Oregon Public Broadcasting

The FBI’s preliminary report on crime statistics this year held welcome news for Oregon.

Many statistics were down -- with one major exception: Lane County is experiencing a wave of criminal activity, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades. April Baer reports.

Judge Mary Ann Bearden is the Presiding Judge of Lane County’s Circuit Court.

She’s in the court’s lobby, she’s surrounded by dozens of defendants, with lawyers, spouses, and children in tow. As she looks around -- she’s knows this might be the last time she sees these people.

Mary Ann Bearden  “We cannot hold people pre-trial. We have absolutely no accountability in sentencing. It is very common for a person we’ve sentenced even up to a year in jail to be home for dinner before we are.”

Defendants aren’t getting out of jail for good behavior. There just isn’t anywhere to keep them, since a funding crisis closed 84 jail beds last year.

Judge Bearden says that without the threat of jail, the court can’t even compel people to show up for incarceration alternative programs like DUI education, drug treatment, and work crews. The wheels, she says, have fallen off the justice system.

The story of how Lane County got to this point will sound familiar to many others in timber country. Lane County is big, but 55% of its land is federal-owned, and essentially untaxable.

Federal subsidies designed to help are ending. Combine that challenge with recent state budget cuts, and Commissioner Rob Handy says you get a year of difficult decisions.

Rob Handy   “In our community, public safety, public health, human services--there’s a lot of competing needs, and there’s a lot of hurt out here in our community. We’re looking toward reconciling all those.”

Oregon’s Congressional delegation was able, with no small lobbying effort, to squeeze out several million dollars in extra timber payment money. But three of the five Lane county commissioners -- including Handy -- declined last month to spend on a plan that would have re-opened the jail beds. Some members of Congress who got the money fumed. But Handy he felt it was more responsible to keep the money in reserve.

Rob Handy  “As soon as we learn what’s going on with the state budget, I’m looking forward to crafting a budget that will add services when we can.”

Some think the commissioners are doing the right thing.

Ruth Duemler   “Our whole community I feel is safe.”

Retiree Ruth Duemler’s corner of the county is South Eugene. She exemplifies the kind of voter who thinks the crisis has been overblown.

Ruth Duemler  “I understand there is an escalating number of thefts, but I think that has to do with the economy.”

But alarm is growing that Lane County may have gone too far in putting public safety spending on hold. An FBI report released last week showed a sixteen percent increase in violent crime this year -- twenty-five percent for property crimes.

The state’s Criminal Justice Commission published a special report painting a dismal picture of jail beds, but also inadequate staffing of police and prosecutors.

Lane County’s public safety crisis has even become a problem for counties hundreds of miles away.

Mike Sullivan  “Unfortunately, Lane County has become a sanctuary for criminals who don’t want to be held accountable for other jurisdictions."

Deschutes County Presiding Judge Mike Sullivan says he’s got a stack of warrants that went unfulfilled, because defendants are on the lam in Lane County.

Lane County Commissioners say they will re-examine the budget situation after they hear from the state, July 1st.

Online:

FBI preliminary statistics on Oregon crime