WEBVTT 1 00:03:05.819 --> 00:03:07.483 Councilor Novick, this is Councilor Smith. 2 00:03:07.681 --> 00:03:08.895 I'm online. 3 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.745 Can you hear me, Councilor Novick? 4 00:05:23.641 --> 00:05:25.336 Councilor Novick, I'm online. 5 00:05:25.434 --> 00:05:26.600 This is Councilor Smith. 6 00:05:28.391 --> 00:05:30.132 I like the hamburger, but we're going to have this one. 7 00:05:33.545 --> 00:05:35.324 I'm online. 8 00:06:02.208 --> 00:06:03.156 Good morning. 9 00:06:03.735 --> 00:06:10.589 I call this meeting of the Tuesday, October 20th, 2026, 9:30 AM meeting of the Committee and Public Safety Committee to order. 10 00:06:11.994 --> 00:06:13.137 Could the clerk please call the roll? 11 00:06:15.146 --> 00:06:15.598 Good morning. 12 00:06:15.711 --> 00:06:16.165 Zimmerman. 13 00:06:18.365 --> 00:06:18.834 Smith. 14 00:06:19.755 --> 00:06:19.949 Here. 15 00:06:22.149 --> 00:06:22.374 Kanal. 16 00:06:22.728 --> 00:06:22.809 Here. 17 00:06:23.774 --> 00:06:24.033 Morillo. 18 00:06:25.466 --> 00:06:25.595 Here. 19 00:06:26.754 --> 00:06:27.076 Novick. 20 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:27.526 Here. 21 00:06:29.733 --> 00:06:31.701 Uh, could we please hear the statement of conduct? 22 00:06:32.637 --> 00:06:34.918 Welcome to the meeting of Community and Public Safety Committee. 23 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:50.103 To testify before this committee in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda/community-and- Public Safety Committee, or by calling 311. 24 00:06:50.536 --> 00:06:53.026 Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link. 25 00:06:53.572 --> 00:06:56.814 Registration for virtual testimony closes 1 hour prior to the meeting. 26 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.218 In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. 27 00:07:00.572 --> 00:07:06.240 For public testimony during a day's meeting, individuals may testify for 90 seconds unless the chair states otherwise. 28 00:07:06.656 --> 00:07:08.776 Your microphone will be muted when your time is over. 29 00:07:09.225 --> 00:07:10.206 The chair preserves order. 30 00:07:10.430 --> 00:07:18.725 Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed. 31 00:07:19.206 --> 00:07:21.499 If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. 32 00:07:21.915 --> 00:07:24.560 Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. 33 00:07:25.026 --> 00:07:28.439 Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. 34 00:07:28.968 --> 00:07:32.495 Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. 35 00:07:32.880 --> 00:07:34.916 Your testimony should address the matter being considered. 36 00:07:35.286 --> 00:07:37.240 When testifying, state your name for the record. 37 00:07:37.706 --> 00:07:40.271 If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. 38 00:07:40.593 --> 00:07:43.814 Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. 39 00:07:44.072 --> 00:07:44.380 Thank you. 40 00:07:46.904 --> 00:07:47.358 Thank you. 41 00:07:47.617 --> 00:07:49.413 Before we begin, I'd just like to take a minute. 42 00:07:50.526 --> 00:07:56.271 All of our hearts go out to the victims' families and everybody in the community of Bend. 43 00:07:57.223 --> 00:08:03.577 And this is at least the second multiple murder by gun in Oregon in the past 2 months. 44 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:09.257 2 months ago, 5 people were shot and killed in Forest Grove, including 3 visiting Portlanders. 45 00:08:10.956 --> 00:08:22.637 And I know that all of us here believe in measures to reduce the number of tragedies, that we probably all are hoping that Measure 114 is upheld in court. 46 00:08:23.615 --> 00:08:28.790 Um, I, you know, am pleased that the Portland Police have increased their use of the red flag law. 47 00:08:30.103 --> 00:08:31.771 I have this obsession with smart guns. 48 00:08:32.604 --> 00:08:45.860 But although reducing the number of gun tragedies is important, remember, Albert Camus said that we may not be able to make this into a world where children are not tortured, but we can reduce the number of tortured children. 49 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:51.750 I wish that this was a country where it was simply a lot harder to get a gun. 50 00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:56.019 And I'd like to ask for about 20 seconds of silence. 51 00:08:56.019 --> 00:08:56.059 Thank you. 52 00:09:40.325 --> 00:09:40.791 Thank you. 53 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:49.566 Our first order of business is the approval of the Community and Public Safety Committee meeting minutes from September 1st, 2026 through September 15th, 2026. 54 00:09:50.511 --> 00:09:55.229 Um, but this is approved by unanimous consent if there are no objections. 55 00:09:56.451 --> 00:09:57.374 The minutes are approved. 56 00:10:01.029 --> 00:10:02.700 Uh, could the clerk please read the first item? 57 00:10:04.907 --> 00:10:05.299 Thank you. 58 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:12.384 Item number 2, document number 2026-379, Portland Street Response Committee report presentation. 59 00:10:17.131 --> 00:10:18.173 Committee, come on down. 60 00:10:49.283 --> 00:10:49.721 You may begin. 61 00:10:51.792 --> 00:10:59.057 Good morning, I'm Kaya Sand, and I am the co-chair of the Portland Street Response Advisory Committee. 62 00:10:59.331 --> 00:11:00.995 And Beatrix, do you want to introduce yourself too? 63 00:11:01.658 --> 00:11:03.065 Uh, good morning, councilors. 64 00:11:03.114 --> 00:11:07.001 I'm Beatrix Lee, uh, PSR Advisory Committee member. 65 00:11:08.999 --> 00:11:11.365 And Beatrix is going to put the slides up. 66 00:11:19.359 --> 00:11:20.655 Do you all see that okay? 67 00:11:22.567 --> 00:11:22.712 Yes. 68 00:11:23.085 --> 00:11:24.201 Okay, great. 69 00:11:25.900 --> 00:11:44.811 Well, um, thank you to the members of the Community and Public Safety Committee Subcommittee, um, in particular, uh, Chair Novick and Vice Chair Murillo, as well as Councilors Kanal, Smith, and Zimmerman thank you, Councilor Zimmerman. 70 00:11:45.484 --> 00:11:58.196 We have been working on our recommendations as a committee since January, so we're really pleased to submit to you this report of 8 recommendations. 