housing as an Assistant Director of Residential Life before making the decision to return to law enforcement.

“At the time I had a lot of contact with Corvallis P.D. in my position,” Hurley said. “I did a couple of ride-alongs and I ended up applying. I started here in 2000.”

For the next fourteen years, Hurley continued to work his way up the ranks at CPD. But in 2014, yet another opportunity presented itself. Hurley went to work for the Department of Public Safety Standards Training in Salem. As a class coordinator, Hurley educated future police officers and supervised academy training for all five disciplines taught at the institution. Hurley returned to CPD in 2016, where he began his current role as Captain. Since then, he’s worked closely with current Chief Jon Sassaman.

In his current role, Hurley oversees a division responsible for training, evidence, police records, as well as the Corvallis Regional Communications Center, which provides 9-1-1 ser

ADVERTISEMENTS

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF CORVALLIS Nick Hurley, who was appointed the next Chief of the Corvallis Police Department.

vices to Benton County. The role also provided Hurley with the chance to attend and graduate from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, which he did in 2019.

The leadership skills learned at the academy helped Hurley become an even better Captain, and when Chief Sassaman announced his plans to retire at the end of June, City Manager Mark Sheppard offered the job to Hurley.

But before he made the appointment, Sheppard reached out to members of the police department and in the community for suggestions. It then became apparent that Hurley was the right person for the job.

“Nick’s name continued to come up,”

Sheppard said. “He has a strong reputation in the community already. I think Nick has the background and the skills to lead the department. He understands the culture of our department, and I think it’s important to me to continue to build on what I think is a healthy police department.”

Chief Sassaman was one of those who Sheppard reached out to for input.

“I do believe he’s the right person for the job,” Sassaman said. “He brings many years of policing, training and leadership to the position. He is a highly relational person. He has a good presence about him and he’s a critical thinker—all things that are necessary in

a Police Chief.”

Hurley was honored to accept the opportunity, but it still came as a pleasant surprise.

“I didn’t come into this job and say ‘one day, I want to sit over there in that corner office,’” Hurley said. “Sometimes I laugh and pinch myself about where I’m sitting currently as a Captain. It’s just funny how our careers change and how they intersect.”

Since being appointed as the new Police Chief, Hurley has been meeting with Sassaman on a daily basis, with the current Chief teaching his replacement the day-to-day duties of his job. “What I’ve learned from him is invaluable,” Hurley said. “You’re always trying to keep the pulse on things while at the same time getting pulled about nine different ways.”

Hurley said that he doesn’t have any plans to immediately shake up the department organization and operations. For Hurley, the current goal is just to be prepared for the job when he takes over.

With Oregon State Police discontinuing their contract with OSU effective June 30, no announcement has been made regarding who will provide law enforcement services for the campus. While Hurley said he could not comment on the matter, Sheppard said that the city has been in discussions with OSU about possibly policing the campus.

“No decision has been made on the university side or the city side,” Sheppard said. “Those discussions are ongoing.”

Although CPD’s involvement with OSU still has yet to be determined, Hurley said that he is very proud of the current status of the department and hopes to continue the relationships the department has made with the community when he takes the helm.

“I think we’re very well-supported in this community. I think the community respects us,” Hurley said. “They understand our challenges. The partnerships we have with our neighborhood associations and the university and our religious communities right now is very strong.” Following his appointment as the next Police Chief of Corvallis, a public reception and meet and greet with Hurley is scheduled for Tuesday, July 14 from 4:30-6:30 p.m.

CRIME Corvallis Police Log: Feb. 28-March 4

By MICHAEL EUBANKS Crime Beat Reporter

Feb. 28 Warrant Arrest - Failure to Appear An officer responded to a call to the area of SW Fifth Street and SW Jefferson Avenue. for the report of a female who was pepper sprayed.

The officer arrived on the scene and identified the victim, whom she had known from previous interactions. The officer ran the victim through dispatch and discovered that she had a warrant for her arrest out of Lincoln County for Failure to Appear on a charge of Trespassing in the second degree. The officer then arrested the female and transported her to the Benton County Jail. She was released later in the day.

Warrant Arrest - Failure to Appear An officer responded to a call at an apartment complex off of SW Western Boulevard after a female had reported that a male was blocking the roadway while reaching into his pants. The officer made contact with a male in the parking lot. The male matched the suspect description and was attempting to hide behind a nearby building.

Dispatch advised the officer that the male had a warrant in Linn County for a Failure to Appear. The officer then placed the male into handcuffs and began transporting him to the Linn County Jail, however jail staff requested a hospital clearance, so the officer then transported the male to Samaritan Hospital in Albany.

The hospital staff cleared the male for the jail, however the jail would not would not accept him as the hospital had determined he had a 0.40% BAC via blood draw. The jail provided the male with his appearance paperwork and the officer then transported him back to Corvallis and released him at a men’s shelter.

Feb. 29 Disorderly Conduct 2 An officer was dispatched to Riva’s Taco Shop on NW Fifth Street on a report that a male suspect had broken a window and defecated by the door. The description of the subject matched an individual who the department had two prior calls regarding over the course of the night.

The officer asked the male why he was hitting a window of the establishment and why he defecated on the sidewalk. The male stated he was angry because he was cold and wanted shoes and a warm place to stay. The officer asked him if he was meaning to break the window and he said “no,” but also “well yeah,” and stated he felt if he tried harder he could have broken the window.

Another officer spoke with the original caller, who was an employee of the restaurant. The employee stated that while the window didn’t break, the male hit the window a couple of times, which left scratches. The employee also stated he witnessed the male defecate on the sidewalk.

The officer who first made contact with the male issued him a citation for Disorderly Conduct in the second degree and then provided him an escort to a men’s shelter.

