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<br /> <br />ECC <br />UGENE ITY OUNCIL <br />AIS <br />GENDA TEM UMMARY <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Work Session: Downtown Public Safety Issues <br /> <br /> <br />Meeting Date: April 14, 2008 Agenda Item Number: C <br />Department: Eugene Police Staff Contact: Robert M. Lehner, Chief of Police <br />www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5102 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />ISSUE STATEMENT <br /> <br />This is a work session to discuss downtown safety issues. At the request of the Eugene City Council, <br />background information has been provided regarding the Police Department’s Special Projects program <br />and other short and long-term strategies that have been utilized to deal with disorder-related issues in <br />Eugene’s downtown area. <br /> <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br /> <br />Like the urban core areas of most cities, Eugene’s downtown core has periodically dealt with disorder- <br />related issues regarding minor crimes, vandalism, and harassment. Over the years, various strategies <br />have been employed to resolve these issues and have usually shown moderate or better success as long <br />as resources remained available. The specific location of the problems has moved from one localized <br />area to another as businesses have changed, enforcement and other strategies were implemented, and as <br />street traffic was increased or decreased. <br /> <br />Special Projects Program <br />In the FY06 budget, EPD’s “Special Projects” program was created from a combination of new <br />allocation and reallocation of existing resources. The program is used to deploy proactive patrols, <br />including the urban core bike and foot patrols. The department anticipates requesting continuation of <br />this funding in FY09 and has every expectation that the Special Projects program will continue in the <br />FY09 budget. <br /> <br />Funding of the Special Projects program associated with the downtown area foot and bike patrols was <br />intended to provide overtime-based resources to deploy two officers for one shift (10 hours) seven days <br />per week from April through October. As indicated in the previous memo, staff anticipated it would <br />reach an overtime capacity saturation point, and did. The primary limiting factor is not direct funding, <br />but staff capacity. To maximize the deterrent effect of these patrols, staff’s practice has been to <br />unpredictably vary those times when, due to capacity issues, it is unable to deploy them. <br /> <br />In FY07, due to capacity issues, the department delayed the start of the proactive patrols. Despite the <br />delay, EPD still deployed a total of approximately 850 hours of proactive patrols in the downtown in <br />FY07 and, for the first five months of FY08, deployed 265 hours, ending the proactive patrol regular <br />activities as scheduled at the end of October 2007. Although police capacity issues are far from being <br />solved, the patrols started on-schedule in April 2008. This year, the patrols will be interrupted during <br /> F:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080414\S090414C.doc <br /> <br />