The Rap Sheet is the official monthly publication of the Portland Police Association. The Rap Sheet is the only publication of its kind that represents the interests of men and women working in law enforcement in Portland.

Editor's
Statement

Rap Sheet Editor, Detective Peter Simpson
by Rap Sheet Editor,
Det. Peter Simpson

Lasting impact left on Bureau

June of this year saw four members of the police bureau ride off into the sunset as they all ended their very distinguished careers: Sergeant Mel Tellinghusen, Officer Tadd Kruger, Officer Rick Hascall, and Sergeant Wayne Svilar.

Mel ended his career as the longest serving Sergeant of SERT. Tadd left the Training Division after mentoring and instructing hundreds, perhaps thousands of officers over his career. Rick finished out his career in uniform walking the midway at the Fun Center. Wayne closed out his last day at a brief training session with the Hostage Negotiation Team, which he left as the first full-time member.

Each was regarded as a leader in their respective areas. Both Mel and Wayne served the Bureau with distinction as Detectives then crossed-over to Sergeant and continued to set a high standard for others to follow. Tadd was a long-time member of SERT and is internationally known as one of the finest tactical instructors in the field. Rick too was a tenured member of SERT and was a tenacious narcotics investigator.

The Bureau lost a tremendous amount of experience and leadership with the loss of these four horsemen. Each of them served the city in ways that cannot be measured in a few words or awards given at a retirement ceremony.

Each of them will have a lasting effect on those that worked for them, with them and around them. Their retirement party at Kells was a testament to the influence and respect each of them had among three generations of Portland Police officers: Both Tadd and Wayne’s fathers were Portland Police officers and there were people at the party that worked with their dads, worked with them and have only worked for the Bureau for a few years.

Of the four, I spent the most time with Wayne both in Detectives and on HNT and I learned so much from him that it’s hard to put into words. One of the gems I learned from Wayne occurred right before he retired. I don’t remember what we were talking about but I remember his words, “Our job is way too serious to be that serious. Some guys never get that and they’ll let this job kill ‘em.” Not that I felt that I was one of those “too serious” guys but it really clarified to me that we (police officers) need to have fun at whatever we’re doing otherwise we’ll never make it out alive.

Congratulations to Mel, Tadd, Rick, and Wayne on making it through with smiles on their faces and few regrets in their minds and I’ll leave them with this quote from famous baseball executive Branch Rickey about retirement: “First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to zip up your fly; and then you forget to unzip your fly.”

Gun, Gavel, Gurney golf tournament

The annual Gun, Gavel, Gurney golf tournament was held in May at the Eastmoreland Golf Course. Special thanks go to Mark Slater, Mark Sponhauer, Paul Dolbey and Jim McCausland for taking the reigns this year and putting together an outstanding day at the golf course.

Sponsors included the Portland Police Association, which contributed welcome bags to all the golfers, Smitty’s Golf, which contributed a number of gifts given away as raffle prizes, Mr. Binh Quach for his generous financial contribution, and Detective Jon Rhodes and his wife Allison for the donation of a two-night stay at their condo at the Collins Lake Resort at Government Camp.

The Gun, Gavel, Gurney golf tournament brings together police, prosecutors and folks from the crime lab for a day of golfing and good times.