71 00:11:59.013 --> 00:12:31.038 And our committee has been composed of a number of areas of expertise, people with lived experience of homelessness and mental illness, substance use disorder, people with expertise in medical emergency emergency medical service, um, in community health, peer support, policy advocacy, crisis program evaluation, national knowledge of these programs and their history, etc. 72 00:12:31.504 --> 00:12:42.666 And we've approached all of this work really recognizing that this has been a program, Portland Street Response, that people in the city of Portland have built. 73 00:12:42.761 --> 00:13:05.648 There's a real mandate for this program, as well as the fact that Council established the resolution in June of 2025 to create this committee, and then in December of 2026 or 2025 to, um, to create the— to, um, appoint the, the members of the committee. 74 00:13:06.304 --> 00:13:29.291 So I think one of the things I'll just emphasize is that as we look at some structural issues We, even though we're sort of inside looking at the bureaucracy, we are always looking at this as community members who really believe that public safety is something that should be transparent and comprehensible to residents of this city. 75 00:13:29.724 --> 00:13:33.057 And so that guides our approaches. 76 00:13:33.426 --> 00:13:37.802 So do you wanna go ahead and, oh, this is, let me, sorry, we could just go back for a second. 77 00:13:37.883 --> 00:13:55.597 You can see the members of the committee, and I'll just reiterate here what was in the resolution that we were appointed to formally advise City Council on issues related to Portland Street Response and advise on proposed changes to city code related to Portland Street Response. 78 00:13:55.645 --> 00:14:02.090 So the actual draft of that code is in the appendix of the report that, uh, we submitted today. 79 00:14:04.107 --> 00:14:14.005 So today we'll go over our, um, just as the background of our committee and then our recommendations and then take questions for you— from you. 80 00:14:16.657 --> 00:14:18.489 And there's when we were first appointed. 81 00:14:18.553 --> 00:14:21.440 It's not our group in entirety, but it's some of us. 82 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:30.977 And then we also wanted to indicate a number of different people that have testified, given feedback. 83 00:14:31.461 --> 00:14:33.785 So it's been a really extensive process. 84 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:42.722 And in fact, all the offices of, of the councilors on this subcommittee gave us feedback, which we are thank you. 85 00:14:45.780 --> 00:14:57.645 We also dug into a lot of reports, a lot of research in this area, and most of this research you can find through our report if you too want to dig in deeply. 86 00:14:58.932 --> 00:15:17.634 And we wanted to just point out that even though this is a new movement, there are a number of really extensive efforts around the nation in academic institutions now to support this work, including at Georgetown Law, University of Chicago, NYU, and Harvard. 87 00:15:17.988 --> 00:15:21.071 And Harvard in particular has been supporting Portland's program. 88 00:15:21.664 --> 00:15:37.966 So we wanted to make sure that as we're talking about ways in which we want this work to be legible to the larger nation, we're really aware of the fact that it's important— Portland— it's important for Portland to take part in this work. 89 00:15:40.942 --> 00:15:56.751 In 2020, well, 2019, when City Council first voted Portland Street Response in, Portland Street Response was following CAHOOTS, which was then in Eugene, now it's just in Springfield, and that was established in 1989. 90 00:15:57.171 --> 00:16:03.595 But other than that, there was Denver STAR and there was Olympia CRU, and that was it. 91 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:05.785 So now look at this map. 92 00:16:06.081 --> 00:16:07.815 This is quite extraordinary. 93 00:16:07.910 --> 00:16:12.229 There's over 120 mobile crisis programs across the United States. 94 00:16:12.662 --> 00:16:28.678 And I wanna make sure that I explain that there are many, many more mobile programs for mental health, but the way that we define it for this report and for the city is ones that are dispatched by 911. 95 00:16:29.111 --> 00:16:30.909 And that's where CAHOOTS was really the outlier. 96 00:16:31.038 --> 00:16:34.056 There were other programs besides CAHOOTS during that time. 97 00:16:34.633 --> 00:16:43.590 So, Even though we were sort of one of the first, we're definitely now part of a crowded field where there's a lot of opportunities to share. 98 00:16:46.000 --> 00:17:03.394 And so we have 8 recommendations to designate PSR within a distinct bureau, to codify it as a non-enforcement model, to support expansion and organization of call types, To expand it 24/7. 99 00:17:04.212 --> 00:17:12.730 To develop— to continue to develop the training academy budget for recruitment, retention, wellness of PSR staff. 100 00:17:13.373 --> 00:17:16.837 Expand outreach and communications for community engagement. 101 00:17:17.207 --> 00:17:22.740 And codify this committee, which otherwise would expire with this report. 102 00:17:23.383 --> 00:17:28.179 And then in the appendix, as I mentioned before, are our suggested code changes. 103 00:17:30.696 --> 00:17:35.604 So number 1, designate Portland Street Response within a distinct bureau. 104 00:17:36.775 --> 00:17:40.895 And this is, um, one of the recommendations as part of a code change. 105 00:17:41.280 --> 00:17:58.808 This is code— the code change— the code— city code should be changed so that PSR is housed in a new bureau along with Gun Violence Reduction Strategy and the Office of Violence Prevention, creating a co-equal branch of the first response system and led by a director or equivalent. 106 00:17:59.130 --> 00:17:59.532 Position. 107 00:18:00.211 --> 00:18:03.731 Committee recommends naming the bureau Portland CARES. 108 00:18:06.412 --> 00:18:13.463 And, um, you can see there the acronym: Crisis Engagement Assistance Response Engagement Strategy. 109 00:18:14.076 --> 00:18:21.392 And, um, one of the things nationwide is that this movement is often described as community safety. 110 00:18:22.170 --> 00:18:28.215 Um, the other most common way to describe it is using various acronyms or the word itself, CARES. 111 00:18:28.648 --> 00:18:37.753 And we think it is really important to have this kind of public safety, community safety, legible across the nation. 112 00:18:37.945 --> 00:18:48.846 In other words, people can move from city to city and start to recognize that this is a new form of, and widespread form of, community safety. 