BEND, OR – Following months of controversy, the Sheriff of Deschutes County says he will step down at the end of July. The subject line of Sheriff Kent van der Kamp’s Monday morning email to Deschutes County leadership read, “retirement announcement,” but the body of the email announced his resignation. Twenty minutes later, he sent an email to agency staff that read in part, “My last day serving as your Sheriff will be July 31, 2025.” That message went out 30 minutes after an effort to recall van der Kamp was made public.
Sgt. Thomas Lilienthal is part of the recall committee. He says that work will continue until they’re sure he’s really leaving, “There were talks of 90-days. Internally, he was saying to people that he was going to stay for two years, he was going to stay the whole term, that he was going to leave in May. And it was a moving target.” Lilienthal added, “If we do learn that it’s final, that he cannot remove the July 31st date that he announced 30 minutes after we did our press release, then the recall effort is a success.”
The Sheriff has been embroiled in scandal since taking office in January, after evidence surfaced, he repeatedly lied about his resume – on his employment application for the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) and a subsequent internal investigation, and on the stand while testifying in criminal cases. The Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) is on track to revoke van der Kamp’s law enforcement certifications, he was ruled an unreliable court witness by the Deschutes County District Attorney and the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association permanently revoked his membership. “I want to offer my sincere apology for the events of the past few months,” van der Kamp said in his email to staff, “It has been a deeply disappointing time, especially in not meeting the expectations you rightly had of me as your leader.”
The DCSO employee’s union recently voted to pull support, asking him to return a $20,000 campaign donation used on his legal fees. Sgt. Lilienthal says, “I don’t think that money’s coming back. I think he is setting up his future endeavors right now, while he still occupies the position of Sheriff and is collecting taxpayer dollars on that.” A mortgage and real estate business owned by van der Kamp is now running social media ads, and he has been seen in recent real estate-related webinars. Lilienthal says it’s all taking a toll on the agency and staff, “We have no idea what’s going on right now. So, ultimately, we need someone at the head of our office, who’s the face of the agency that can stand as the model for what the entire agency represents.” He doesn’t have an opinion on who should take over, but he knows van der Kamp shouldn’t be in charge, “We cannot have a Sheriff that represents the highest level of law enforcement in Deschutes County, that is using and responsible for taxpayer dollars, that has shown a consistent pattern of lying and can’t even be trusted in court; he can’t even testify in court.”
Sheriff van der Kamp is in Florida this week, attending the National Sheriff’s Association Conference.
A ‘Discussion of Potential Sheriff Transition’ is now on the agenda for Wednesday's Deschutes County Commissioner meeting.
