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Administration
The Ashland Police Department is divided into three divisions: Administration, Operations, and Support.
Administration
The Administrative Division consists of the Chief of Police Tighe O'Meara and Administrative Analyst Lynn Merrifield. The Administrative Division oversees department budget, purchasing, hiring, and the tracking of expenditures, payroll, and accreditation.
Operations
The Operations Division consists of all uniformed patrol personnel including 1 Deputy Police Chief, 4 Patrol Sergeants, 16 Patrol Officers, 1 Traffic Officer, 2 Central Area Patrol Officers (CAP), the Community Service Officer (CSO), Cadets, and Park Patrol. Uniformed patrol is the backbone of the Police Department and provides the patrol staff that responds to all emergency and non-emergency calls within the city. Deputy Chief Dan Moulin oversees all uniformed personnel.
Support
The Support Division includes 1 Lieutenant, 1 Detective Sergeant, 4 full-time Detectives, 1 Evidence Technician, 1 Investigations Specialist, 1 Records Supervisor, 1 Lead Records Specialist, 2 full-time Records Specialists, 1 part-time Records Specialist, and all of the Ashland Police Department Volunteers (VIPS). The division is also responsible for several administrative functions such as technological support, training, internal affairs investigations, policy and procedures, and coordination of the Citizen Volunteer in Policing Services Program.
The Ashland Police Department is an accredited agency through the Oregon Accreditation Alliance. Accreditation is an ongoing process, which validates that the agency has met professional standards and abides by them.
In this section you will find a photo and short bio on those in administration. We hope you'll take the time to learn about our Police Chief, Deputy Police Chief, Lieutenant and the Sergeants who make up our administrative team.
Police Chief Tighe O’Meara grew up in Detroit Michigan where he attended both the Detroit Waldorf School and Detroit Public Schools. Chief O’Meara graduated from Hillsdale College with a BA in Psychology and went on later to obtain a Master’s Degree in Management from Southern Oregon University. Chief O’Meara worked for several smaller agencies in Hillsdale County before returning to Detroit to join the Wayne State University Police Department. He worked for the WSU Police for 13 years, serving as a field training officer and instructing in several areas of law enforcement. He was promoted to Sergeant, then Lieutenant, before leaving the WSU police department to join the Ashland Police Department in January of 2010.
Since joining the Ashland Police Department, Chief O’Meara has served as a Patrol Sergeant, Detective Sergeant and as the Deputy Chief over both the operations and support divisions of the department. He has attended several advanced police schools including the International Association of Chiefs of Police Leadership in Police Organizations School, the Oregon Executive Development Institute’s leadership school, and most recently the Senior Management Institute for Police held at Boston University.
Chief O'Meara is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Police Executive Research Forum. Chief O'Meara is proud to have served our community as a member and president of the Board of Directors of La Clinica, as a Commissioner for the Ashland Culture of Peace Commission, as a member and president of the Rotary Club of Ashland Lithia Springs, and as a member of the Elks Lodge.
Chief O’Meara believes strongly in community engagement, and looks forward to continuing to build on the good relationships that the police department has with the community. Feel free to contact Chief O’Meara at tighe.omeara@ashland.or.us
Deputy Chief Dan Moulin was born and raised in Southern Oregon and graduated from South Medford High School. He first became involved in Public Safety in 1996, and has held supervisory positions in fire/EMS, 9-1-1 dispatch and law enforcement. During his time in law enforcement, DC Moulin has held positions as Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Detective, Corporal and Patrol Lieutenant, and has been an instructor in the areas of defensive tactics, Taser, digital evidence management, use of force, first aid/CPR, and spike strip deployment. He also assisted as an instructor for the Rogue Community College Reserve Officer Law Enforcement Academy from 2011-2017.
DC Moulin holds an AAS in Criminal Justice and a BS in Management and Leadership. He is a recipient of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association Trilogy Award, after his completion of Supervisory, Command and Executive Leadership programs, and is a graduate of the 35th session of the Oregon Executive Development Institute. DC Moulin holds Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Supervisory, Management and Executive Police Officer certifications through the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.
DC Moulin is currently the Operations Division Commander, overseeing patrol, traffic enforcement and community services. He sits on the Steering Committee for the Jackson County Coalition Against Trafficking Task Force which is an Oregon Department of Justice Human & Sex Trafficking Task Force, focusing on how Sex & Human Trafficking cases are identified and investigated, survivors are supported, and offenders are held accountable in Jackson County.
DC Moulin believes in the importance of transparency, and an open dialog between the police and the community to work toward common goals together. Please feel free to email DC Moulin with operations questions or contact him at 541-552-2178.