113 00:18:49.423 --> 00:18:56.737 So the programs that we recommend going into this new bureau are really thank you. 114 00:18:56.786 --> 00:19:04.222 So we wanted to bring together 2 really common programs across the nation to be grouped together, and they're already grouped together. 115 00:19:04.563 --> 00:19:18.353 So we just wanted to show that within the current organization chart, we are simply recommending that community safety be turned into a bureau and recommending the name Portland Cares. 116 00:19:18.884 --> 00:19:37.188 Our committee had some fun as we thought about this and really looked at the kind of echoing as a co-equal branch, which City Council resolved helped to create in June 2025, that in Portland to have a co-equal branch is to create a bureau. 117 00:19:37.814 --> 00:19:43.479 And so Portland Fire and Rescue, Portland Police, and Portland CARES being co-equal. 118 00:19:44.650 --> 00:19:53.509 That said, the other bureaus under the public safety service area, the emergency management and emergency communications, are also bureaus. 119 00:19:53.557 --> 00:20:03.484 So right now, community safety has been kind of a grouped together bunch of programs under a division called Community Safety. 120 00:20:03.838 --> 00:20:07.542 We want that to be stronger and to last. 121 00:20:08.353 --> 00:20:24.688 This is a way of, I think, also being comprehensible and showing and creating trust in our city that this is something that our city considers a key part of public safety, that these different branches can work together. 122 00:20:27.128 --> 00:20:30.152 And that it's going to last, that it's not going to disappear. 123 00:20:30.215 --> 00:20:32.398 It's a really important part of this work. 124 00:20:37.627 --> 00:20:40.960 So this idea of the co-equal branch is not new. 125 00:20:42.109 --> 00:20:48.554 And Albuquerque, New Mexico created the Community Safety Department to be co-equal with its police and fire. 126 00:20:48.942 --> 00:20:52.880 They actually started that in 2020, June. 127 00:20:53.625 --> 00:20:56.655 As you'll note, most of these programs started 2020 and later. 128 00:20:58.786 --> 00:21:03.118 And they decided that they did not want to start with a pilot. 129 00:21:03.248 --> 00:21:08.194 So in other words, they created a structure before they started to build out the programs. 130 00:21:08.646 --> 00:21:14.686 So it's always been a co-equal branch, and it's quite extensive at this point. 131 00:21:15.155 --> 00:21:17.047 They have built a trauma center. 132 00:21:18.066 --> 00:21:28.181 They have built their— they have included in it their violence prevention programs, as we're recommending, their substance use support for overdose survivors. 133 00:21:28.295 --> 00:21:28.458 Thank you. 134 00:21:31.584 --> 00:21:32.996 And people who use drugs. 135 00:21:33.509 --> 00:21:43.775 They have hospital-based support for victims of violence crime, and they have school and youth-focused programs, which a number of the cities also offer. 136 00:21:43.855 --> 00:21:49.196 Durham, North Carolina was the next one to create a co-equal branch. 137 00:21:49.934 --> 00:21:56.255 You know, I wasn't aware until doing this research how unusual Portland is to have a bureau system. 138 00:21:56.832 --> 00:22:00.023 And so most of them are called departments or divisions. 139 00:22:00.842 --> 00:22:08.470 And so North Carolina, their first response that's equal to Portland Street Response is called HEART. 140 00:22:09.015 --> 00:22:23.818 And then they have a number of other related programs, Office of Survival Care— Survivor Care, the care navigation that follows up with people that's really similar to what Portland Street Response's aftercare program is. 141 00:22:25.116 --> 00:22:28.048 They have programs for people released from incarceration. 142 00:22:28.576 --> 00:22:36.547 They have a familiar neighbors program for people that are frequent 911 callers, which is something that I know Portland has been digging into. 143 00:22:36.932 --> 00:22:38.969 So those are really extensive programs. 144 00:22:40.044 --> 00:22:55.446 And I'll say that one of the things that we've really looked at, and as a kind of logic that this is not something that we should be throwing every program into, is that the first response program, in this case Portland Street Response, is the center of the bureau. 145 00:22:56.008 --> 00:23:00.833 And then the programs are they're upstream and downstream from that first response. 146 00:23:00.913 --> 00:23:05.943 They're trying to prevent the need for the first response, or they're following up from the first response. 147 00:23:06.263 --> 00:23:20.684 And to make an analogy in our city, that would be like the fire marshal in Portland Fire and Rescue that's preventing the fires, or it's like the detective in the police bureau that's following up on the first response. 148 00:23:20.990 --> 00:23:24.097 So that's how these programs are organized. 149 00:23:24.482 --> 00:23:24.898 Thank you. 150 00:23:25.798 --> 00:23:30.040 There's another— there's some others that have set up co-equal branches structurally. 151 00:23:30.088 --> 00:23:39.761 Seattle has CARE, which is primarily at this point its 911 system, which is interestingly under it, as well as its crisis responders. 152 00:23:40.115 --> 00:23:44.470 Northampton, Massachusetts has a division of community care. 153 00:23:45.176 --> 00:23:51.057 And then some like New York City that in a sense, like Albuquerque, aspire to that yeah. 154 00:23:51.122 --> 00:23:55.457 Co-equal structure from the get-go, but they haven't yet built it out. 155 00:23:56.002 --> 00:24:08.782 A couple others worth just pointing out are Toronto, Ontario, which has a lot of programs under its community safety and wellbeing, including its citywide crisis 911 dispatch crisis response. 156 00:24:09.263 --> 00:24:16.698 One thing worth pointing out with Toronto is they have a First Nations response team that's for the entire city. 157 00:24:17.211 --> 00:24:24.000 So they have really prioritized one population that is really disproportionately impacted. 158 00:24:24.594 --> 00:24:28.348 And then Rochester, New York, I think is another one that's really helpful to point out. 159 00:24:28.509 --> 00:24:35.651 Crisis Intervention Services is the larger department and the crisis response fits under that. 160 00:24:36.132 --> 00:24:39.502 They also really focus on homicide response. 161 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:43.402 So they show up for families of homicide. 162 00:24:43.611 --> 00:24:43.739 Thank you. 163 00:24:44.076 --> 00:24:52.810 And essentially, because their crisis team focuses on care, they're able to attend to the family while the police do the investigation. 