As you may remember, the state Legislature drafted an amendment this spring to spare Multnomah County Sheriff Bob Skipper from attending basic police training, which includes physical tests. But they attached only one requirement: that Skipper, 70, pass an academic course designed for career officers.
Skipper got word yesterday that he failed that course, earning a 66 percent average on three written tests. It takes 75 percent to pass.
Now Skipper has to re-take the tests, which he plans to do sometime in the next six weeks. He says he put too much pressure on himself to pass.
“I wouldn’t say I was stressed out about it, but you feel the pressure,” Skipper says. “A lot of people have gone to bat for me, and you’ve got the (sheriff’s office) counting on you.”
More than 40 people a year take the course Skipper attended June 15-26, says Eriks Gablicks, deputy director of the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.
Gablicks says in recent years, he can recall only two other people besides Skipper who have failed on their first try.
The course covers Oregon traffic law, criminal law and use of force by police. It’s designed for officers who have been out of the line of duty for up to five years and for cops transferring to Oregon from other states.
“It’s like any other academic class,” Gablicks says. “There is some rigor to it. It’s a challenging class. It’s not just two weeks at the academy.”
Skipper says he’s disappointed in his performance but plans to change his study habits in order to pass the second time.
“I’d have liked to get it done the first time,” he says. “But you know, there’s an awful lot of (laws) to remember for both the traffic and the criminal code. It was quite a little ground to cover.”
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Tags: Bob Skipper, Multnomah County
I’m sorry, WTF?
Why are my taxes paying his salary?
Can we get one of the other 40 to become Sheriff please?
Welcome to Multnomah County: where the jails house public art instead of prisoners, the County Attorney defines marriage, and the translators speak Klingon. The Mean Girls are gone, but their legacy will live on for decades.
Did I mention the Sheriff doesn’t have a law enforcement certificate?
So how many of our tax dollars did they waste passing this law? Sounds like he needed the training.
I can’t blame him though, there’s a lot of laws I would like to forget about as well.
Our sheriff may not be the main focus of politics in this county but he is an incredibly decent man and a good sheriff. he will retake the test and pass it. we could do a hell of a lot worse and we are in several other public offices in this county. we are lucky to have him
I guess I could say something obvious like: color me surprised. We were all willing to give this vaunted white knight/savior a pass on attending the academy..even to the extent that the legislature passed a bill which the governor signed effectively exempting him from a visit to the Academy. Can this be anymore idiotic? Would we let Mike Shrunk practice law if he flunked the bar? Bob Skipper no longer has the brain cells to pass the test…he needs to retire. Again..Please go.
actually i am not a liberal and find most of the mentality in multnomah county appalling. however i do know that his man is a good leader and a fair leader and a hell of a lot more involved with his position then the county chair and commisioners who all fawn over eachother and give eachother kudos for growing weeds on our roof and hiring bloggers while cutting budgets for public safety. it is a joke. and PS COPS was started at The Sheriff’s Office here because no other agency had the balls to open their doors to the public.
stella says:
June 30, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Our sheriff may not be the main focus of politics in this county but he is an incredibly decent man and a good sheriff. he will retake the test and pass it. we could do a hell of a lot worse and we are in several other public offices in this county. we are lucky to have him
WOW…Just why don’t we lower the standards a bit…GOD, we don’t want to offend, or lower his self worth..now do we.
These lib views, there will be a time in the near future, where some fireman/person,or cop wil lbe killed, or get some bystander killed because someone isn’t fast enough carrying a roll of hose up ten flights, or big enough weighing 130 pounds against some drunk(or worse) before the real cops get there.
Yeah..I’ve watched “COPS” enough to see that on tape.
Has he qualified on the gun range since back?
