FROM THE EDITOR

Shortly before the ordinances expired, we set out to discover if neighbors and businesses along N.E. Sandy Boulevard and along 82nd Avenue of Roses were overstating what they call the “prostitution problem”. We rode along with Portland Police Bureau East Precinct officers Lacey Sparling and Heath Kula, late on a Saturday afternoon.

Sparling showed us a thick stack of papers listing individuals who, under the PFZ ordinance, were forbidden to tread 82nd Avenue and N.E. Sandy — except to conduct legitimate business.

“By now,” Sparling added, “We recognize most of the girls we’ve excluded. In a couple of weeks, we’ve gone from half a page, to over four pages of exclusion listings. We’re going out today looking out for the regular girls.”

Although we rode in a fully-equipped — but unmarked — patrol car, officers didn’t have to hide in the bushes or sneak around corners to find what they were looking for.

Even those prostitutes who had been excluded from “working” an area were standing and walking brazenly in the afternoon sun, soliciting business.

A neighbor noticed the police car and leaned out the window of his home and thanked the officers for the work they do, saying, “Hey, we really appreciate it. It’s gotten really bad around here.”

City’s pretext faulty

We found that in areas of outer East Portland where street prostitution flourishes, neighbors and business people were astonished and dismayed that the Portland City Council allowed Prostitution-free Zone (PFZ) and Drug-free Zone (DFZ) ordinances expire — without even a hearing!

A lengthy press release from the Mayor’s office said that Mayor Potter commissioned Campbell DeLong Resources Inc. to conduct an independent analysis of how the law was being enforced, and whether it unfairly targeted minorities. The report’s summary: “… enforcement [is] focused on the poor and minorities -- especially African Americans.”

So, we asked John Campbell, of Campbell DeLong Resources Inc., if his study included statistics regarding Prostitution-free Zone enforcement.

“Our study was regarding Drug-free Zones,” Campbell tells us, “There was some discussion about [including] Prostitution-free Zones. It was not assigned as a project.”

Got that? THE PROSTITUTION-FREE ZONES WERE NOT EVEN EXAMINED IN THE REPORT THE MAYOR ORDERED WHICH LED TO THE ORDINANCES’ END. And, it appeared to us, most if not all of the research took place in Old Town downtown — not East Portland. Yet the force of the sunseting of the ordinances fell on East Portland.

Further, official Portland Police Bureau statistics show that in 314 total PFZ arrests, over half —173 persons arrested — were classified as “White”; 141 persons arrested were classified “non-White” — a category consisting of a range of Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian persons.

“The PFZ was a good tool,” Portland Police Bureau East Precinct Commander Michael Crebs told us. “Now, we have one less tool in our ‘toolbox’. But, we, as a Bureau, will continue to enforce laws.” Crebs said police are developing specific programs to combat street prostitution — the results of which will be evaluated every 30 days.

Treatment? WHAT treatment?

Both Mayor Tom Potter and Commissioner Randy Leonard said the Prostitution-free Zone (PFZ) and Drug-free Zone ordinances were ineffective and unfair. “I haven’t been in favor of the ordinances,” Leonard told us after the ordinances expired. “Even if they are constitutional, I don’t think they solve the problem.”

A better idea is to provide treatment, Leonard said: “Our Project 57, in which we rent 57 jail beds from the county to hold chronic offenders, has reduced recidivism among the top 300 repeat offenders by 71%.”

However, because it is judges who sentence those who are arrested to jail, and not the police, the police say street-level prostitutes actually spend very little time in jail when they are arrested.

“Anyone arrested [for a Project 57 offence] is taken to the Portland Justice Center for booking,” says Portland Police Bureau East Precinct Commander Michael Crebs. “They are ‘in jail’ as long as it takes them to be booked, and make bail. If they can’t make bail, they are held until their arraignment. Practically speaking, it can be from about eight hours to a couple of days before they are released.”

Multnomah County — not the City of Portland — is in charge of administering all treatment and rehabilitation programs. At a recent public meeting, we asked Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler if the county provides rehabilitation or treatment services for prostitutes.

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