164 00:24:53.726 --> 00:24:55.701 And then they continue to follow up with those families. 165 00:24:55.750 --> 00:25:03.698 So you can see in different cities, I'll mention Dayton later, there's, you know, different strengths that cities have where they bring to these co-equal branches. 166 00:25:04.002 --> 00:25:07.824 But there's a whole lot to share and learn as we build out this bureau. 167 00:25:09.719 --> 00:25:14.567 And so number 2 is to codify Portland Street Response as a non-enforcement model. 168 00:25:15.227 --> 00:25:22.435 And this is a very important piece of Portland Street Response and of all of these models. 169 00:25:22.532 --> 00:25:37.450 These are all non-enforcement models because they need to have a clear mission, and the people for whom they are serving need to understand that mission and to make sure that it doesn't get murky. 170 00:25:38.685 --> 00:26:02.352 I will say this is this is in a lot of ways trying to remedy a design problem in the sense that we have a 911 system that since it was created in 1968 has shunted programs or shunted issues that come to 911 to the police where they just don't have, they haven't had the correct responder. 171 00:26:02.689 --> 00:26:14.007 This has been a real, this has been a huge reason why the police have grown and really had to deal with lot of things that aren't part of their mission. 172 00:26:14.375 --> 00:26:16.173 So it's a corrective to that. 173 00:26:17.394 --> 00:26:29.821 So, you know, there have been a number of correctives along the way, and a certain amount of them have been inside the police, like crisis intervention training in 1983, and then in the 1990s, the co-response model. 174 00:26:30.270 --> 00:26:33.996 But those are all police-based responses. 175 00:26:34.413 --> 00:26:48.097 This is about creating a different kind of response and I want to emphasize how important that is because actually its efficacy is based in it being a non-enforcement model. 176 00:26:48.289 --> 00:26:49.396 People have choice. 177 00:26:50.230 --> 00:26:50.471 They—. 178 00:26:50.631 --> 00:26:54.769 The responders are able to approach people with calm. 179 00:26:55.988 --> 00:26:57.655 They don't overwhelm people. 180 00:26:58.025 --> 00:27:03.076 So it's kind of, in some ways, it's like the inverse, right, of a kind of domination style. 181 00:27:03.125 --> 00:27:03.381 Yeah. 182 00:27:03.932 --> 00:27:05.247 Of first response. 183 00:27:05.507 --> 00:27:10.184 So that's why it's very important to keep this as non-enforcement. 184 00:27:14.326 --> 00:27:23.938 And so I'm not going to go into this, but this is from a Georgetown report, and I just thought it'd be interesting just to point out, and it's referenced in our, in our report. 185 00:27:24.859 --> 00:27:42.729 But essentially, when I was mentioning before, mobile crisis itself has been around longer But this is called various things, Portland Street Response, nationally Alternative Response, Community Response, Community First Response, on and on, Community Crisis Response. 186 00:27:43.114 --> 00:28:02.852 But that model is different than the mobile crisis because it is dispatched from 911, and it takes— it tends to take a larger variety of calls that we'll get into than the more traditional mobile crisis that's a behavioral health the co-response is a really different model. 187 00:28:02.900 --> 00:28:10.386 So I'm just emphasizing that again, generally dispatched by 911, but it is a police-driven model. 188 00:28:12.851 --> 00:28:15.009 A bit of a housekeeping item. 189 00:28:15.186 --> 00:28:20.374 The report should be viewable through the report for anyone in this meeting. 190 00:28:22.465 --> 00:28:36.944 And okay, this 3rd recommendation is a recommendation It's a little bit of a nesting doll that there are some different pieces to it, but support expansion and organization of call types. 191 00:28:37.266 --> 00:28:53.205 So the first part of this is taking that report that this subcommittee received in June that came from the second stage of the call reallocation study, and this is to expand welfare checks. 192 00:28:54.199 --> 00:29:01.906 And that report recommended a number of calls to go to Portland Street Response. 193 00:29:02.227 --> 00:29:06.730 Portland Police responds to about 23,000 welfare checks per year. 194 00:29:07.034 --> 00:29:14.212 An estimated 14,000, or 61% of these calls, can be transferred to Portland Street Response. 195 00:29:14.260 --> 00:29:17.801 It's a tremendous amount, and this really has to do with location. 196 00:29:19.271 --> 00:29:27.272 Expanding the kinds of locations so that people on bicycles, people in parked cars, people in private residences. 197 00:29:27.385 --> 00:29:39.881 So it's really just a small amount that is held with the police that in this report, you know, the violent crimes, the in traffic, cars in traffic. 198 00:29:41.821 --> 00:29:52.394 And we also advocate then that City Council continue to extend call reallocation studies. 199 00:29:52.569 --> 00:29:58.824 Councilor Novick had added as a budget note to extend that one for the welfare checks. 200 00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:04.964 We think that there's a lot more the city of Portland can learn from the rest of the nation. 201 00:30:05.430 --> 00:30:13.366 Dayton, Ohio has a very innovative model called field mediation, and there's a lot of tools now to be able to do this. 202 00:30:13.431 --> 00:30:21.157 Councilor they estimate about 20% of these calls to 911 can be picked up in this way. 203 00:30:21.365 --> 00:30:23.657 In other words, these are relationship problems. 204 00:30:24.154 --> 00:30:31.000 So neighborhood trouble, noise complaints, peace order requests, disorderly subject, juvenile calls. 205 00:30:31.064 --> 00:30:34.157 They actually classify all juvenile calls under this. 206 00:30:34.590 --> 00:30:40.153 Welfare checks, barking animals, a barking dog and then animal, roommate trouble. 207 00:30:40.682 --> 00:30:46.747 And then we also recommend that Portland look at whether it wants to expand yes. 208 00:30:47.152 --> 00:30:49.387 That a lot of cities do this. 209 00:30:49.647 --> 00:30:53.229 So there's countless models to look at. 210 00:30:55.717 --> 00:31:04.949 And with this then, of course, we need to prioritize always PSR and BOIC staffing, training, equipment for expansions. 211 00:31:05.464 --> 00:31:13.363 So just the welfare check report alone would double the amount of calls that PSR responds to. 212 00:31:14.105 --> 00:31:17.715 And there's a roadmap in that plan to do that. 213 00:31:19.105 --> 00:31:25.070 We recognize though, or we want to really emphasize, these calls have to be responded to by someone. 