Ridg Medford

1st Vice President - Oregon

Ridg Medford served as a police officer for over 16 years. He served his entire law enforcement career with the Ontario Police Department in Ontario, Oregon, and held his advanced police certification through the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST). During his time with the Police Department, he served in many roles, including patrol officer, school resource officer, motor officer, and detective. He has also served as the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) coordinator for Malheur County, Oregon.

Ridg currently serves as a behavioral health and justice specialist for the Oregon Center on Behavioral Health and Justice Integration (OCBHJI), which is a forensic division under Greater Oregon Behavioral Health Inc. (GOBHI). OCBHJI provides specialized training and technical assistance for behavioral health and justice partners to enhance knowledge and improve practices aimed at treating people who, primarily due to symptoms of serious behavioral health conditions neurocognitive conditions, and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities, are at risk of becoming incarcerated or are already within the system. 

OCBHJI partners with the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) to create the Oregon CIT Center of Excellence (CITCOE). CITCOE provides technical assistance and support to all CIT programs in the state of Oregon. 

Ridg is a certified mental health first aid instructor, a trauma informed care instructor, a qualified sequential intercept model mapping workshop facilitator, a certified crisis intervention team coordinator, a juvenile fire-setter intervention specialist, and a nationally certified anger management specialist. Ridg is passionate about teaching and has taught crisis intervention and officer wellness topics at local, regional, and international levels.

Ridg is very community driven and serves or has served on several boards, including being the chairperson of the board for the Housing Authority of Malheur and Harney Counties. Ridg is a passionate outdoorsman and can often be found in the mountains with his family and friends.