Coos Bay Police Chief Eura Washburn was recognized for her 30 years with the department at Tuesday's city council meeting. World Photo by David Courtland

Sitting in her office one day after the city council recognized her 30 years of service to the community, Eura Washburn recalled the stunned looks she used to get from people who weren't used to seeing female police officers.

"Back in those days they didn't have many. It was pretty shocking for them," Coos Bay's police chief said Wednesday. "When I showed up on calls, it was something they'd never seen before."

Washburn began her career in Coos Bay in 1975, as the department's civilian advisor on crime prevention, working with retailers and neighborhood watch programs to prevent theft and burglary.

Just before the federal grant funding that position ran out two years later, she completed training at Oregon's police academy to become Coos Bay's first woman police officer.

To establish her credibility in the male-dominated department she became a certified weapons, firearms and defensive tactics instructor.

"There weren't a lot of hands being extended to me along the way, so I picked those areas of expertise," she said. "Time and hard work took care of the rest. One by one my detractors dropped off."

The last three decades have brought drastic changes, not only in technology, but the situations police officers are asked to address.

"Issues have changed more in the last seven or eight years than they ever have before," Washburn said, adding changes are coming at an accelerated pace.

"What we see now in a year used to take a decade," she said. "The changes come so fast you have to be more flexible than ever before."

Washburn said that when she joined the department, people typically entered law enforcement to protect others from criminals and prevent crime.

"Now we find ourselves intruding in homes and breaking up families," Washburn said.

"When I started, we didn't have the mentally ill population," she continued. "Now there isn't a day that goes by we don't deal with that."

Methamphetamine replaced marijuana as the drug of choice in the last 12 to 13 years, Washburn said, bringing with it a new set of problems.

"We've lost almost an entire generation to that drug," Washburn said. "It's tied to almost all of our crime, certainly all of our child abuse. It's truly not a victimless crime."

But among other changes, one of the most positive has come about of necessity because of the ever-shrinking budget she must work with, Washburn said.

"Communities like this one, especially in isolated areas, have for a very long time had a tradition of pulling together with civic leaders," Washburn said.

"That's a big difference. Everything used to be compartmentalized," Washburn continued. "Now there's tremendous cooperation and overlapping."

Left with tremendous budget cuts and layoffs, elected officials, department heads and civic leaders were forced to come up with creative ways to solve problems, Washburn said.

"I think we have one of the healthiest communities," she said. "I sit on a lot of committees, so I get to compare notes."

Hiring officers who meet her department's high standards has helped maintain that degree of health, Washburn said, noting seven of her officers also teach at the state police academy in their off-duty time.

"We'd rather not fill a position than hire someone who doesn't live up to those standards," she said, adding character is a key qualification. "I can teach you to shoot, but I can't teach you compassion."

Another factor in maintaining the department's health is her long-term strategy of buying only the best - and often most expensive - clothes and equipment.

"It's cost effective. They're not always breaking down in the field," Washburn said.

"Half our work is done in the dark and rain. There's nothing more frustrating than having your flashlight go out on you."

Among her immediate goals for the department are to get state accreditation, an 18- to 24-month process that she calls an exercise in quality control.

Another is to send several officers to the United Kingdom next year to learn how British police officers - who generally don't carry guns - deal with situations officers encounter here.

"I don't see anything wrong with having a little fun," Washburn said. "It will be a great professional and cultural exchange."

Her other priority is to make way for her successor.

"I'm preparing people for leadership roles, pushing people harder to seize career opportunities," Washburn said, adding she plans to retire in a couple of years to join her husband, Mike, in running an orchard of fruit and nut trees. "He's having too much fun."