After 8 years of service, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel’s term draws to a close

(Update: Adding video, more comments by Hummel)

'It was the greatest job of my life.'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- After eight years serving as Deschutes County's district attorney, John Hummel says he's grateful for the positive changes he was able to help make happen and the many challenges he's overcome.

“It’s the right time to leave. I think it’s right to leave when times are good," Hummel said recently in his recently sparse office.

Hummel announced last year that he would not run for a third term. He told us in August of 2021, "This is solely about the fact that I've felt the goals that I set for this office have been met."

Although he’s experiencing some mixed emotions, having packed up his office wall hangings and eight years of mementos, Hummel told NewsChannel 21 he's confident in his decision to step away from the job.

Reflecting on his time in office, Hummel said he's proud of the collective efforts helping to keep Deschutes County safe.

Despite high-profile homicides and other cases in which he became something of a lightning rod, Hummel said, “There are fewer crimes of violence when I leave office than there was when I took office. It was done by me working in collaboration with my community."

Those collective efforts, he said, involved working closely with local law enforcement, several nonprofit groups and the team of attorneys in the district attorney's office.

But even with the push for progress, Hummel spoke of some growing challenges the community faces, especially with explosive growth in tourism and residents.

"We need to improve the safety of our roads, and that’s something that is definitely a challenge," Hummel said. "We’ve seen an uptick in fentanyl drugs that are leading to a lot of overdose death. That’s an issue that we have to deal with. An uptick of impaired driving -- Bend Police and Redmond Police and Deschutes County Sheriff (Office) have had to up their staffing and have more patrols to try and deal with that.”

With 14 years invested in serving the community, including the six years Hummel previously served as a Bend city councilor, Hummel said he's happy to pass the torch to DA-elect Steve Gunnels to continue making efforts to better our community.

"The team in this office whose empowered to do the right thing every day in every case is what I’ll remember," Hummel said. "I know they’ll continue to do that, and I’m so proud of them.”

Hummel said he isn't quite sure what's next in store, but he's looking forward to the next chapter.

“Every day, I try to do my best for them, and you know, the community will ultimately decide whether I did," he said. "But I want people to know that I took this job seriously, and it was the greatest job of my life."