Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Linn County Deputy Dan Brewer was looking for a change of pace and found it on the water.
Brewer is the Sheriff?s Office?s new full-time marine deputy, patrolling Foster and Green Peter lakes. He succeeds Kevin Gilford, who held the post for four years.
Brewer has been a deputy for nine years. Prior to that he served with the Sweet Home Police Department for 10 years. He started in law enforcement with a small department in Wyoming where he worked for two years.
?My wife and I both graduated South Albany High,? Brewer said. ?She?s always liked the Sweet Home community atmosphere.?
Brewer and his wife, Patty, returned to the area from Wyoming, and Brewer began taking courses in law enforcement at Linn-Benton Community College. He attended for about two years, and then he learned that SHPD was reorganizing under Chief Gary David. He was able to get in on the ground floor of the reorganized department.
Brewer said he left a job in the steel industry, during Oregon’s big depression in the early 1980s, to join some friends in a bad investment, Brewer said. They talked him into going into computer sales.
With a background in grass seed and steel fabrication, he took off for Wyoming, where friends said jobs were everywhere.While searching for a job, he wandered into the police station.
He was hired on the spot, Brewer said. Two weeks after he was hired, he was solo and the only officer on the graveyard shift ?wondering what in the world I?d gotten myself into.?
Brewer ?never dreamed” of becoming a cop when he went to Wyoming, he said. He was thinking about oil exploration and welding. He came back fascinated with law enforcement.
After 19 years on the streets in the Sweet Home area, as a Sweet Home officer then as a resident deputy, Brewer is now a senior deputy based on his years of service and experience.
?After 21 years on the road, I was looking at several different options as a diversion from patrol,? Brewer said. ?In the process of looking, this job came open. It?s near where I live. Public image is a big part of this, and I like working with the public.?
Most of the job is educating the public, Brewer said. Marine deputies don?t issue many citations.
?The best part is just visiting with the people, educating them about water safety,? Brewer said. He enjoys visiting schools and talking about boating safety and giving out life jackets. When he finds children on the lake wearing their life jackets, they get a coupon for a free ice cream cone from Dairy Queen.
?It?s generally a positive experience,? Brewer said. ?When I approach people, people will ask for boat inspections.?
Most problems are easier to resolve on the lake compared to being a road deputy, Brewer said. One exception is alcohol, which can cause more problems on the water with heat and fatigue factored in.
Linn County usually fields four marine deputies during the summer with one, now Brewer, on all year long. The Sheriff?s Department is trying to fill one more position.
Josh Marvin of Sweet Home has returned for his second year on the lake. After he left last summer, he joined the Linn County Sheriff?s Reserves. He will return to the reserves after the summer season ends, and he plans to continue pursuing a career in law enforcement.
?We?re hoping to bring him on at the end of the season,? Brewer said.
Lori Woolard is working her third season as a marine deputy. She spends the rest of the year as Linn County?s school resource officer, working mainly in the Lebanon and Albany school districts. She has been with Linn County for eight years.