Item B: Ordinance on Downtown Public Safety Zone

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Action:n Ordinance Concerning Downtown Public Safety Zone; Amending Section A 4.874 of the Eugene Code, 1971; and Providing a Sunset Date Meeting Date: December 8, 2010 Agenda Item Number: B Department: Eugene Police Staff Contact: Pete Kerns, Chief of Police www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5102 ISSUE STATEMENT This is an opportunity for the City Council to take action on the extension of the sunset date for the Downtown Public Safety Zone and consider amendments to the ordinance. BACKGROUND In December 2009, the Downtown Safety Task Team prepared a list of recommendations it believed would improve downtown safety and make the downtown a more welcoming place. Subsequently, the 12-Point Downtown Safety Improvement Plan was adopted by the City Council on January 27, 2010. Inherent in the recommendations was the understanding that the lack of jail beds as a sanction remains a critical component to the persistent problems occurring downtown. 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 (DPSZ) Ordinance No. 20419 on August 11, 2008. The ordinance was established with a sunset date of August 11, 2010. During the first 20 months that the DPSZ was in effect, 96 exclusions were requested by 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. 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 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 commit so many offenses that their demographics are a contributing cause of the over-representation of individuals downtown who report they are homeless. On August 9, 2010, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 20462 to maintain the exclusion process until the Police Commission could review the staff’s activity report, hold a public comment session, and provide a recommendation to the City Council. The extended sunset date of January 8, 2011, was requested to allow time to process any amendments to the DPSZ Ordinance if, after this or future work sessions, and reviewing the Police Commission’s recommendation, the council asks for amendments to the ordinance. Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M101208\S101208B.doc