Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp was appointed sheriff on Dec. 18 before his term officially began on Jan. 6. He now may resign, retire or be removed from office. (Deschutes County)

It’s rare that an elected official is recalled from office. It’s rare that it is needed.

It’s also rare that a Deschutes County Sheriff would be placed on what’s called the Brady list for dishonest law enforcement officers.

We heard last week that people were looking into what it would take to recall Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp, if he does not resign. Bulletin Reporter Morgan Owen explained how a recall might work, which you can find here: tinyurl.com/Sheriffrecall.

A fundamental qualification for sheriff is honesty. Van der Kamp tried to restore what he said was lost morale and public trust at the sheriff’s office. Instead, he undermined it.

The state Board of Public Safety Standards and Training may revoke his law enforcement credentials on June 27. He has said he would contest that.

What is not in question is that Deschutes County District Attorney Steve Gunnels has said van der Kamp cannot give future testimony in Deschutes County Circuit Court cases. Van der Kamp lied under oath about where he went to college. Van der Kamp supplied false documents to the Oregon State Police. No person should be able to continue as sheriff if they did such things.

Van der Kamp has said he plans to resign or retire. We expect he will. Not that it is especially relevant, but to his credit, when we reached out to him this week about the Alder Springs Fire, he responded swiftly.

What if he doesn’t resign or retire?

The Deschutes County Commission could remove him from office if his credentials are revoked. We would expect that they would do so. What if they don’t or if van der Kamp tries to contest it?

That’s where a recall or a recall attempt could send a clear message about what voters in Deschutes County want from their sheriff.

A recall could take months. It couldn’t start until July 7. A petition must be filed. Signatures from qualified voters must be collected — 16,452 of them. Then the signatures would have to be verified. And then there could be a recall election.

Recall elections shouldn’t be a part of the routine process of governing. The threat of a recall is brought up with dull regularity because of political disagreements with elected officials. That can put elected officials in a kind of perpetual campaign when they should be doing the job they were elected to do. The van der Kamp situation is anything but routine.