About the Lake Oswego Police Department

The Lake Oswego Police Department (LOPD) is a full-service police force upholding the City of Lake Oswego's mission to cultivate an exceptional quality of life for everyone in our community through our shared values of Respect, Excellence, Trust, and Service.

We carry out our mission through a range of divisions with activities that vary from criminal investigations and traffic enforcement to education programs and behavioral health specialty. Our department serves our community of residents, visitors, and local businesses spanning an area of eleven square miles.

The Lake Oswego Police Department is accredited through the Oregon Accreditation Alliance.

Message from Chief George Burke

Connecting with Community

Throughout the course of my policing career, I have found it beneficial to both community and the organization to have strong community connections and engagement. In doing so, I believe it is important for the community to know the background information of their Chief of Police. Much of my background has been released publicly, but in the interest of keeping the community informed, I wanted to put this information in a location where it can be easily accessed.

I started my policing career in 1989 after I graduated from Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University). My first full-time police job was in Forest Grove, Oregon where I believe I developed the base of my policing philosophy, which focused on community involvement and partnership. After a little over three years in Forest Grove, I made the move to the City of Portland where I served for 25 years. I was fortunate to have been given opportunities to work in several positions within the Portland Police Bureau. I retired from the Police Bureau in 2016 as the commander of North Precinct.

In January 2017, I was hired by the Salem Police Department where I spent the majority of my time as the deputy chief over the investigations division but finished my time there as the deputy chief of operations.

That brings us to my current role as the Chief of Police for the Lake Oswego Police Department. I am honored to have been chosen as your chief as we continue to focus on fair and equitable policing for all residents of the City. As we focus on the future of policing, we will continue to enhance our engagement in the community, through trust building, respect, neutrality, and a desire to give our community a voice.

With all of that said, I believe it is important for you all to know we have a great team of professionals working to keep the city safe. I have been impressed with our ability to provide a high level of service focused on creating a safe and welcoming community. Thank you to all of you for entrusting us with support and compassion as we continue our efforts.

Sincerely,

George Burke
Chief of Police

Mission Statement and Values

Cultivate an exceptional quality of life for everyone in our community.

Respect

We treat everyone with respect and value a diverse, inclusive and welcoming community and organizational culture. We are committed to equitable treatment and elimination of discrimination in all its forms at all organizational levels.

Excellence

We cultivate growth within high-performing teams through being creative and innovative leaders in our respective professions. We support a culture where people celebrate successes and learn from our challenges.

Trust

We value the public's trust and will endeavor to always be worthy of it through ethical actions and good stewardship of resources. We believe good governance relies on transparency, and an open, honest, fair, and inclusive decision-making process.

Service

Our approach to customer service is relationship-centered and focused on being responsive, responsible, and reasonable. We believe that the residents, businesses, and visitors to Lake Oswego should receive the highest quality public services.