A longtime Nyssa police officer is leaving to go to work for the Boardman Police Department.
Sgt. Greg Armenta resigned from the Nyssa Police Department after a 17-year career that saw him rise from a reserve officer to sergeant. He was named the agency’s Police Officer of the Year in 2014 and the Public Servant of the Year in 2017 by the Nyssa Chamber of Commerce.
He was scheduled to start his new job on Monday, Feb. 24.
Armenta was working as the city of Nyssa’s water superintendent when he signed on as a reserve police officer in 2007.
He became a reserve corporal in 2009 and became a full-time sworn officer in 2012. He served as an interim sergeant before getting the rank permanently in 2020.
Only two others had been with the Nyssa agency longer – Chief Don Ballou and Cpl. Robert Rodriguez.
Armenta said the agency’s reputation “was not that great” when he joined. That’s changed.
“We were lucky to build a very good partnership with the community,” he said. “Community policing became our number one focus.”
He said the annual Bubble Ball Tournament started seven years ago allowed the agency to fund Christmas gifts for Nyssa children. He said the fundraiser now provides funding for other community needs as well.
Of the notable cases he has worked on, he recalled tracking down a murder suspect following a shooting in Ontario. He found the man at a Nyssa home and had to get a woman and her children out of the house while he waited for other officers, Armenta said.
“We eventually put him in prison,” Armenta said.
He said one of the biggest challenges for police came with Oregon’s decriminalization of drugs. That caused a spike in crime. The recent change to make drug possession illegal again won’t have an immediate impact, he said.
“It’s going to take time,” he said.
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