Staton Shakes Up the Sheriff's Office (At Last)

After former Sheriff Bob Skipper promised but ultimately declined to make high-level changes at the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, his new replacement has announced some big moves.

Interim Sheriff Dan Staton, who replaced Skipper early this month, is removing Chief Deputy Ron Bishop as head of the sheriff's historically troubled Corrections Division. Staton announced the move in an internal memo (PDF) last week.

According to the memo, Capt. Carol Hasler, who is currently head of internal affairs, will replace Bishop as head of corrections. The changes take effect Dec. 5.

Staton is out of town until next week and could not be reached for comment on the reasons behind the move.

In a separate memo (PDF), Staton announced he's retaining Chief Deputy Tim Moore as head of the Law Enforcement Division. He's also keeping Lt. Jason Gates in charge of operations at the Law Enforcement Division, and promoting Gates to captain.

That move means Capt. Brett Elliott won't soon get back his old job as head of law-enforcement operations. As first reported in WW, Skipper yanked Elliott out of his old post in April and put him in charge of courthouse security after Elliott complained about alleged falsification in Moore's law-enforcement training.

The state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training — an agency also currently in the news — is still investigating allegations that Moore falsified his training records in 2006. The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute the case.