While Bobs hittin the books he should also read the latest ORS and OAR’s on correctional administration and oversight that he is directly responsible for. As Sheriff, he is the first line of defense within the contect of his administration…as it is. Really it’s just three people: Himself, Slyter and his assistant. Then there are the other 1500 employees. Unionized. He has such limited effect and impact it doesn’t matter if he had been gone for 2-4 months. We would have all been better off and he would have emerged trained and current. But he couldn’t be gone? He is gone. There’s a new sheriff in town and he is one dumb sob…it doesn’t get any better than this. I doubt Bob studied at all. He was just going to bs his way thru the test. Then he found out it was multiple guess… confusion set in…
Hey Don: 100 percent correct, that is why Ted Wheeler lost me along time ago…he and these people the real idiots elected here,have not a clue.
I want some one in the media to tell me has he gone to the gun range and kept current there.
We know the sheriff in Washington county has done that ,and has a “range officer” to assisit all his people that they are current.
Knowing again…this is Multnomah “ANTI GUN central county, the guys and gals in those “green car’s” maybe are not current either.
Wow….Great….I just want to know if he passed the physical…he looks like death warmed over….
Like Howard Baker asked during the Watergate hearing: “What did the President know and when did he know it?” Obviously Bob doesn’t know and if he did wouldn’t remember when he knew it. Time to retire again…
66 percent? Really? When I went to the academy, I maintained a 94% average. Every question I missed, I had to explain to a supervisor why I missed it and what the correct answer was. Those tests are exactly challenging. It’s basically regurgitating word for word what the instructors tell you in class. I know Sheriff Skipper has a good reputation, but you know damn well if any of his recruit deputies failed out of the academy they would be canned.
I went to the academy, I maintained a 94% average. Every question I missed, I had to explain to a supervisor why I missed it and what the correct answer was. “Aaron said that.”
I really mean this….no disrespect to the man…but lower standards in our schools are now showing up, allowing illegals to not learn English is a mess,lower physical standards for women are wrong…I have seen the FIREMEN OYLIMPICS on TV….No one 130-150 lbs with a good BMI will pickup a 200=25O LB man or women and carry them out of a burning whatever, without risking both lives.
Cops who are female…have been roughed up, and tossed like feathers in street fights…to much tape of that.
Sorry…It is not chauvinistic, it’s just what is right there in front of us, and the PC/ACLU Rights people have taken it to far, and we will, and are going to suffer for it.
STANDARDS…KEEP THEM HIGH, OR SOMEONE WILL DIE.
He flunks again..he should resign..like the mayor should have done.
I’ve met this man serveral times over the course of the legislative session. He was called out of retirement to fix the screwed up Multnomah County Sheriff’s office. I hope that for the sake of all who interact with the sheriff’s office, and for all of us who pay for it with our tax dollars, that he is given the respect and support he needs and deserves to bring integrity back to this office. Otherwise, I want my money back from all the sick time and vacation time abuse, the beatings of inmates that required them to be given medical treatment, the money that had to be paid out in lawsuits because our boys in green couldn’t do their job any better than common thugs…
And another thing: if all of you above think you can do the job better, then apply for it. Run for office and then make the choices that other are forced to make. It’s always easier to say you know better when it’s not your job to make the choices.
News Flash: Missy misses the point.
It the oldest trick in the book for an elected official to tell a critic to run themselves if they don’t like the outcome, policy or process. BS. Bob ius not qualified to run the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office if he cannot secure proper certification…him being a nice guy not withstanding. We have law and policies to insure minimum standards. Bob, so far, don’t meet’m. He can’t even meet the watered down requirements that the legislature personally secured for him. This is ridiculous. No one is that “good” and that indispensable. The MCSO was screwed up in a couple highly fixable areas. Sick leave, Comp time, vacation time and the overall impact of all of these “forms of leave” on overtime. Time for Bob the Wonderboy to retire again. Mission accomplished. Back to the nursery. Professional corrections administration in this county is being held hostage by the perspectives of a dinosaur.
Missy says:
July 2, 2009 at 12:06 pm
And another thing: if all of you above think you can do the job better, then apply for it. Run for office and then make the choices that other are forced to make. It’s always easier to say you know better when it’s not your job to make the choices.
Reply to MISSY
Where the hell did at least I SAY,I didn’t respect the man?
What I HATE..really HATE, is the “progressive’s” in charge here making excuses for anyone not performing on a job,any job.
