WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2018
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
LOCAL
Police chief addresses
increase in assaults
He said the department
also examined the use of con-
trolled substances and weap-
Though overall crime ons in the aggravated assault
in Hermiston stayed fairly cases. But he noted that it’s
stable in 2017, aggravated more difficult to accurately
track those factors. He said
assaults saw a spike.
Of the eight categories the part of the issue is not being
Hermiston Police Depart- able to immediately tell what
ment tracks for its annual drugs, if any, a person has in
crime report, the num-
their system. Based
bers remained mostly
on reports, he said,
a controlled sub-
flat. But the depart-
stance was a factor
ment recorded 36
in 56 percent of the
incidents of aggra-
vated assault, a jump
aggravated assaults
from last year’s 20
recorded in 2017.
incidents.
The majority of
Of the assaults
the time, he said,
tracked, more than Edmiston
the substance was
alcohol.
half were related to
He said that weapons
domestic violence and con-
trolled substances — usually were used in 42 percent
alcohol — were also a factor of the aggravated assault
in more than half.
encounters. However, he
Other categories tracked said pointing a weapon at a
annually are homicide, rob- person is considered aggra-
bery, burglary, larceny, auto vated assault even if the
theft, arson and rape. In weapon isn’t used. In some
2016 the instances of rape incidents this year, he said,
increased to seven, but were the weapon used was a flash-
down to four in 2017. There light, a belt, a stick or a pipe.
Edmiston said that though
was also one homicide in
Hermiston in 2017, within the numbers are concerning,
the normal range for the past Hermiston’s crime rate has
continued to drop over time,
several years.
Other categories that saw this year dropping 20 percent
increases included larceny, from the 10-year average,
which saw a growth from even with continued popula-
395 incidents to 412. Auto tion growth.
“We have, for the most
theft also saw an increase,
part, remained a city with a
from 27 incidents to 41.
Police
Chief
Jason lower violent crime rate,” he
Edmiston said some of the said. “I don’t like this trend
increased numbers were a we’re seeing. We know that
result of having more patrol it can be almost entirely
related to aggravated assault.
officers.
“If I added another patrol One category is skewing vio-
officer, they’re going to find lent crime. But we don’t take
it lightly.”
more,” he said.
He said officers made
But he said the numbers
for aggravated assault were arrests for 74 percent of
reported person crimes
troubling.
He said no obvious fac- and 42 percent of property
tors emerged as a reason for crimes, compared to the
the increase, but the spike national arrest average of 46
prompted him to dig into the and 19 percent, respectively,
per FBI statistics.
data for that category.
He said the department
“If there’s some kind of
trend we can identify or tar- had seen an increase in the
get, we’d be foolish not to,” number of service calls and
officer-initiated activity.
he said.
“Another component to
There was no particular
pattern with assaults during calls is trust,” he said. “Does
any time of year or of day, the community trust that the
Edmiston said. Six assaults calls they’re going to make
were recorded in Janu- will be responded to?”
ary, the highest number of
One effort, he said, was
any month last year. March the department’s increased
had zero recorded assaults. social media presence which
Assaults were recorded more has provided daily safety tips
frequently between 6 p.m. and updates, as well as ask-
ing the public for informa-
and midnight.
“There’s no rhyme or tion about crimes. Recently,
reason by month,” he said. they’ve been searching for
“I suppose it could be cor- information about a series
related that it’s darker, and of robberies at local conve-
people are inside earlier. But nience stores.
that’s speculation.”
He said they were also
looking at domestic vio-
lence incidents more closely.
Of the 36 aggravated assault
incidents, 58 percent were
domestic.
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Edmiston
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factor in 36 percent of the
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total assault incidents. It was
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a factor in 57 percent of the
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accepted
“It’s alarming,” Edmiston
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there was anything we’re
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By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
EO FILE PHOTO
Stanfield Police have cited the pet food plant, owned by 3D Idapro Solutions, for odor three times in 2018. Each citation
costs $435.
Plant receives three odor citations
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
STAFF WRITER
The Stanfield factory
that prompted citizen com-
plaints throughout 2017
has been cited by Stanfield
Police for odor three times
in 2018.
Stanfield Police Chief
Bryon Zumwalt said the
pet food plant, owned by
3D Idapro Solutions, has
received three citations in
the past few weeks, and that
each citation costs $435.
Stanfield City Manager
Blair Larsen said the plant
had a court date for one
citation last week, and for
two others Wednesday.