214 00:31:26.334 --> 00:31:33.849 So where it's an expansion of PSR, it's just meeting the calls with the appropriate responder. 215 00:31:34.823 --> 00:31:43.661 And then with BOEC, it's very important always that we look at how Boeck can support all of its first responders. 216 00:31:44.398 --> 00:31:51.328 December 1st, Boeck will start having a Portland Street Response dispatcher. 217 00:31:51.409 --> 00:31:56.445 So this is a big shift, and I'm happy to geek out on that as much as anyone wants. 218 00:31:57.328 --> 00:31:59.028 But right now they have that budgeted. 219 00:31:59.093 --> 00:32:11.020 But I think it's really important as you look at Boeck call response times, which have gone down in, in our recent times, that it is one system, whether it's fire, PSR, or police. 220 00:32:11.375 --> 00:32:17.142 And so the training, staffing, and equipment to meet those needs is always really important. 221 00:32:18.834 --> 00:32:25.338 And then this is getting a little bit into the weeds, but this is, I think, a very important piece. 222 00:32:26.332 --> 00:32:34.144 And that is that PSR calls are coded differently than they were or would be if they're police calls. 223 00:32:34.209 --> 00:32:34.258 Right. 224 00:32:34.811 --> 00:32:47.422 So since from February 2021 to September 2026, PSR codes calls were coded PSR, and now they're starting October 1st, there's 6 call types. 225 00:32:48.676 --> 00:32:52.651 And then according to that welfare check, there could be a 7th recommended. 226 00:32:54.352 --> 00:33:08.614 And so what we really advocate is that, that there is an operational way to be tracking these calls So that we know what they would be if the police responded instead of PSR. 227 00:33:09.063 --> 00:33:13.278 Would they be an unwanted person call, a welfare check, a disorder call? 228 00:33:13.790 --> 00:33:18.471 So I'll explain a little bit why this is so important. 229 00:33:19.625 --> 00:33:27.704 One of them, I'm actually going to go to the report from June that the police bureau issued about its recruitment goals. 230 00:33:27.881 --> 00:33:42.453 And one of the things in that report that they discuss is that their own labor and their ability to meet other calls can be supported should there be diversion to Portland Street Response and other programs. 231 00:33:42.869 --> 00:33:50.388 So this frees up— when the police are talking about their recruitment issues, this frees them up for those higher acuity calls. 232 00:33:50.998 --> 00:33:56.288 Now, that kind of diversion is really important locally and nationally. 233 00:33:56.512 --> 00:34:00.664 In other words, people in this city really care about Portland Street Response. 234 00:34:01.241 --> 00:34:04.480 We all need to know what's going on with our public safety system. 235 00:34:04.929 --> 00:34:11.068 We need to know what kind of calls are diverted from police to Portland Street Response. 236 00:34:11.117 --> 00:34:20.269 So this needs to be tracked in a way where researchers don't have to laboriously crunch data and read through call types as they've had to do so far. 237 00:34:21.199 --> 00:34:23.637 And this is a way we can actually participate nationally. 238 00:34:23.684 --> 00:34:25.721 A number of other cities do this more. 239 00:34:26.907 --> 00:34:34.987 So, you know, this from Georgetown, one of the institutes I mentioned that really emphasized emphasizes or really studies this work. 240 00:34:35.050 --> 00:34:50.269 Diversion rates, the percentage of calls shifted away from law enforcement toward community safety responders, have therefore emerged as one of the clearest indicators of whether a jurisdiction is meaningfully operationalizing alternative response. 241 00:34:51.329 --> 00:34:56.204 And I have here one of the big projects is actually New York University. 242 00:34:56.621 --> 00:35:10.199 They're doing a 12 million calls initiative based on the idea that Minnesota— excuse me, Minneapolis put forward of having 20% of its police calls diverted to its alternative response crisis response program. 243 00:35:10.697 --> 00:35:15.565 If the 100 largest cities do that, which would include Portland, that would be 12 million calls a year. 244 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:19.474 Portland only can participate in that if we track our data better. 245 00:35:23.050 --> 00:35:25.126 Expand PSR 24/7. 246 00:35:25.873 --> 00:35:33.592 As with the co-equal branch, Council already resolved to do this, so it's just a matter of making it happen. 247 00:35:35.065 --> 00:35:41.297 I do want to point out that our staff has created an expansion plan. 248 00:35:42.034 --> 00:35:50.943 April Roa, who's here today, while she was interim manager, and now we have Ebony Morgan as our program manager. 249 00:35:51.103 --> 00:35:56.711 If you haven't met Ebony, and she's here today, I really encourage you to do so because yes. 250 00:35:57.193 --> 00:36:02.034 I really think that Ebony brings us into the next era with Portland Street Response. 251 00:36:02.963 --> 00:36:18.000 She not only comes from sort of managing the cornerstone of programs, CAHOOTS, but then she moved to create a program in the city of Los Angeles, and that program that she created is 24/7. 252 00:36:18.528 --> 00:36:26.239 So I wanted to make sure that we all know that we really have someone in that position that knows how to make this happen. 253 00:36:26.992 --> 00:36:41.170 And so I think we have a all the pieces in line, and we just, you know, look at— look to Eboni to update the expansion plan, and we want council to support that work. 254 00:36:43.253 --> 00:36:47.327 And a word on the 24/7 expansion. 255 00:36:47.521 --> 00:36:58.317 Currently, PSR responds from 6:00 AM to midnight every day of the week, so it would just be to cover 24/7 and kind of proportional staffing to the volume of calls. 256 00:37:01.492 --> 00:37:11.079 So the next recommendation, we're at 5, is for the city to develop, to continue to develop the Portland Street Response Training Academy. 257 00:37:11.673 --> 00:37:27.074 So the heart of this recommendation is really so that we can equip PSR staff to have all the required, the recommended training to be able to respond to the crises that we see on the streets. 258 00:37:28.693 --> 00:37:43.206 And so currently we have a training academy built through the relationship with Portland State University School of Social Work. 259 00:37:44.190 --> 00:37:47.742 But we are— this recommendation is just to really build out this program. 