Multnomah County Sheriff Paints Grim Picture Of Crime On The Rise

PORTLAND, OR — Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese painted a dark picture of life in the county, one that showed communities buckling under the weight of gun violence, traffic fatalities, and overdose deaths. He also issued an urgent plea for action.

"We have a collective responsibility to do something," he wrote in an open letter to the community. "We need to act with a sense of urgency.

"Summer is approaching, a time when we typically experience increased violence in our community. Violent crime, traffic fatalities, and overdose deaths are already at historic highs."

Reese pointed out that at the beginning of the month there 102 people in county jails on murder related charges , including murder, attempted murder, aggravated murder, and murder-domestic violence.

So, far 28 people have been booked into county jails on murder-related charged, putting the county on pace to set a new record for bookings on those crimes in a single year, Reese wrote.

That year was 1994 when there were 102 people booked into jail on murder-related charges. Reese wrote that's actually the same number of people currently in Multnomah County jails. Many of those people have been booked in previous years, he wrote.

"Our jail system is quickly filling up with people who are accused of the most serious offense," he wrote.

The average daily number of people being on Measure 11 crimes in county jails rose to 371 last year from 278 in 2017, according to Reese.

Measure 11 crimes were codified in a ballot measure passed by voters in 1994 that sets mandatory minimums for those crimes, including murder, kidnapping, rape, and arson.

"The data reflects the rising violence we are experiencing in our communities, including gun violence," Reese wrote. This is not the only serious threat to public safety, however.

"Record-high levels of traffic fatalities and overdose deaths are jeopardizing personal safety and devastating families and social support networks."

Reese wrote that he recognizes that it was take a multi-agency approach to solve the problem and that, as sheriff, his focus is public safety.

Along those lines, he offered several suggestions, including:

• Focused traffic enforcement in high-crash corridors.
• Removing firearms from individuals who the law says can't have them.
• Increase more funding for specialty teams such as the sheriff's office's Special Investigations Unit.
• Make more funding available for neighborhood and community groups.

"Without action, we can expect worse to come," he wrote.