Bon moved to Ashland in 1992 after a tour in the Air Force and traveling. He started working for the Ashland Police Department in 1998 as a 9-1-1 Dispatcher. He has been a sworn police officer since September 2000. He has served as a patrol officer, School Resource Officer, detective, patrol sergeant, and the detective sergeant. He is currently the Lieutenant responsible for detectives, records, in-service training, and volunteers. Bon teaches citizen groups in the best practices for responding to an active shooter or violent threat event.
Detective Sergeant Rick Spence began his law enforcement career in January 1989 with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department in Santa Rosa, California. He was assigned to the Detention Division, where he was a Training Officer.
In 1993, Detective Sergeant Spence began working for the Idaho Falls, Idaho Police Department. He was assigned to the Patrol Division until being moved to the Traffic Division in 1996. While in the Traffic Division he worked on a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (DUII Task Force) where his primary responsibility was apprehending impaired drivers.
In 1997, Detective Sergeant Spence was awarded the Medal of Valor by the Idaho Falls Police Department and the Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce.
Detective Sergeant Spence joined the Ashland Police Department in March 1998. He was assigned to the Patrol Division until 2009, when he moved into the Detective Division. In the Patrol Division, he served as an Officer-in-Charge and as a Field Training Officer.
Detective Sergeant Spence was appointed Interim Sergeant of the Detective Division in 2010 and served in that capacity for six months. Since then, Detective Sergeant Spence has served as the Interim Sergeant of the Detective Division numerous times. He was promoted to Sergeant in July 2024. He is also a background investigator, having conducted background investigations for the Ashland Police Department, Ashland Fire & Rescue, Talent Police Department and Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon.
Detective Sergeant Spence is the past President of the Oregon Background Investigators Association and a former Executive Board member of the Oregon Peace Officers Association. He has been a nationally certified Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) and a nationally certified Drug Recognition Expert Instructor.
Matt Carpenter grew up in McMinnville, Oregon, and came from a family of educators. He came to Ashland in the fall of 2000 to attend Southern Oregon University and has been in Southern Oregon ever since. During his time in college, Matt started working with the Campus Public Safety department where he began working closely with the police department. Matt graduated from SOU in 2004 and worked full time with CPS for two years before getting hired with Ashland Police Department in October of 2006.
In his time with APD, Matt has been a patrol officer, Officer in Charge, Police Training Officer, Taser Instructor, and spent 7 years assigned to Central Area Patrol (downtown and Lithia Park). Matt was promoted to sergeant in October 2021 on his 15 year anniversary with the department.
Rob was raised in Beaverton, Oregon and settled in the Rogue Valley in 1994. Rob started his career in law enforcement in April 1996, first starting as a Reserve Officer at the Josephine County Sheriff's Office where he worked in the jail and in Patrol until December of 1998. In March of 1999 he was hired as a Patrol Officer for Talent Police Department. In September of 2001, Rob transferred to Eagle Point Police Department where he served for the next 17 years. In January 2018, Rob transferred to Ashland Police Department where he currently serves. Rob has performed in several capacities including School Resource Officer, Background Investigator, Field Training Officer, Officer In Charge, and Defensive Tactics Instructor. Rob has been married to his wife Sarah for 10 years.
Sergeant Theron Hull was born and raised in the Rogue Valley and graduated from Phoenix High School. Theron was a Police Cadet and Community Service Officer for the Phoenix Police Department from 1998-2000 before joining the U.S. Coast Guard in 2000. Theron returned to the Rogue Valley when he was hired by the Ashland Police Department in the fall of 2004. Theron worked as a Patrol Officer, Police Training Officer (PTO), Officer in Charge (OIC), Detective, and Patrol Sergeant before joining the Oregon State Police in 2018. Theron returned to the Ashland Police Department as a Patrol Sergeant in 2023. Theron has been a Drug Recognition Expert and an instructor in the areas of Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFST), Intoxilyzer, TASER, Lethality Assessment Program and the Oregon Physical Ability Test (ORPAT). Theron currently holds a supervisory, advanced, intermediate and basic police certificate through the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST). Theron married his wife Jamie in 2007 and has three wonderful boys.
Sergeant J.R. Godley grew up in the Rogue Valley graduating from Crater High School in 1995 before attending Lassen College to play baseball. In 1997, He joined the United States Marine Corps as a Radio Operator. In 2003 Sergeant Godley was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. J.R. started his Law Enforcement Career in 2005 with the Central Point Police Department where he held the position of Patrol Officer, D.A.R.E. Officer, FTO, Corporal and School Resource Officer. He transferred to Ashland Police Department in May of 2023 and has been a Police Officer for 19yrs. He currently has his AAS in Criminal Justice and holds a Supervisory Certificate. JR has been married to his wife Sarah for 25 yrs. and has 3 boys.