Item 4: Ordinance Concerning Downtown Public Safety Zone

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Public Hearing: An Ordinance Concerning Downtown Public Safety Zone; Amending Section 4.874 of the Eugene Code, 1971; and Providing a Sunset Date Meeting Date: November 22, 2010 Agenda Item Number: 4 Department: Eugene Police Staff Contact: Pete Kerns, Chief of Police www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5102 ISSUE STATEMENT This is a public hearing concerning the extension of the sunset date for the Downtown Public Safety Zone (DPSZ) and providing amendments to the ordinance. The amendments add sexual crimes and violations and add Oregon Revised Statutes to applicable provisions for which the municipal court may exclude individuals for 90 days following a show cause hearing or for one year following a conviction. BACKGROUND Long-term, disorder-related issues downtown have been addressed for more than 20 years through special committees, task forces, council goals, City projects, private businesses, etc. Most recently the Downtown Safety Task Team prepared a list of recommendations in December 2009, they believed would improve downtown safety and make the downtown a more welcoming place. Inherent in their recommendations was the understanding that the lack of jail beds as a sanction remains a critical component to the persistent problems occurring downtown. The Downtown Safety Task Team’s recommendations were summarized in the 12-Point Downtown Safety Improvement Plan adopted by the City Council on January 27, 2010. The civil exclusion process was developed as a tool to offset the lack of jail sanctions and to create an alternative to incarceration to displace chronic violators and improve safety and the perception of safety, in the downtown core. The City Council adopted the Downtown Public Safety Zone Ordinance No. 20419 on August 11, 2008. The ordinance was established with a sunset date of August 11, 2010. The first arraignment date of a DPSZ exclusion occurred six weeks later on October 31, 2008. During the first 20 months that the DPSZ was in effect, 96 exclusions were requested by the police and 93 percent were granted by the courts. Two types of disruptive minor offenses, liquor violations and criminal trespass were significantly reduced in the DPSZ. Top priority police emergency 9-1-1 calls from the DPSZ dropped starting in 2008, although more assaults have been reported in the DPSZ. The 88 exclusion cases involving 94 individuals included 272 different charges – an average of 2.9 charges per individual. A relatively small group of alcohol-involved frequent criminal offenders who impact the DPSZ and a few other neighborhoods may be growing in number. These individuals account for 0.43 percent of all offenders in Eugene and commit 9.1 percent of all offenses. This group of alcohol-involved, chronic offenders commits so many offenses that their demographics are a contributing cause of the over-representation of individuals downtown who report they are homeless. Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M101122\S1011224.doc