Hillsboro Police spent more than a year preparing to become an accredited law enforcement agency to meet a new state law that requires approval by July 1, 2025. Late in 2024, the Department received a positive review from the assessor, Northwest Accreditation Alliance. In January, their board gave unanimous approval to grant Hillsboro Police Department accreditation status.

Police Chief Jim Coleman says, “This is a major step forward in our vision of becoming the most trusted police department in the Pacific Northwest. The awarding of the accreditation following a thorough review of our policies and procedures and a site visit is another way we can assure the community we are committed to the best practices of our profession.”

As technology and science have advanced, emergency lights have gotten brighter and display more features. Currently, half of the emergency lights on Hillsboro Police patrol vehicles are blue; the other half are red.

A century ago, all emergency vehicles adopted a red light to warn motorists of a dangerous or hazardous situation. Over time, to help identify specific emergency vehicles, police added blue lights. 

In Oregon, prior to the early 1990s, police cars were the only emergency vehicles allowed to display blue lights. In 1991, Fire apparatus were allowed to add blue. The reason for the change was increased visibility. It was believed that traffic would respond quicker to the blue lights and move out of the way of fire trucks responding to emergency calls for service.

Since that change, there has been a slow increase in law enforcement agencies going to all blue lights to clearly increase the identifiability of specific emergency vehicles stopped on the roadway.

Besides being able to identify the type of emergency vehicle ahead, all blue lights are more visible on the color spectrum during daylight hours. At night, blue lights stand out more in the sea of headlights, taillights, traffic signals and other street signs. There are very few blue lights on the nighttime roadway.

It will take several years to make the transition to all blue emergency lights in Hillsboro, but you will start seeing a few vehicles with this look immediately. With the new lights, the patrol vehicles will maintain their high visibility graphics that identify them as Hillsboro Police.

On January 22, a Washington County jury found Steven Neil Milner guilty of murder in the second degree, stalking, and violating a court’s stalking protective order (seven counts). A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 18.

The defendant was a licensed veterinarian with a practice in Oregon City. He developed an intimate relationship with one of his longtime employees who was married to the victim in this case, Kenneth Fandrich. The victim learned of this affair which led to conflict with the defendant. When the woman ended her relationship with Mr. Milner, he became obsessed with her and began stalking her and the victim.

READ the full media release.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office has been approved for a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA) Grants for Arts Projects program. Working in partnership with Tualatin Valley Creates and the City of Hillsboro Cultural Arts Division, this funding will support the design and creation of a sculpture honoring crime victims to be prominently displayed on the Washington County Courthouse grounds and trauma-informed artwork for areas of the DA’s Office providing services for crime victims.

READ the full media release.

News Highlights

From the City of Hillsboro