“To my understand-
ing, they pleaded no con-
test, and they have to make
arrangements to pay the
fines,” he said.
If the city receives at
least four odor complaints
from different households
in a 12-hour period, it vio-
lates the city ordinance, and
the city can issue a citation.
Mark Johnson, 3D Ida-
pro’s vice president of
operations, said the com-
pany had no comment
about the citations.
Larsen said that in fall of
2017, plant operators struck
an agreement with the city
council, which allowed
them until November to
make all their improve-
ments before they began
issuing citations for odor
complaints.
“They were a little
delayed, but they got it
done by mid-December,”
Larsen said.
Larsen said the city
has kept a log of the com-
plaints they have received,
which record the name
and address of the com-
plainant, the date and time
it was received, and spe-
cific issues, if any.
According to the log, the
first time the city received
enough complaints to fit
the nuisance ordinance was
on Jan. 18. They received
enough for two more cita-
tions on Jan. 20 and 22.
“It’s clear that the prob-
lem is not solved,” Larsen
said. “Having the equip-
ment is one thing. Using it
properly and making sure
people know how to use it
is another.”
The plant, which dehy-
drates potatoes that are
used primarily to make dog
food, was the subject of
many complaints this sum-
mer, when the odor forced
many indoors. In October,
officials from the compa-
ny’s midwest headquar-
ters held a public meeting
in Stanfield to go over the
plan they had to mitigate
odors.
They said they had a
three-step plan to mitigate
odors, which included put-
ting up a large tent in which
potatoes could dry, which
they said would reduce the
odors to surrounding areas.
They also planned to install
a new scrubber, an air
purifying device. The old
scrubber was too small, and
was damaged by a fire in
the plant last February. The
plant has since replaced the
scrubber.
Path to shorten time from jail to treatment
and ready to receive them,”
Primmer said. “That’s the
goal.”
By PHIL WRIGHT
STAFF WRITER
Umatilla County aims to
close the gap jail inmates
face from when they get out
to when they get into treat-
ment for mental health and
alcohol or drug addictions.
Dale Primmer, director of
Umatilla County Commu-
nity Justice, said while the
jail provides treatment, the
program has lacked the cru-
cial component that helps
inmates continue treat-
ment outside the cell. The
board of county commis-
sioners Wednesday morn-
ing took action to remedy
that with a 3-0 approval of a
$125,556 contract for Com-
munity Counseling Solu-
tions to provide a full-time
employee to handle men-
tal health and drug/alcohol
assessments, care coordina-
tion and referrals at the jail.
“So in theory, the person
will go from one facility,
the jail, right into a service
provider that is (oriented)
“So in theory, the
person will go from
one facility, the jail,
right into a service
provider that is
orientated and ready
to receive them.”
Dale Primmer, director
The funding comes from
the Oregon Justice Rein-
vestment Grant Program,
which provides money to
help keep offenders out of
state prisons. Primmer said
with the board vote, Com-
munity Counseling Solu-
tions can recruit and hire a
person with the right cre-
dentials to conduct both
mental health and drug and
alcohol assessments, get the
hire on board and roll out a
program.
“I think April 1 is when
we targeted to hit the go but-
ton,” Primmer said.
That also is when he
said a version of drug court
could re-open.
Community Justice oper-
ated drug court until state
funding declined last year.
Since then, Primmer said,
his department has been
working with the circuit
courts of the 6th Judicial
District and other stakehold-
ers to resurrect drug court.
He said the idea is to launch
a more traditional model
that is post-conviction but
pre-sentencing, so offend-
ers can work through treat-
ment programs to receive
less severe sentences or
even have the court dismiss
charges.
Roy Blaine is the trial
court coordinator for the
local circuit courts. He said
Jillian Viles started Feb. 1
as the new treatment court
coordinator, and she is help-
ing write the policies and
procedures for the program,
which is under the auspices
of the local public safety
coordinating council.
The treatment court
also might use a pro-tem
judge rather than one of
the five full-time circuit
court judges on the 6th Dis-
trict. Blaine said he adver-
tised for attorneys to serve
as the treatment court judge
one day a week. Six people
applied, he said, and he has
to assess if they meet the
requirements.
If none do, Blaine said,
he was sure one of the cir-
cuit court judges would step
in.
Primmer also is using
Justice Reinvestment funds
to seek a treatment provider
for the people in treatment
court. Having a sole pro-
vider cuts down on a lot
of oversight, he said. The
request for bids should go
out in the next day or so.
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