PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict recently swore in two new deputies, Don Kitchen and Ronald D. Cameron.
Kitchen is a longtime resident of Clallam County, attending Sequim High School for three years until transferring to Forks High School for his senior year.
He has spent the past five years as an officer with the Lower Elwha Tribal Police Department and graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the Criminal Justice Training Commission Equivalency Academy. Kitchen is currently a Commission-recognized Field Training Officer.
Marine Corps
He also served in the Marine Corps and spent three years as a corrections officer at Stafford Creek Corrections Center. At Stafford Creek, Kitchen was a member of the facility’s fugitive recovery and special incident response team. He worked as a reserve officer for the Sequim Police Department.
Cameron is a lifelong resident of Clallam County and the son of Ron Cameron, chief criminal deputy for the office.
His brother Ross works as a corrections officer for the Clallam County jail.
Ronald D. Cameron graduated from Port Angeles High School in 2005 and started his law enforcement career as a reserve reputy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office in 2008.
Lower Elwha tribal police
Later in 2008, he was hired as a full-time officer with the Lower Elwha Tribal Police Department.
While there, Cameron attended and graduated from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Academy.
Cameron was most recently employed by Neah Bay Public Safety and worked as a detective during which time he graduated from the three-month Federal Criminal Investigators Course.
Benedict commented that acquiring fully trained deputies already familiar with the area is a huge benefit to the department and to residents because it reduces the time needed to get them into the field and on their own.
Just as importantly, Benedict added, it reduces the cost of field training.