260 00:37:49.576 --> 00:37:58.025 A strong training academy will work to reduce barriers that might discourage strong applicants from applying. 261 00:37:59.405 --> 00:38:10.148 Looking at this model is also kind of where we're taking a look at the Portland Police Bureau and the Portland Fire and Rescue paid education programs. 262 00:38:11.384 --> 00:38:18.978 There's also extensive academies that are kind of inspired by other cities. 263 00:38:20.376 --> 00:38:22.159 That can be found in this report. 264 00:38:23.186 --> 00:38:38.043 So in this training academy, it's really to build out, you know, bodies of knowledge and tools around public health, first response, mental health crisis expertise, and community health and peer work. 265 00:38:38.139 --> 00:38:47.376 So yeah, we recommend that the training academy can continue to be built out as advised by our program manager. 266 00:38:47.552 --> 00:38:47.809 Thank you. 267 00:38:49.380 --> 00:39:00.344 So the next, the next recommendation is to expand outreach and communications for community engagement. 268 00:39:00.730 --> 00:39:09.673 So cities should budget for culturally responsive multilingual outreach for community education and engagement about PSR. 269 00:39:10.860 --> 00:39:20.079 So, you know, in speaking to just kind of everyday Portlanders, Folks may, you know, have questions around what PSR does and does not do. 270 00:39:21.025 --> 00:39:26.202 They may have hesitations to call 911 for various reasons. 271 00:39:27.036 --> 00:39:47.347 But we really want to build opportunities, outreach, you know, have tabling community events and listening sessions on really empowering and equipping Portlanders to have more confidence, reassurance, and make informed decisions with calling Portland Street Response. 272 00:39:47.818 --> 00:39:58.670 And, you know, fun posters and ads and all of the social media communications can really just help build out public education around PSR. 273 00:40:01.224 --> 00:40:16.590 So with this next recommendation, city to budget recruitment, retention, and wellness of PSR staff, we really just want to make sure we're paying attention to the The wellness and the collective care of staff. 274 00:40:16.670 --> 00:40:30.280 As we know, with this kind of frontline crisis response work, we see a lot of symptoms of secondary trauma and burnout among our crisis responders. 275 00:40:30.617 --> 00:40:49.088 So making sure that we are taking the measures to really consider rest, recovery, and staff wellness, and to make sure that our responders feel like Like they, um, they're, they're just cared for in, in a myriad of ways. 276 00:40:49.347 --> 00:41:06.103 Um, and it goes also into, uh, some recruitment so that it really makes, um, the, the process, the hiring process equitable, um, and accessible for applicants who, um, yeah, would just be great, um, applicants, but maybe there are some, um, financial barriers there. 277 00:41:08.320 --> 00:41:15.817 Um, finally, if I'm, um, if I miss anything, Kaya, Please tap in for this last recommendation here. 278 00:41:17.068 --> 00:41:25.143 So the city leadership should codify and make permanent Portland Shoot Response Community Advisory Committee. 279 00:41:25.657 --> 00:41:33.541 So this committee that we are presently on has been for about 6 months, and so it would sunset. 280 00:41:33.621 --> 00:41:52.081 So we would want to make sure that there is a permanent committee that can make sure That, you know, with these recommendations, gathering community input, being a bridge between PSR staff and community members, that that body of a committee, yeah, stays with us. 281 00:41:52.599 --> 00:42:00.746 So yeah, in the recommendation, it goes into who comprises of the committee members. 282 00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:06.480 So experts in behavioral health, mental health, mobile crisis services, Yes. 283 00:42:06.527 --> 00:42:16.324 So it would include providing resources to those with lived experience and relationship with and represent impacted communities and clients of PSR. 284 00:42:16.789 --> 00:42:20.836 Goes into staffing, stipend, and onboarding. 285 00:42:20.900 --> 00:42:27.918 So it would look like our advisory committee currently help onboard new members. 286 00:42:29.139 --> 00:42:36.108 A report would be published through this committee annually and support with communications and outreach. 287 00:42:36.876 --> 00:42:45.393 And then there's, it just kind of details the tasks that we would like to see and just kind of, yeah, our vision for this committee. 288 00:42:46.150 --> 00:43:03.282 Yeah, I'll just add that one of the things we've learned through this process is, first of all, just how important it is that we really figure out how to include people with lived experience in a meaningful way. 289 00:43:03.987 --> 00:43:06.005 And that includes how people are appointed onto the committee. 290 00:43:08.090 --> 00:43:24.422 So that if someone— we're recommending that at least one, that we represent all 4 districts, but also recognizing that homelessness and housing, um, are unstable and that people are moved and placed into different spaces, including outside of Portland. 291 00:43:24.742 --> 00:43:39.373 So really making sure that we can have, um, a, a insight for this committee into how to include people for whom their lives are less stable and it's difficult to come into city spaces. 292 00:43:39.742 --> 00:43:56.980 So with that in mind, we have recommended that the committee meet at least 4 times a year in— and, and once in each of the districts in a space where people who are impacted by Portland Street Response easily would go to. 293 00:43:57.829 --> 00:44:25.351 And so that we're really supporting the program and the bureau with this deep connection to the community so that they can also bring policy ideas to and get feedback and really maintain that meaningful back and forth, right, that has been a part of this program since the beginning because it gen— it was generated within, um, the city itself. 294 00:44:25.847 --> 00:44:29.539 So, um, I think that's, that's all I would add to that. 295 00:44:29.684 --> 00:44:35.851 And then at the end of our report, we have our City code recommendations. 296 00:44:35.947 --> 00:44:51.036 So recommendations 1, 2, and 8 are really the ones that are in city code, and that is to create the bureau, to codify Portland Street Response as non-enforcement, and to create this community advisory committee. 