Sweet Home Police Sgt. Chris Wingo has resigned to take a position as a police officer at Woodburn Police Department, SHPD announced last week.
Wingo is a decorated 13-year veteran of Sweet Home Police Department. In 2018, Police Chief Jeff Lynn promoted him to sergeant, supervising responses, prioritizing calls and making decisions for his team.
Wingo has served as a field training officer and departmental instructor, and he is an instructor at the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training in defensive tactics, conflict simulations, use of force, vehicle stops, emergency vehicle operations, firearms and more.
He also has served as defensive tactics instructor at the Sweet Home Police Department, and he played a major role in designing the department’s training program.
He has been a women’s self-defense instructor, Citizen’s Academy instructor, school resource officer, a bike patrol officer, a member of Linn County SWAT, a runner in the annual Torch Run for Special Olympics and a participant in the Special Olympics Polar Plunge.
In 2018, Wingo received the Medal of Valor from SHPD and the Oregon Peace Officers Association for de-escalating an encounter with a suicidal subject carrying a firearm. Video footage from the incident is used statewide in use of force training.
In 2017, Lynn presented Wingo with the Chief’s Medal of Merit for an achievement or service beyond what is normally expected of an officer. Wingo is the only police officer to receive the award within the past two decades. In 2014, Wingo received the department’s Lifesaving Medal after administering first aid and saving the life of a man suffering from a self-inflicted stab that cut an artery in the leg.
“Sgt. Wingo has saved lives and made a difference in Sweet Home,” Lynn said. “He has met the highest calling for a police officer with expertise, dignity and honor.
“We’re disappointed to see him leaving the department for all the same reasons we also want to wish him the best as he begins a new chapter in his law enforcement career at Woodburn.”
“I enjoyed working in the city and working in the community that I lived in,” Wingo said. “Good community, and I hope I left a positive impact in some way.”
Wingo’s final day at SHPD was Thursday, Oct. 22.