Coping with Diversity

TL;DR: Eugene, Oregon, has implemented various community policing initiatives, including the Community Response Team (CRT), CAHOOTS, and a storefront substation in the Whiteaker neighborhood. These initiatives aim to address issues such as intoxication, mental disorders, and gang activity.

Abstract: Eugene, Oregon, is the second largest city in Oregon, with a population of 116,000, and only 1.3 police officers per thousand. Over the past few years, our police division has been shifting into Community Policing and has three major experiments currently underway. The Community Response Team (CRT) is a cooperative effort, operating out of city hall, which involves the police and local community service providers. The Whitebird Clinic, a local service agency, now operates CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) which responds to many of our calls for service involving intoxicated subjects or persons with mental disorders. We also have contacts with the local mental health hospital and detoxification facility. With the CRT up and running, our next step was to establish our first storefront "substation." We felt that the best location would be the epicenter of our high call-load area, in the Whiteaker neighborhood. Following months of hard work involving dozens of community meetings, we have now firmly established a base in the neighborhood. Services include not only traditional police assistance, but Spanish translation, and information and referral services by volunteers as well. Our Latino liaison has initiated drivers license classes for the local Spanish-speaking population and is using that as a vehicle to introduce officers on an individual, non-threatening basis. Our third experiment was to establish a fixed, three-by-four block foot patrol beat in the University of Oregon business district, thus responding to the need for extensive police attention in that area. In contrast to our storefront area, the foot patrol area has a much higher density of foot traffic, a large number of nuisance complaints such as intoxication and panhandling, and a large, vulnerable student population. There is also gang activity-local youths acting out as gangsters-Crips, Bloods, and Skinheads.