297 00:44:51.630 --> 00:45:03.003 So I know some of this might seem repetitive because you already voted for a resolution that did most of this, not the bureau, Except you did resolve to create a coequal branch. 298 00:45:04.304 --> 00:45:08.478 But this is about getting it into city code through an ordinance. 299 00:45:08.831 --> 00:45:17.340 So we recommend that council use our draft code toward bringing an ordinance forward. 300 00:45:17.644 --> 00:45:25.447 With our other resolutions, they are city council driven, such as the call reallocation work. 301 00:45:25.510 --> 00:45:25.559 Yes. 302 00:45:27.090 --> 00:45:28.505 And also budget-driven. 303 00:45:29.181 --> 00:45:36.405 And we think we have— there's a really strong bureau and program staff who have been incredibly helpful to us. 304 00:45:36.989 --> 00:45:44.641 So we do really encourage City Council to support them in making the bureau and the program as strong as possible. 305 00:45:44.965 --> 00:45:47.563 So now we can turn to questions. 306 00:45:50.443 --> 00:45:51.322 Thank you so much. 307 00:45:51.826 --> 00:45:52.313 Councilor Smith. 308 00:45:54.996 --> 00:45:56.889 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 309 00:45:57.242 --> 00:46:02.260 Thank you so much, PSR, for coming and giving us all this valuable information. 310 00:46:02.356 --> 00:46:14.894 And you all came and presented at my Coffee with the Cop and Community that I do every month, and it was really valuable to let people know what exactly PSR did. 311 00:46:15.505 --> 00:46:41.798 One of the questions I wanted to ask of you, because we added, I think, I think the Portland Solutions, um, we added a homeless bureau, I believe, a couple years ago, and I'm wondering, have you all ever thought about the correlation between homelessness and PSR and maybe being added to the Portland Solutions Bureau? 312 00:46:45.244 --> 00:46:46.693 Thank you so much, Councilor Smith. 313 00:46:47.197 --> 00:46:54.264 Um, and I, I will add, we have staff here if they want to join for any of these Thank you for those questions. 314 00:46:54.327 --> 00:46:58.429 So, you know, cities across the nation started for different reasons. 315 00:46:58.509 --> 00:47:12.864 There was a kind of convergence of motivations, and in some ways homelessness was a driving factor in Portland because over half of all the arrests in 2017, '18, '19 were of unhoused people. 316 00:47:13.186 --> 00:47:13.266 Right. 317 00:47:13.346 --> 00:47:20.940 And as, as that issue got untangled, we saw that a lot of them were these kind of disorder calls, unwanted wanted person calls. 318 00:47:21.389 --> 00:47:26.389 So there is a connection, but that is not the entire program. 319 00:47:26.885 --> 00:47:32.958 Um, it is that people are in public spaces and, um, and have a lack of services. 320 00:47:33.648 --> 00:47:55.954 So other programs have started because of, um, of the disproportionate impact on people with mental illness, folks of color, And so all of this comes together, and then we have, as I was describing in Dayton, the kind of relationship issues that drive so many 911 calls. 321 00:47:56.385 --> 00:48:09.141 So I say that to say that I think that it would be dangerous to take one identity or population and pull it out of a community safety, a public safety structure. 322 00:48:09.829 --> 00:48:17.768 And that is, it's, it's a, I think, a more Portland Yeah, and since—. 323 00:48:18.105 --> 00:48:19.197 Right, exactly. 324 00:48:19.309 --> 00:48:24.492 And I think that, you know, Portland Solutions, um, it, it involves a number of things. 325 00:48:25.166 --> 00:48:32.306 The, the, the thing that I worry about is that I, I didn't see a number on how much this expansion would cost. 326 00:48:32.387 --> 00:48:33.574 Did you have a number? 327 00:48:33.992 --> 00:48:42.434 We do, and we have, uh, someone who has been working hard on that, um, Director Stephanie Howard Good morning, Councilor. 328 00:48:42.498 --> 00:48:44.282 For the record, my name is Stephanie Howard. 329 00:48:44.331 --> 00:48:49.264 I'm the Director of Community Safety Programs for the city's Public Safety Service Area. 330 00:48:49.713 --> 00:48:57.650 And to your question, Councilor, yes, I've been working with the budget team to identify costs associated with these recommendations. 331 00:48:58.085 --> 00:49:06.568 Largely, the recommendations are to maintain the existing structure, but there are 3 potential areas where there would be additional costs. 332 00:49:06.650 --> 00:49:06.697 Okay. 333 00:49:06.938 --> 00:49:22.047 So the first would be if this is a bureau and a director were appointed or, you know, put in that position to lead the bureau, there would be a reclassification of the position I'm currently in, which is a Manager 2 right now, to a Director 1. 334 00:49:22.704 --> 00:49:26.378 That estimated cost would be $36,000 annually. 335 00:49:26.891 --> 00:49:35.199 There would be a reclassification for equity purposes among some of the leadership level of the programs under this bureau. 336 00:49:35.469 --> 00:49:48.199 For the ceasefire program, for OVP and Portland Street Response, we would reclassify one of those positions to be an equal level, a Manager 1, and that would be a $30,000 annual cost. 337 00:49:48.780 --> 00:49:56.000 And then— Do you have a, like, a big dollar amount of— I don't want you to have to go through all these different classifications and how you would increase them. 338 00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:57.090 Do you have a dollar amount? 339 00:49:57.119 --> 00:49:59.409 Is it going to cost another $5 million to do this? 340 00:49:59.619 --> 00:50:00.780 Another $10 million? 341 00:50:00.780 --> 00:50:02.900 Tell me a number, a solid number. 342 00:50:02.929 --> 00:50:18.885 Yeah, I can tell you, Councilor, just one more that I just want to say for the record, which is that there, uh, according with this, uh, recommendation, we've asked for the budget, uh, estimates for a 0.5 FTE to help to support the community, if it— or the Community Advisory Committee if it's created. 343 00:50:19.222 --> 00:50:23.536 The total of those is $144,000 per year estimated. 344 00:50:24.835 --> 00:50:30.034 Okay, and, and, and where I'm most concerned Councilor Loretta Smith. 345 00:50:30.097 --> 00:50:35.266 My concern is we created a new bureau without any numbers. 346 00:50:35.847 --> 00:50:47.197 And so I'm worried that as we create new bureaus and new opportunities, I heard so much expansion conversation in the report. 347 00:50:47.824 --> 00:50:55.784 I'm worried because we had a $170 million deficit for current operating costs. 348 00:50:56.579 --> 00:50:56.981 Councilmember Loretta Smith. 