David M. "Dave" Ward was the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of Harney County,

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idah ...

, from 2015 until 2020. This included during the time of the

Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge On January 2, 2016, an armed group of far-right extremists seized and occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, and continued to occupy it until law enforcement made a final arrest on February 11 ...

in 2016.

Early life

Ward was born in Drain,

, to Jim, the son of a military veteran, and Linda Ward. In high school, he wrestled and played football. After graduation, he enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, where he served as a

combat medic A combat medic, or healthcare specialist, is responsible for providing emergency medical treatment at a point of wounding in a combat or training environment, as well as primary care and health protection and evacuation from a point of injur ...

. He was deployed to

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

, as part of

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...

, and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. While serving as a machine gunner in Afghanistan, he also trained more than 1,500 Afghan soldiers, and created a literacy program and a bank for them. Ward left the Army in 1994 and pursued a variety of jobs ranging from ranch hand to mill worker. During this time, he served in the

Oregon National Guard The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the governor as commander-in-chief, the agency is respo ...

. He returned to active service in 1998 and left the Army a second time in 2002. Following his second separation from military service, Ward worked as a

corrections officer A prison officer or corrections officer is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. They are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been ...

in Lake County,

from 2002 to 2007. He later went to work for the Harney County Sheriff's Office as a sheriff's deputy. He had been the top cadet in his class at the Oregon Public Safety Academy, earning awards for marksmanship and understanding defensive tactics.

County sheriff

Ward was appointed sheriff of Harney County by the Harney County Court on December 5, 2014, and was sworn into office on January 2, 2015. His appointment was to fill the unexpired term of retiring sheriff David Glerup. The next election for sheriff of Harney County will take place in November 2016; Ward has announced he will stand in that vote. On September 4, 2019, He resigned from the position, effective January 2, 2020.

Refuge occupation

Ward was serving as the Harney County sheriff in January 2016 when a loosely organized militia group occupied the

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located roughly south of the city of Burns in Oregon's Harney Basin. Administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the refuge area is roughly T-shaped with the southe ...

. The occupation was covered by national news media. Ward worked with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

and the

Oregon State Police The Oregon State Police (OSP) is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of Oregon. The OSP enforces all of Oregon's criminal laws and assists local law enforcement agencies. Terri Davie has served as Superintendent since November 1, 2020. ...

to maintain order and protect local citizens during the occupation. During the standoff, the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' described Ward's evolving

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

savvy, noting that he began "holding events intended to draw media attention, manipulating the twitchy-fingered amplifier of social media and encouraging his supporters to speak up." At one point during negotiations, Ward did not encourage armed militants to remove their firearms, which attracted criticism from Harney County Judge Steve Grasty. There were a number of altercations between the sheriff and Harney County deputies and the militants for weeks before the occupation began. Ward said that one of the militants, Blaine Cooper, had followed his family when they went Christmas shopping, but militant Ryan Payne reported that Ward's mother had threatened him. Altercations also occurred during the course of the occupation: the tires of Ward's wife's vehicle were found slashed, forcing her to temporarily go into hiding; and Ward's parents were followed by militants while leaving Ward's daughter's Christmas play. Following the arrest of the final militant on February 11, 2016, Ward said that he was proud of his community. He also encouraged residents, who he noticed were divided by the political rhetoric of the militants, to express their issues to one another rather than staying silent. During and after the occupation, several media outlets wrote

op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. ...

s praising Ward's handling of the incident. On September 14, Ward was the first to testify against the militants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, David Living people Oregon sheriffs People from Douglas County, Oregon People from Harney County, Oregon United States Army soldiers Year of birth missing (living people) Military personnel from Oregon