Sequim Gazette staff

The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has two new faces on staff, but both are familiar ones.

Ronald D. Cameron, son of chief criminal deputy Ron Cameron, and former Sequim Police Department reserve Don Kitchen are the Sheriff’s Office’s newest deputy sheriffs.

Kitchen has been a police officer with the Lower Elwha Tribal Police for the past five years.

A longtime resident of Clallam County, he attended Sequim High School for three years before transferring to Forks High School his senior year. After graduation, he joined the United States Marine Corps. Kitchen was employed as a corrections officer at Stafford Creek Corrections Center for more than three years; during that time he was a member of its Fugitive Recovery Team and Special Incident Response Team. He also served as a reserve for the Sequim Police Department.

Cameron is a lifetime resident of Clallam County. He graduated from  Port Angeles High School in 2005 and started his law enforcement career as a reserve deputy with the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office in 2008. Later in 2008, he was hired full-time with the Lower Elwha Tribal Police Department as an officer.

Cameron most recently was employed by Neah Bay Public Safety and worked as a detective during which time he graduated from the three-month Federal Criminal Investigator’s Course.

Benedict said that acquiring fully-trained deputy sheriffs familiar with the area and residents is a benefit to the department and to local citizens as it greatly reduces the time and cost needed to get them into the field on their own.