Street roots., August 07, 2009, Page 5, Image 5

street
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Education ^Dialogue ♦ Independence
Portland controversial
program offered as
example for nation
STAFF REPO RTS
n Thursday, July 30, two Portland
Police officers in charge of the
controversial Service Coordination
Team presented a workshop in Washington
D.C. at the National Alliance to End
Homelessness Conference along with
representatives from Central City Concern
and Volunteers of America,.
The workshop was titled “Addressing
the Jail-to-Homelessness Pipeline: Adult
and Youth Re-Entry and Diversion
^Services.” :
The workshop description stated:
“Discharges from jail and juvenile
detention are pipelines to homelessness.
Local police, homeless service providers,
and treatment .providers have not always
worked collaboratively. Congress’ recent
enactment of the Second Chance Act has
increased the need and opportunities for
coordination. Portland’s Service 3'
Coordination Team is an innovative
program that reduces crime through k
comprehensiyestrategy coupled ^jfh
community police resources. The intent is
to end homelessness and recidivism by
treating drug and alcohol abuse as the root
cause of criminal behavior. The diversity of
professional discipline on the team
enhances its effectiveness.”
The Service Coordination Team is a five-
and-a-half-year program aimed at reducing
crime and improving the lives of people
caught in a cycle of addiction and
criminality.
x
• The strategy of the program, according '
to police, is to weave a comprehensive
strategy by providing jail beds; supportive |
H
h p u s i^ a p d ^ d ru g ,
to
P ortland’s top offenders. The. coordination P ’
team works in; a partnership wi;th
government agencies, the private sector
and social-service agencies throughout
Portland.
The program has come under scrutiny
from homeless advocates and attorneys
who say the program violates individuals
civil rightsby forgoing an individuals right
tp council and being put on a “secret” list
made up of repeat offenders.
The individuals targeted through the
program belong to a list called the
“Neighborhood Livability Crime
Enforcement Offender List,” many of which
are homeless and/or experiencing a mental
health issue» The list is made-up p f. ..
individuals that the city deems chronic
offenders.
,
.
To identify chronic offenders the police
bureau does blind data run on the top 35
repeat offenders in ten neighborhoods at ,
the city’s core over a three-month period.
The data runs target arrests for larceny,
fraud, forgery, possession or distribution of*
a controlled substance, unauthorized use of
a motor vehicle and probation violatipns.
Once an individual on the list re-offends, i
they can be picked up anywhere in
Portland. More than 400 people are now
on the list.
- Because the program allows the police
to detain people on the list for a one- to
three-day holding period while they’re
being charged for a crime, and then given
treatment options,, some critics charge that
the program supercedes the normal
criminal justice system and therefore strips
individuals of their rights.
InApril, the secret list was challenged
by a group of attorneys affiliated with the
American Civil Liberties Union, but a
Multnomah County Judge ruled the -
program to be constitutional.
"Die Brücke" by Jane A Paris
T he L eft C oast E isteddfod
a W e ls h -A m e ric a n p e rfo rm in g a rts fe s tiv a
21-22 August 2009
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