San Juan County Sheriff's Office

11/02/2026

LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY- 36 PEA PATCH LN- ORCAS ISLAND

11/2/2026- Report of a person with a weapon- Deputies responded and this call was discovered to be UNFOUNDED.

On 11/2/26, around 8:18 AM, the SJCSO received a call from someone on Orcas Island reporting the following:

"8-10 min ago, RP driving by and saw a guy with a blk handgun, possibly a 1911 on the side of the road. 45-55 YOWM blue/blk jacket UNK pants "looks like steven king". Standing and pointing at the ground.

60 YOWM wearing a blue jacket was waving people off.

RP not from the area and described the area as: Enchanted Forest Road where the construction is next to fun house. Parking lot at an apartment complex across the st. Across from a preschool."

Upon checking the area, deputies discovered that the photo below was the culprit. Knowing that the schools in the area were notified of this call, the SJCSO wanted to ensure everyone that there are no credible threats at this time and this report was unfounded. Our top-notch dispatch team notified the schools of this call as the deputies were responding and also notified the schools once the call was determined to be unfounded and there were no active or credible threats.

Eric Peter- Sheriff

10/28/2026

October 28- National First Responder Day

Thank you to all our first responders in our community and across our nation. It takes a special person to commit their life to a career of service and we are grateful for all those who have made the committment. To all first responders, you are appreciated.

10/27/2026

10/27/2026

County DEM Seeks Public Input on Disaster Preparedness
The San Juan County Department of Emergency Management (www.islandsready.org) is updating the County’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, which outlines local natural hazard risks and identifies strategies to reduce their impacts.

The current plan is available at: https://www.sanjuanco.com/DocumentCenter/View/21421/HazardMitigationPlan

As part of this update, we’re asking San Juan County residents to complete a short survey. It takes about 10 minutes and can be found here: https://forms.gle/Qwz5DwWCXjFj1Wy79
Community participation is essential—please share the survey link with others. Thank you!

Questions? Email [email protected] or call 360-370-7612.

The San Juan County Department of Emergency Management is updating its 2018 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan with support from the University of Washington. The Plan assesses the County’s vulnerability to natural hazards and outlines protective actions the County will take to mitigate those hazards....

10/15/2026

Bicycle Safety Tips

In Washington state, bicycles are legally treated as vehicles, meaning riders must follow the rules of the road and share the right-of-way.

Washington Bicycle Laws & Rules of the Road

• Ride with Traffic: Always ride in the same direction as motor vehicle traffic, never against it.

• Safety Stop Law: Cyclists in Washington can legally treat stop signs as yield signs if the intersection is completely clear of pedestrians and other traffic (you must still make a full stop for red lights, railroad crossings, and school bus paddle signals).

• Passing Distance: Under state law, drivers must move into the left lane when possible or leave at least 3 feet of clearance when passing a bicyclist (RCW 46.61.110).

• No Electronic Devices: Washington laws prohibit drivers from using personal electronic devices (RCW 46.61.672), and riders should keep their eyes up and phones completely put away.

• Night Lights Required: If you ride at dusk, night, or in bad weather, Washington law requires a white headlight visible from the front and a red rear reflector or light (visible from 300 feet).

Essential Safety Tips

• Wear a Helmet: Always wear a properly fitted bicycle helmet to significantly lower your risk of severe head injury. Consider wearing something reflective when riding when it’s dark outside.

• Be Predictable: Ride in a straight line, use proper hand signals for turns and stops, and avoid weaving between lanes.

• Skip the Headphones: Never wear headphones or earbuds while riding so you can hear traffic, sirens, and surrounding hazards.

• Watch for the "Door Zone": Ride outside the path of parked car doors opening and scan the road ahead for storm drains, gravel, and potholes.

• Perform a Pre-Ride Check: Inspect your tires, chain, and brakes before heading out.

From your friends at the San Juan County Sheriff's Office

Send a message to learn more

09/24/2026

**Phone Issues Resolved**

Another round of testing has been performed, and all is back to normal with the phones. CenturyLink has concluded their repairs.


UPDATE:
The update from yesterday has now been identified as affecting all islands. Currently if a call is made on CenturyLink to 911, it may come in with no audio heard on either side. If you make an emergency call to 911 and this happens, make the call on a cell phone or try 360-378-4141. This is only affecting the 911 number. The business numbers are working fine. CenturyLink is continuing to work on solving this problem. 

09/21/2026

Lumen/Century Link is having outage issues that's affecting customers in San Juan County.

Reminder: if you make a 911 emergency call from a CenturyLink phone/Land line and get a busy signal, try a cell phone. Please don't make a "test" call, cell phones have been working fine.

Update: Crews are still working to resolve this issue and we are waiting on an ETA. We were also just notified that there may be issues with some people calling 911 from a landline. If that's the only phone they have. When we hear more, we will update this

***PHONE ISSUES***
The San Juan County sheriffs office dispatch center is currently having issues with the business line 360-378-4151 and 360-378-4141 not working. This issue is affecting approximately 5125 customers.

911 is still working for people who need to call emergencies.

We have contacted CenturyLink and call works to remedy the problem. The sheriffs office will update when the business line issues are resolved. Thank you for your patience while we are trying to get this remedied. 

09/20/2026

Update: Crews are still working to resolve this issue and we are waiting on an ETA. We were also just notified that there may be issues with some people calling 911 from a landline If that's the only phone they have. When we hear more, we will update this information. 

09/04/2026

***WARRANT SCAM ALERT***

The Sheriff's Office has received multiple calls today from community members reporting that they received a phone call from an individual claiming to be Lt. Coleman with the SJCSO. The caller is telling people they have a warrant for their arrest for missing jury duty and if they send money, they can quash the warrant.

The Sheriff's Office has no Lieutenant positions, nobody named Lt. Coleman, and we will never call to tell you that you have a warrant and definately won't ask you for money.

If you receive one of the scam calls, DONT SEND ANY MONEY, don't give out personal information, end the phone call, and call dispatch at 360-378-4151 to report the attempted scam.