349 00:50:57.094 --> 00:50:59.465 I'm wondering where are we going to get this money from. 350 00:50:59.996 --> 00:51:06.880 And I'm asking everybody who comes to me for expansions, new programs, tell me what you would take away. 351 00:51:07.717 --> 00:51:12.018 What would you take away if we were to bring this program into line? 352 00:51:12.403 --> 00:51:14.157 What would you take away out of the city budget? 353 00:51:16.409 --> 00:51:22.896 Because I think we need to have this kind of model as a pay-as-you-go model like they do in Congress. 354 00:51:22.945 --> 00:51:26.047 If you're If you're going to bring something forward, you've got to take something away. 355 00:51:26.192 --> 00:51:31.567 So do you have any ideas on what you would take away from our city budget to bring this in? 356 00:51:36.889 --> 00:51:38.893 Councilor, I'll step in on that question right there. 357 00:51:39.184 --> 00:51:45.588 We haven't reached that point yet of doing any deliberations as it relates to what we would take out. 358 00:51:45.635 --> 00:51:48.266 I think we'll go through a prioritization kind of conversation. 359 00:51:49.197 --> 00:52:04.257 As executive arm to kind of talk through if this is the direction that council is wanting to move forward as it relates to what could we offer up as it relates to services or funding or reallocating things to make this doable. 360 00:52:04.710 --> 00:52:10.485 But this is, and I'm with you on this, this will require some additional funding to make happen. 361 00:52:10.938 --> 00:52:15.998 But we would have to have a conversation internally about how we would propose to council of us doing that. 362 00:52:16.099 --> 00:52:36.960 And I would also, um, CA Lee, like to hear some conversation from the other, uh, public safety organizations because I heard a lot of expansion in the 911 Bureau, um, would need to take place to, to do this in the way that they have presented it. 363 00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:39.170 And I'm just, I'm just concerned. 364 00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:42.179 I mean, you know, we, we have a lot of people that are in need of services. 365 00:52:42.179 --> 00:52:42.219 Thank you. 366 00:52:42.311 --> 00:52:48.418 We don't know how we're going to pay for what we have next year, but adding new stuff that worries me. 367 00:52:48.626 --> 00:52:52.632 And then it then I have to identify where I want to take away. 368 00:52:52.873 --> 00:52:55.501 But I'm not going to keep all that on my shoulders. 369 00:52:56.030 --> 00:53:02.599 I'm going to ask folks who who are coming in that they want something if they want ongoing money because this sounds like an ongoing program. 370 00:53:02.679 --> 00:53:07.438 If you're going to put together a bureau, then they should also have. 371 00:53:08.525 --> 00:53:10.905 An opportunity to tell me where they would take it from. 372 00:53:12.916 --> 00:53:32.943 And I'll just add, Councilor, and this is not addressing what's being taken away, but I did want to mention with the police recruitment report that you provided me, that that has been really helpful as seeing the public service, the public safety service area as one entity. 373 00:53:33.574 --> 00:53:37.143 And so all of these calls are being— need to be responded to by one of the responders. 374 00:53:37.289 --> 00:53:46.043 And so So we're actually just looking at the fact that we'd be, for a city, matching the better responder for particular calls. 375 00:53:48.961 --> 00:53:49.429 Thank you. 376 00:53:49.543 --> 00:53:50.594 I appreciate that. 377 00:53:50.902 --> 00:54:02.954 I want you all to give some, some real thought to my question because it is going to be a number of people who will sit in your seat and before us who will ask us for expansion. 378 00:54:03.099 --> 00:54:05.255 And I know that people know that we are in a deficit. 379 00:54:06.771 --> 00:54:15.103 And, and we, we're going to have to figure out how to get that $170 million back again, and we can't keep replacing it with one-time-only money. 380 00:54:15.248 --> 00:54:16.876 And you're asking for ongoing money. 381 00:54:16.940 --> 00:54:29.644 So I would also ask you to come back to my office within this next month to give me some ideas on which ongoing programs you would cut as we're looking at this. 382 00:54:31.275 --> 00:54:33.278 I think what you have is a, is a good idea. 383 00:54:34.248 --> 00:54:42.862 And, um, I think it's helpful, but I also think I need a little bit more assistance with this as well. 384 00:54:45.710 --> 00:54:46.210 Thank you, Councilor. 385 00:54:46.291 --> 00:54:47.016 Councilor Morillo. 386 00:54:49.679 --> 00:54:50.277 Thank you. 387 00:54:50.487 --> 00:54:52.795 Um, thank you so much to the presenters. 388 00:54:52.844 --> 00:54:55.231 It's really lovely to get to see some of you again. 389 00:54:55.489 --> 00:55:03.192 Um, Kaya, we worked together since, uh, you know, back in the day when Portland Street Response was first getting started, so it's really lovely to see you in chambers again. 390 00:55:03.240 --> 00:55:03.699 I'm so Thank you. 391 00:55:03.766 --> 00:55:04.353 Hi, Councilor Sameer Kanal. 392 00:55:04.418 --> 00:55:05.775 Sorry I can't be there in person. 393 00:55:05.824 --> 00:55:08.668 I'm fighting off a perpetual exhaustion cold. 394 00:55:10.085 --> 00:55:27.277 I think something that really stood out to me from your presentation was the discussion that we have often created systems that are putting domination of people at the forefront of how we address their problems, and that Portland Street Response is designed in a different way. 395 00:55:28.123 --> 00:55:50.860 And I know that Portland Street Response does mental health crisis But something that it reminded me of was, you know, studying up on drug usage and forced treatment and how a lot of times people who are forced into treatment actually end up overdosing in the treatment centers because they were not prepared or ready to be in treatment. 396 00:55:51.331 --> 00:55:56.405 And we have so many people that are in need of mental health assistance, drug assistance, all sorts of things. 397 00:55:57.163 --> 00:56:02.027 And we don't even have enough resources for those people that are willing to get into treatment. 398 00:56:02.550 --> 00:56:05.271 And yet we are, we're talking about a system of domination. 399 00:56:05.335 --> 00:56:07.588 So I just appreciated you saying that. 400 00:56:07.652 --> 00:56:10.956 I think that's part of what makes the program unique and special in our system. 401 00:56:13.177 --> 00:56:18.943