The Tualatin Police Department renewed its policing intergovernmental agreement with the City of Durham on June 23.
At their city council meeting on June 23, Durham City Councilors approved the renewed agreement, which outlines the scope of the Tualatin Police Department’s continued policing of the municipality.
The two cities’ original police agreement was signed in 1989, as Durham’s small population size and physical vicinity made it “very manageable,” according to Tualatin Chief of Police Greg Pickering, for the Tualatin Police Department to oversee.
“What they get in their current contract is a full-service police department,” Tualatin Chief of Police Greg Pickering told Tualatin City Councilors at their work session meeting on April 13. “We treat them as though they’re just a portion of the City of Tualatin.”
Since their original agreement, the Tualatin Police Department has provided daily, 24-hour coverage (excluding city code enforcement) to the City of Durham and treats the city as one of its patrol districts.
Pickering told the council that in the renewed contract, Tualatin Police would update items such as an assigned officer’s salary and a “10% overhead cost” for things like vehicle maintenance, uniforms, equipment and other supplies.
Per the agreement, Durham is paying Tualatin $195,000 for police services in 2026-2027. Durham’s previous five-year contract with Tualatin cost them $177,600 for 2025-2026.
Last year, Durham, which has approximately 1,800 residents, reported 701 calls for service and 24 arrests. Tualatin, with about 27,000 residents, reported about 25,000 calls for service and 781 arrests last year.
Durham, which contracts out most of its municipal services, only makes up 3% of the Tualatin Police Department’s yearly workload.
“Back in 1989, they signed an agreement that the City of Tualatin would cover the City of Durham for police services,” Pickering said. “They’re pretty consistently anywhere from about 2-3% of our total workload of the department. They’re not a huge undertaking for us; it’s very manageable to be able to provide police services for the City of Durham.”
One of two City of Durham staff members, City Administrator Jordan Parente, told Tualatin Life that Durham was working with very limited funds and that negotiating the costs of the police contract was “always a delicate balance.”
“Durham’s done the best that we can with being fiscally conservative,” Parente said. “It’s been a good partnership.”
