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street roots
July 22, 2011
DRUG IMPACT AREA: MARIJUANA
Boundaries: Northern boundary is NW Lovejoy S t from M 0 5
?lor' 9 L o v e j o y S t to «ie NW Broadway Bridge men io the
Xan(k ® , ^ eWilfametta River, eastern boundary is the bank of
the WiHamsite River from the NW Broadway Bridge south to
where S W Market S t would m t the bank o f the Wiiteroette
k w » extended e a s t Southern boundary is SW Market S t fe>
i~w 5. Western boundary fe M 0 5 ?
"S i**”**
HOYT
Portland’s “war on drugs” free zone
New “D rug Impact Area” program launched in Old Town Chinatown, has county wide implications
BY AMANDA WALDROUPE
system and parole and probation.
Individual’s are now arrested by a police
People accused of possessing, dealing or
officer if they are found to be in possession
of a drug, dealing the drug, or using it. The
using drugs are being excluded from or
prohibited from physically entering Old
drug impact areas are targeting two specific
Town/Chinatown. For the first time in
drugs: heroin and cocaine, along with
Portland’s history, they are also being
marijuanaf
excluded from downtown Portland and the
The reason why those specific drugs were
chosen, Prince says, is that arrest data kept
Lloyd District
by the Portland Police Bureau shows that
Since the program began on June 1,
the highest number of arrests in the areas
Portland’s new drug impact area policy has
of Portland now in the drug impact area
already excluded 30 people from entering
come from those drugs. “It’s not arbitrary,”
those areas for at least one year, and up to
Prince says.
three.
A deputy district attorney reviews the
The Portland City Council voted in April
arresting officer’s report and decides if the
to create what are being called the “drug
case is prosecutable. If it is, the defendant
impact areas.” It is the city’s latest effort to
gets an attorney and decides if he wants to
deal with growing drug use in Old Town. As
part of the program, $250,000 of city dollars take the case to trial. If he does not, then
he enters into a plea agreement with the
were allocated to pay for a district attorney
district attorney’s office.
to prosecute drug crimes, as well as to pay
The person is then put on probation. Any
overtime to 20 police officers who have a
person convicted of a drug crime is put on
walking beat in Old Town that started June
probation, meaning‘that while the person is
8.
not in jail, they will continue to be under the
Earlier this year, business owners,
supervision of a judge or a probation officer.
residents and other constituencies of Old
There can be numerous conditions of a
Town decried the sharp and noticeable
person’s probation: that he or she attend
uptick of drug use in their neighborhood,
Alcohol Anonymous (AA) meetings, go to
and begged the city to take action.
drug treatment, and stay away from certain ,
“It’s a notoriously bad place for drugs,”
people or places that may aggravate those
says Bill Prince, the Multnomah County
circumstances. The purpose of placing
District Attorney prosecuting the crimes.
conditions oh someone’s probation is that
The hope among those groups and city
he or she does not act in a way that may
officials for the new impact areas is that
lead to commit another crime.
drug crimes lessen. “We don’t want these
When Portland’s City Council passed the
open air drug markets,” Prince says. “That’s
ordinance creating the new drug impact
the crux of what we want to stop.”
areas in April, they also essentially created
That was also the hope for the “Drug
a new condition of probation: that a person
Free Zones,” which excluded people from
be disallowed from entering Old Town, parts
the Old Town area until the program ended
of downtown, and the Lloyd District And by
in 2007. Then Mayor Tom Potter allowed
making it a condition of probation, the judge
Drug Free Zones to sunset because he had
presiding over the hearing signs an order
concerns that the program, which largely
that the person not to enter those areas:
excluded African Americans, was ;
And whereas under the Drug Free Zone
discriminatory.
somfeone would have beep excluded for 90
A police officer, under the old Drug Free
days, people are now excluded for between
Zone, would stop someone suspected of -
using, possessing or dealingdrugs. If an
one year and three years.
The length of exclusion depends on a
officer had enough evidence to prove that
couple of factors, Prince says. One is the
the person indeed had drugs, individuals
crime the individual is convicted of and
were excluded from the area on the spot,
whether it’s a misdemeanor drug offense or
for 90 days. It did not go on the individual’s
a felony drug offense. The judge also has
criminal record, and there was little
discretion in determining how long a person
recourse.
should be excluded.
The new drug impact areas are starkly
There are exceptions: if a person is going
different than the old Drug Free Zone. Now
into Old Town, downtown or the Lloyd
the process is a multi-step process involving
Center to seek social services, educational
the district attorney’s office, the court
STAFF WRITER
Above are exclusion maps
from the Portland Police
Bureau fo r the new D rug
Impact Area. The three new
exclusion zones target two
drugs: heroin a n d cocaine
along with marijuana.
Both heroin and m arijiana
have sim iliar bounderies
from N W Lovejoy to S W
Market, the river to 1-405.
The Lloyd District is also
included fo r both
marijuana and cocaine
However fo r people
distributing or using
cocaine in S W Portland
they are safe fiv m exclusions
- with theboundrers
ending a t S W Alder.
opportunities and/or work. If a person is
found in the geographic area of the drug
impact area and not for one of the excepted
reasons, he or she/ can be found in violation
of their probation. Individuals probation can
then be lengthened, and could face jailtime
along with other possible consequences.
An individual is also screened by th e
Service Coordination Team (SCT), a
controversial group of
police officers and
service providers who
work in partnership
«
targeting repeat drug
H i e p ro g ra m is
««
w e ll
offenders.
th o u g h t o u t. I t based
m o re X S ’than on th e d a ta . Concerns
the old Drug Free
service p ro vid ers an d
K K . . . advocates h a d ab o n t
gone -to trial,” he says, c iv il lib e rtie s an d
d is c rim m n a tlo n
someone is now more su rro u n d in g th e D ru g
' F ree Zones rr h ave been
The program is
well thought out. It is addressed, say B ill
based on the data,”
PrinCC, th e
PriHeeaiT says that
M u ltn o m a h County
the concems sociai
D is tric t A ttorney.
service providers and
advocates had about
civil liberties and race
discrimination
surrounding the Drug Free Zones have
been addressed.
But neither the city, the Portland Police
Bureau, nor the district attorney’s office are
tracking racp, gender, or other demographic
information.
Prince says data is being compiled on the
number of arrests made, how many people
are being excluded, and how many people
are going to prison versus simply being put
on probation. A prison sentence may be
likely if the individual is convicted of a
felony, or if individuals have warrants out for
their arrest. But he says there are no
intentions of tracking demographic
statistics.
“My feeling is that we have it all
available,” in the police reports, he says.
Amy Ruiz, the spokesperson for Mayor
Sam Adams, says the district attorney will
seek exclusions for every drug case,
regardless of
race. And the
See DRUGS, page 4