There are standards..there is a reason for them, I would like to think as a “leader” of people in dangerous work, If he could not do the same work….He would quit.
YOU SAID: Run for office …Well, Missy, the damn job entails more then the run for office.
MISSY: One more thing, if you want someone to do a better job..SHERIFF JOE,in Arizona comes to mind, but he would be to hard for a “nice” person like you.
Jack:
I usually agree with you but I have to take issue with the Joe Arapaio comment. He represents the mind set of the Arizona retirement community and as such isn’t all that relevant to Oregon and especially Multnomah County.He’s a good guy, doing a good job..but that whole deal down there is different. Their attitude is sort of Let Joe be Joe. Skipper is really an egotistical sob. He thinks or feels that his 34 years on the road in some way shape or form qualifies him to be the CEO, again. This is more like keystone cops every day. We have a Sheriff without a license, a new jail mothballed with no $$ to operate it, the second highest unemployment in the US and a work force hungry for leadership. Skipper has everyone believing that leadership consists of providing the minimum managerial oversight any agency would be subject to. Comp time, sick leave, and it’s impact on overtime. These are management problems. Solved by managing. CEO’s use the human resources at their disposal to achieve predetermined goals and objectives…in any organization. What we need and Bob lacks is vision for the future. Where will the MCSO be in 5, 10, 15 years? What will it’s core mission be? What legislative changes will he initiate to accomplish that mission? What linkages and partnerships with other allied agencies will he establish? These activities require he be engaged in current, state of the art managerial practices. This ain’t a corn field in Nebraska. Multnomah County has been known until recently as a progressive place. Bob has taken us back 25 years and now holds us hostage to his lack of skill and understanding no more revealed than failing the exam, after special treatment was extended because he argued his 34 prior years gave him special status.
This is/was total crap. A function of his own hubris (Hubris is a term used in modern English to indicate overweening pride, superciliousness, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution or nemesis. In ancient Greece, hubris referred to actions which, intentionally or not, shamed and humiliated the victim, and frequently the perpetrator as well. It was most evident in the public and private actions of the powerful and rich. The word was also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist’s downfall)
2nd acts are hard to do….unless you bring your best game. Bob didn’t. Do you want Fred Pearce back? Dan Noelle was very very good but he wasn’t interested. Times change, issues evolve, Bob hasn’t. Nice guys obviously finish last. he did with 66%.
Don Naptolong says:
July 3, 2009 at 10:59 am
Jack:
I usually agree with you but I have to take issue with the Joe Arapaio comment. He represents the mind set of the Arizona retirement community and as such isn’t all that relevant to Oregon and especially Multnomah County.He’s a good guy, doing a good job..but that whole deal down there is different. Their attitude is sort of Let Joe be Joe. Skipper is really an egotistical sob.
Don Naptolong said the above.
Don: Fantastic post, The problem here..is that PDX is weird, and we both know it.
Look at the streets on a warm day…HELL, a cold one.
From what we hear….The Sheriff down there may find the ability to open the jail here, or tell why the council members spent money somewhere else, instead of the jail.
Could tell you more stories just about the guy there…would just pi– some off more.
We aree in trouble here…we need a recall to sebd a message.
Humm a sheriff with altsheimers, that’s a novel concept.
The MCSO corrections division is a talented group. Why not select a sheriff from amongst their group of high ranking military reserve officers, Ph.D’s, business professionals, command staff members and sergeants. What is so alluring about a sheriff with memory loss, and a skill set from the 1960’s?
Guess what folks??? He FAILED- again. Now, since he’s failed TWICE, what exactly are the citizens of Portland to do? Allow him to “play” Sheriff, or find a candidate that is qualified for the position? I moved away from California to get away from the idiocy that ran that state; looks like it’s a disease that’s spreading Northward.
Oh, yeah- Good job WW for recommending he be voted back in to office. Maybe you should stick to fashion and music columns? Obviously politics isn’t your strong suit.
[...] problems attaining his police certification have been well documented — so much so that the race to [...]