History

The Benton County Posse has been in continuous existence for over half a century. It was originally established in 1946 by Sheriff Clifford Lilly. It is now one of 16 county posses in Oregon. The charter members of the posse were a group of Benton County citizens who wanted to offer their services to Sheriff Lilly when he needed volunteer help with preservation of law and order and search and rescue.

When the posse was first formed, only men were allowed to be regular posse members. If their wives wanted to participate they joined a subchapter which was called the Auxiliary to the Posse. It wasn’t until 1991 that the first woman was allowed into the regular membership when Caroline Harper was elected into the membership. The Auxiliary subsequently disbanded eight years later in March of 1999. Now, everyone who joins the posse is part of the regular membership.

Read about posse member Jimmy Applegate, the only Benton County Posse member to be killed in the line of duty.