March 2 Warrant Arrest/Resisting Arrest An officer observed a male walking down near SW Third Street. Dispatch advised the officer that the male had multiple warrants out for his arrest. When confronted, the male attempted to pull away from the officer multiple times and was ordered to the ground at taser point. The male was taken into the Benton County Jail on the warrant and for resisting arrest. He was released later in the day.

March 4 Disorderly Conduct 2/Phone Harassment An officer responded to a call at a residence on NW Ninth Street for a report of criminal mischief.

A female reported that her ex-boyfriend came over to get his belongings. When he was leaving, he told her “good luck getting to work” while holding a pocket knife. The female came out to her vehicle and found her back driver’s side tire flat with a puncture on the outside. The female told the officer that her ex was repeatedly calling her and she had told him to stop.

The officer contacted the male who told him that he’d be willing to speak with him the next week. The male was later arrested and taken to the Benton County Jail, where he was booked and then released.

Letter to the Editor: Oregon State University pays students starvation wages

Attending a university is a job in itself. It requires going to classes, hours of homework, hours of study, and puts a good amount of stress on students. For students who don’t come from a privileged background, many find themselves taking up a second job to try and make ends meet while still managing their primary job of trying to pass their classes. Students who find work at OSU are making minimum wage, which currently stands at $11.25 an hour. To understand just how low this wage is, a living wage in Benton county is $12.77 an hour, according to the most recent figures from the MIT Living Wage Calculator. This means that OSU isn’t even paying its students living wages (29% of students don’t have enough money to make ends meet at the end of each month).

The university ought to at least pay its students a living wage and ensure that student fees don’t increase as a result of pay increases which the administration can prevent by financing student pay through tuition. Since student employment currently takes up 14% of the $4.6 million student investment, this would leave an additional ~$644,000 that could be used to subsidize meal plans for low income students, subsidize on-campus housing expenses for homeless students, and eliminate the student dependency on the HSRC.

One could make the argument that tuition would increase as a result of financing student pay through tuition; however, that doesn’t have to happen. The OSU administration has plenty of privilege and therefore can influence state policy. If they wanted to, they could lobby the state legislature to increase funding to the university in order to pay their students living wages--a much more effective approach than sending students who won’t be taken seriously.

Diego Leon Patino Public Health Major

Letter to the Editor: Undergraduate students must evaluate university statements

Editor’s Note: Since the submission of this letter, Provost Ed Feser sent out an email clarifying current graduate student monthly salaries.

Undergraduates, My name is Tali Ilkovitch, I am an undergraduate speaking in solidarity the Coalition of Graduate Employees. I wish to respond to the email addressed to all students on Feb. 24 from Provost Feser and the university’s intentions to deceive and divide the student body.

After our interaction with the Provost last Wednesday in which he dismissed our concerns regarding the livelihoods of students and employees, who struggle with food, housing, and childcare insecurity as a result of shamefully minimal wages and benefits, we admit that we are satisfied with the university’s timely response— CGE is used to OSU ignoring students’ needs and not doing the jobs undergraduates handsomely pay them for. That being said, we find Provost Feser’s email to be purposefully deceiving and fear-mongering in an effort to convince undergraduates that paying graduate workers a living wage requires tuition hikes. We find further exploitation of financially struggling undergraduates a preposterous solution coming from a man who makes $400,000 a year. Our petition, which he refused to sign, proposes that university salaries are capped at $186,000 and tuition and fees are frozen, which will combat wealth inequality at OSU. As the university attempts to isolate us from graduates, I urge undergraduates to critically evaluate this propaganda, support graduate employees, and demand that wealth be redistributed from immorally wealthy admin fairly to those who grade our papers and instruct our coursework. I invite undergrads to unionize with us and show OSU administration that this exploitation will end. Solidarity, Tali

Tali Ilkovitch Natural Resources Major

Letter to the Editor: ‘Chop from the top’ to help students

Editor’s Note: Since the submission of this letter, Provost Ed Feser sent out an email clarifying current graduate student monthly salaries.

On Feb. 19, I entered Ed’s class with a coalition of diverse community members with a few simple questions. “Do you care about homelessness on campus? Do you want to lift employees out of poverty? Will you help struggling mothers? Will you read and sign our petition for a cut to the highest salaries to free up millions of dollars?” To each of these questions he fidgeted, avoided eye contact, and refused answering. His craven inability to say “yes” to wanting to help employees and students in crisis represents a core rot degrading our entire campus community. These amoral monsters are siphoning wealth from this institution. Where does it go? Under their beds instead of towards the most vulnerable. A generous maximum salary of $186,000 would free up at least $8.6 million a year. The math is easy. Chop from the top to build from the bottom. There is plenty of money to go around.

If Ed Feser’s near half-milliondollar pay is justified by “skill and qualifications” we aren’t getting our

money’s worth! Do your job. His February 24th email to students was rife with disingenuous math and failed to state a desire to shift funding priorities away from the high salaries of crony admin. It would be comical if it wasn’t insulting to us all. His annual pay could be put to better use helping struggling mothers, lifting employees and students out of homelessness, fighting food insecurity. We need a campus that works for all of us. Not wealthy admin.

Andrea Haverkamp Oregon State University Graduate Employee

Letters to the Editor will be reviewed for submission on a first-received basis. Letters must be submitted by the Thursday before the next print publication. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and must include the author’s signature, academic major, class standing or job title, department name and phone number. Authors of emailed letters will receive a reply for the purpose of verification. Letters are subject to editing for space, style, clarity and civility. Letters which are timely, relevant and accurate will receive priority for publication. Each reader will be allowed one published letter per month. Letters may be published either in print and/or online.