Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp, left, takes an oath during the swearing in ceremony, held in the packed courtroom of Judge Ashby, right, at the Deschutes County Courthouse in downtown Bend Monday morning. 1-6-25

Minutes after a press release went out announcing an official recall effort against Deschutes County Sheriff Kent van der Kamp, the embattled sheriff informed the Deschutes County Commission he will resign effective July 31, according to emails obtained by The Bulletin.

In recent months, van der Kamp has faced intense public scrutiny and widespread calls for his resignation following a report from the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office saying that he lied while under oath during criminal cases and supplied false documents about his educational history to Oregon State Police.

In the aftermath, the sheriff was expelled from the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association and the state’s Police Policy Committee made an official recommendation that van der Kamp’s law enforcement credentials be permanently revoked. The Board of Public Safety Standards and Training will likely decide whether or not to uphold this recommendation at its next meeting on Friday.

After the recommendation to revoke his law enforcement certifications, van der Kamp said he would retire this summer, and that he would appeal the credential decision.  

Van der Kamp — who will be in Florida this week for the National Sheriffs’ Association annual conference — told The Bulletin Monday he had no idea about the recall effort.

“It seems foolish,” van der Kamp said, “given I already told affairs I would retire by the end of August. I don’t know why they wasted the time or money, but to each their own.” 

In Oregon, the first day a recall effort can officially begin against an elected official is six full months after that person takes office. For van der Kamp, that day is technically July 6 but because that date falls on a Sunday, the first day the paperwork can be filed with the Deschutes County Clerk’s office is July 7. To be successful, the effort must obtain approximately 16,452 signatures, or 15% of the total votes cast in Deschutes County in the last gubernatorial election.

Although van der Kamp had previously announced he would retire, there was some skepticism about whether or not he would follow through. Sgt. Thomas Lilienthal with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, who is one of the leaders of the recall effort, said that the recall was a “fail safe” in case other efforts to remove him from office were unsuccessful and van der Kamp chose not to proceed with his plans to retire.

“If (the resignation) is finalized — and there is no backing out for Sheriff van der Kamp — if he is forced to vacate that position July 31, I think that this very short-lived recall effort was successful,” said Lilienthal. “At the end of the day, he made his announcement 30 minutes after ours. If he wants to say he was unaware this was happening, so be it.”

Deschutes County Clerk Steve Dennison told van der Kamp in the email acknowledging his resignation, that it will be binding as of Thursday at 5 p.m.

The annual salary for Deschutes County Sheriff is $211,030.68, for a monthly pay of approximately $17,600 before overtime.

This is a developing story and will be updated.