Sheriff

Diana Simpson was elected sheriff of Benton County, Oregon on 7 November 2006 and took office on 1 January 2007, becoming the first woman elected sheriff in the history of Oregon. She served until her retirement in summer 2013 after a 30-year career with the Benton County Sheriff's Office.

Background

Simpson spent most of her career in the parole and probation division of the Benton County Sheriff's Office. She was promoted to undersheriff in 2002 and to sheriff in the 2006 general election. Benton County, in Oregon's Willamette Valley, contains the city of Corvallis and Oregon State University; its population is approximately 95,000.

The 2006 campaign was, by Oregon press accounts, acrimonious. Simpson ran on operational reform inside the office and a more transparent and collaborative approach to county-government relationships. Her two terms were marked by changes to the department's training programmes and internal culture.

Subsequent Oregon first-woman events

The next OR first-woman event the dataset notes is Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell — sworn in as Multnomah County (Portland) Sheriff in January 2023, the first woman to hold that office in its 168-year history. Her event came sixteen years after Simpson's state first.

Sources

• Gazette Times — Simpson honored as Oregon's first elected woman sheriff
• Democrat Herald — Diana Simpson, Oregon's first female sheriff, worked to change the department's atmosphere
• Gazette Times — Sheriff Simpson retires