Community safety needs to center community and people. Since the County serves diverse populations who often engage with multiple departments, we need to look at the whole person if we want to have better outcomes. This can be done through case management, working with the community to understand their needs, and tracking outcomes of the best and emerging practices that lead to healthy communities. We need a more community-centered approach to safety that addresses crime through holistic measures. By looking at the full continuum of what makes communities safer, we will see how to move from reactive to proactive strategies.
Legal Services
There is ample data showing that our criminal justice system is clogged, our jails are full, and there are many people with records (old or lower level, eviction, failure to appear, etc.) who simply do not have the means to clear those barriers so they can move on with their lives. I feel it is important that we do our part as the County to work on data-driven, effective, and equitable processes to support our legal services. This includes policies such as:
- Eviction defense: Landlord Tenant Pre-Eviction Dispute Negotiations, counsel at an eviction hearing, past rent payment
- Legal clinics where people can have fines and fees forgiven, clemency motions, expungement, etc
- Immigrant Defense Oregon and more
Restorative Justice and Victim Services
One of the biggest elements of restorative justice is healing. As a Black woman I have seen the over-criminalizing of the Black community and the immense barriers that any kind of record has on someone's ability to get housing, find work, or stay with their family.
Multnomah County provides a social safety net for people needing help. When the County says “do no harm” we must strive to also restore communities, because when we address barriers - especially systemic ones - we address root causes. That's what I aim to do with our legal/criminal work. These are policies that aim to address those root causes, lift barriers, and help to stabilize people to bring down crime and disproportionate outcomes of our criminal justice system.
With a lens that views jail as the solution, we will never reach our desired outcome. Victim-centered and trauma-informed approaches, with a goal toward resolution, must be involved. That’s why I support programs and policies including:
- The Restorative Practices Program (RPP) that works with juveniles
- The Survivor-Centered Alternative to Prison (SAP) working with adults
- Gun Violence-Impacted Families Behavioral Health Response Team
- De-siloing department programs to lead to better case management and staffing for all service seekers
- Holistic victims advocacy that can connect people to the resources and providers they need
Violence Prevention
If we want a county that works for its members, we need to include violence prevention work. There are many different programs I could point to, but I believe in violence prevention being replicable, intentional, and accessible in order to be successful. We need to think about violence prevention as social intervention. Some programs just need more visibility, while others need capacity building or better partnerships to provide wrap around services.