From the March 20 edition of Street Roots.
Lawyers challenging the Portland Police Bureau’s downtown crime enforcement strategy have added two more cases in their argument that the bureau’s policy is unconstitutional. The cases were added to the legal challenge on March 11 before Multnomah County Judge Dale Koch.
As the judge prepares to make a ruling, the city is seeking to expand the program to more Portland neighborhoods.
The city says the Neighborhood Livability Crime Enforcement Program (NLCEP) provides housing and addiction treatment for chronic troublemakers who wouldn’t otherwise get help. The police bureau works directly with the district attorney, parole and probation officers, and housing and addiction treatment providers to try to move offenders off the street and into supportive services. Officials cite an 80 percent drop in recidivism in the NLCEP area since the program’s advent in 2003.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all because of us,” said Central Precinct Officer Jeff Myers at a February meeting of the city’s Public Safety Action Committee, “but I think it probably is.”
As the chief enforcer of the downtown program, Myers keeps a list of frequent arrestees, which is compiled from blind data runs. Since the program’s advent in 2003, the master list has grown to more than 400 people. If arrested again, those people can face harsher charges than those not on the list.
Over the last several months, American Civil Liberties Union attorney Elden Rosenthal and county public defenders argued before Judge Koch on behalf of three defendants whose drug possesion arrests are being charged as felonies because they appear on the list. The attorneys say the list is unconstitutional because it is based on arrests rather than convictions, because it selects a particular group for harsher punishment, and because individuals on the list are not notified or able to appeal their status. They want the charges dismissed or reduced to misdemeanors.
On March 11, Judge Koch heard cases for two more defendants who are on the list. One, Deandro Shaver, has had 20 prior felony convictions in the last 13 years. The other defendant, Jamie Rodenbaugh, has had only one.
“The goal of NLCEP is to not let Ms. Rodenbaugh turn into Mr. Shaver,” prosecutor David Hannon told the judge.
Thaddeus Betz of Multnomah County Defenders, who represented Shaver and Rodenbaugh, argued that the list constitutes a bill of attainder – a legislative act that singles out a particular group for punishment without trial – which is prohibited by the United States Constitution.
“A single police officer decides what is a livability crime, and a single police officer decides what neighborhood those livability crimes are going to apply to,” Betz said, referring to Myers. “If you get arrested a hundred times in an Eastside neighborhood, you will never be on the list.”
That could soon change: At the February PSAC meeting, NLCEP coordinator Bill Sinnott said the “well is going dry” of offenders downtown. Police want to expand the enforcement approach to other areas – like East Precinct, where they would target methamphetamine users. City Commissioner Randy Leonard has championed expansion of the program and suggested it be used to curtail prostitution on 82nd Avenue.
Expanding the service coordination strategy is “one of our top issues,” said Shannon Callahan, Commissioner Dan Saltzman’s public safety director. Callahan said the program costs about $2.2 million a year, most of which goes toward the housing component, and growing it eastward could double the price. The city may seek federal stimulus money to power the expansion.
Koch is expected to deliver a decision on the constitutionality of the offender list later this month. In a phone interview, Sinnott declined to comment on arguments in the pending case, but he said he did not expect it to significantly change his plans.
Even if the program needs to be adjusted after the ruling, Sinnott said, “We’ll still exist, no matter what the court decision is.”
By Mara Grunbaum
Staff Writer