Item 5: Ordinance on Downtown Public Safety Zones

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limits pre-conviction exclusions to persons charged with a drug offense or criminal mischief, which are the most common offenses in the downtown public safety zone. The critical component of an effective exclusion zone is a consistent police presence and a timely . response to illegal behaviors To be effective, the same police officers, familiar with chronic offenders, need to be assigned persistently to the same area. Individuals excluded from the zone are more likely to honor the restrictions imposed on them when they believe consequences are reliable and predictable. Municipal Court Impacts During the June 9, 2008, work session, Judge Allen commented on the expected increase in case filings in the Eugene Municipal Court as a result of the proposed ordinance. He indicated that the court would be responsible for timely processing of all exclusion and variance matters in addition to regular court proceedings; resulting in increases to both judicial and court staff time. The additional prosecutions for violation of exclusion orders would also increase City Prosecutor and court-appointed attorney hours. The ability to impose meaningful sanctions is critical in addressing the target problem. Inadequate jail bed space and lack of work crew capacity is currently an issue for the court with the present case load. Community service is also an alternative sanction available to the judges. However, the court’s experience has been that community service is not a sanction well-suited to the population the proposed ordinance is intended to address. The City Manager’s recommendation has been discussed with Judge Allen of the Eugene Municipal Court and with City Prosecutor Dan Barkovic and they are both in support of the recommendation. RELATED CITY POLICIES This topic relates to the Safe Community Vision: A community where people feel safe, valued, and welcome. In addition the topic also relates to several of the City Council’s 10 goals: The Homeless, Sustainability, Downtown and Police Initiatives. The Park Rules currently provide an option of exclusion from parks and playgrounds for certain offenders. COUNCIL OPTIONS 1.The council may adopt the revised Downtown Public Safety Zone ordinance (version C) as presented in Attachment C 2.The council may adopt Version A of the proposed ordinance as presented in Attachment A 3.The council may move to amend Version A or B using one or more of the motions in Attachment G. 4.The council may direct the City Manager to further modify the proposed ordinance and schedule final action on the ordinance for a future date. 5.The council may decide that at this time it does not want to pursue any further action regarding the exclusion ordinance. If the council decides to adopt version A or B of the ordinance the council should also direct the City Manager to bring back Attachment D, an ordinance creating the offense of Violation of the Downtown Pubic Safety Zone for a public hearing in September. Z:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080811\S0808115.doc