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Last month, Portland police did something Mayor Ted Wheeler had long promised: They arrested an unhoused man for violating the city’s camping rules after refusing shelter. Then came a twist. WW broke the news last week that Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office employees wouldn’t book the man into jail—because they only book people charged with breaking laws, not violating city ordinances (Murmurs, July 31). This surprised and outraged Wheeler, even though the policy had been established in August 2023. Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said she had no intention of relenting. (As WW has previously established, the jail is badly short-staffed.) Here’s what our readers had to say:
pdxsean, via Reddit: “It’s so weird, every time we decide to take action we never bother to set up the apparatus needed as a result of our actions. Who could have seen it?”
Portland for All, via Twitter: “Kudos to @MultCoSO for not participating in this harmful and ineffective policy to criminalize people for being forced into houselessness. Putting homeless people in jail makes us less safe and doesn’t end homelessness. Spend the $200 a day on a motel.”
Mid County, via wweek.com: “It curious how WW lays the blame for this on the sheriff without looking beyond the surface as to why. The problem lies squarely with City Hall’s typical ‘we know better than you’ way of doing ‘business.’
“The jail legally cannot accept nor hold city ordinance (and county code) violators as the base offense is at most violation level or unclassified misdemeanor offenses (think parking, traffic, or code violation citation). These level of violators cannot be held in jail since that base offense legally cannot result in jail or prison time.
“Second, the August 2023 directive is not a nefarious move to undermine the city as disingenuously inferred. It’s an at least annual guidance document on what offenses can be booked into the jail even if it’s just for identification purposes (ex. property crime suspect who typically would get a criminal citation is clearly lying about who they are). These directives are not arbitrary, rather the result of consideration of several factors like jail population caps, staffing, budget/facility constraints, new/existing case law, etc. Look at other jails around the state and you’ll see similar such directives.”
Nicholas K, via wweek.com: “So therefore the whole thing is a meaningless circus. It’s against the law, but you won’t get booked. So please define what illegal means. Portland is determined to kill itself.”
smspluzws, via Reddit: “And this leads to police saying, ‘Why would I even arrest them when they won’t even be booked?’ I know some, and they’ve been saying this about many crimes they encounter or are called to for the past few years.”
@LostDiva, via Twitter: “I don’t know why Democrats are bent on criminalizing homeless Americans!”
trapercreek, via Reddit: “The issue here is with the city attorney and councilors who apparently failed due diligence and missed that MSCO hasn’t housed people for city ordinance violations for at least a year before they passed this.
“I’m sure they all hoped they could shift the fiscal burden of incarceration expenses to Multnomah County taxpayers/budget, but the sheriff’s office seems politically attentive enough to have precluded that.
“God, I can’t wait for charter reform to kick in.”
jonwalkerpdx, via Reddit: “A long-term goal needs to be turning Portland into a merge city-county. It is unusual and destructive for a large city to have a powerful county almost the same size as it.”
Richard Ellmyer, via wweek.com: “Remember the story of the many plants that died on city property because no one thought about who was responsible for watering them? This is a similar story. How is it that no one at City Hall or the Portland Police Bureau knew the rules about booking homeless people before any arrests were made? And so it goes.”
CORRECTION Due to an editor’s error, last week’s Kvetchfest misidentified the religious affiliation of the curbside missionaries posted in Northwest Portland. They are Jehovah’s Witnesses, not Seventh-day Adventists. WW regrets the error.
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