NEARLY A YEAR after the Mercury first sought statistics showing how police are enforcing Portland’s controversial Drug Impact Areas (DIA)—billed as a more compassionate, less racially fraught version of the city’s old Drug-Free Zones—that detailed arrest data has finally been released.
And the numbers (PDF) reveal another set of stark racial disparities for a police bureau that’s already acknowledged, publicly, the role racial bias might play in its frayed relationship with Portland’s African American community [“Playing a New Race Card,” News, June 28, 2012].
Of 99 people arrested for ignoring a judge’s order to keep out of a “drug zone”—distinct areas downtown, in Old Town and in the Lloyd Center—58 are black. Most of those arrests were in or around Old Town, notorious for its open-air crack-cocaine sales. That number, first reported on the Mercury’s Blogtown, significantly outpaces the number of black Portlanders given exclusions in the first place, about 40 percent. And both percentages far outstrip the city’s African American population, which is 6 percent.
Advocates and community leaders, already skeptical of the DIAs, worry the figures fit a familiar pattern. Recent reports show wide disparities in traffic and pedestrian stops, exclusions issued inside Portland’s gun-crime zones, and arrests made this summer as part of a targeted crackdown around North Killingsworth. The city’s old Drug-Free Zones were left to die in 2007 amid concerns they targeted black Portlanders.
“It’s not a surprise that Portland police are once again targeting African Americans for enhanced enforcement,” says JoAnn Hardesty, a former state lawmaker who sits on the steering committee of the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform. “The ‘improved’ enforcement zones are having the same effect the old zones had.”
When then-Mayor Sam Adams first pitched the DIAs, bowing especially to outcry over crack sales among Old Town businesses and neighbors, he worked hard to inoculate the zones against racial profiling. While exclusions from the old zones were issued at a cop’s discretion, the new zones, which took effect in 2011, would see exclusions handed out by judges, as a condition of probation [“New and Improved?” News, Jan 26, 2012].
Among other changes, the DIA program also pays the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office, beset by budget woes, enough money to devote a prosecutor to low-level drug crimes it otherwise might not prosecute, pays for extra police foot patrols, and it enrolls eligible drug convicts in a city treatment and housing program, the Service Coordination Team.
Further, Adams had prosecutors, not cops, draw up the city’s three DIAs—targeting heroin, cocaine, and marijuana—using arrest data. The city council, in a vote on December 19, committed to funding the special prosecutor’s post for another year.
“The racial aspects of this issue had been a focus of mine and should continue to be a focus of the city council,” Adams said late last month, taking pains to separate “issues that are racial in nature” from “overt racism.” Adams also said he brought in the district attorney’s office “so Portland police officers are not policing themselves.”
Adams’ changes made a difference. Neighbors reported crime easing. And police accountability advocates noted some improvement over the old zones. But they never overlooked the lack of data on arrests.
“It’s disappointing that the so-called ‘fix’ to racial profiling seems to be producing similar results,” says Dan Handelman of Portland Copwatch. “The majority of those being cited for trespassing have one easily identifiable characteristic: the color of their skin.”
As for why there’s a disparity, cops and prosecutors have some ideas.
Billy Prince, the deputy district attorney who ran the DIA program until December, cast the overall arrest numbers as “positive.” “The majority of people are obeying a judge’s order to stay away,” he says. “I’m not aware of any judge ruling that someone arrested [for trespassing in a DIA] was in the zone properly.”
He contends the DIAs are doing what they’re supposed to do: cleaning up drug markets by keeping out dealers, while making sure users have a big stick prodding them into treatment.
Prince explains that most of the arrests fell in the crack-cocaine DIA, a smaller area focused on Old Town—making it easier for patrolling cops to find dealers and buyers. Prince says the crack markets in Old Town are a powerful draw. For example, he notes, nearly the same number of people have been excluded from the city’s heroin and cocaine zones, but the cocaine zone has seen twice as many arrests.
He also says cops, once they find someone trespassing, aren’t allowed to give that person a pass. For further illustration, he points out the 99 arrestees have a combined total of 684 previous felony convictions.
“The types who come back to be arrested,” he says, “they have significant criminal histories.”
That all roughly jibes with what police say. Spokesman Sergeant Pete Simpson tells the Mercury more minorities are arrested in Old Town because “more of them are coming back to the area. The base percentages are higher.”
One hole in the data, of course, is what led to each of the 99 arrests. Only arrest reports will reveal that. Generally, Simpson says, cops recognize familiar faces. Or, in an area with foot patrols and surveillance cameras, they might figure out someone’s trespassing while investigating another crime. Sometimes, he allows, arrests come from traffic and pedestrian stops—in which, citywide, blacks and Latinos are stopped and searched twice as often as whites.
The racial breakdown of arrests sought by the Mercury will now be included in all future DIA reports, says Prince, who passed the DIA job to Deputy District Attorney Adam Gibbs.
That’s a shift for the city. Up until the Mercury‘s third request for data, lodged in August after requests in January and May of 2012, the police say they had not been tracking it.
Even then, when the bureau produced the numbers in late September, it took nearly three more months before their release. Adams’ office held them back, commissioning Prince to add even more data. Adams, when interviewed before leaving office, also blamed the delay on his time-consuming negotiations with the US Department of Justice over police reform.
Prince assembled all the data into the DIA program’s 15-month progress report, sent to the city council on December 12 and obtained by the Mercury on December 19.
Handelman, of Copwatch, was stinging with his assessment of the timeline.
“It’s disappointing,” says Handelman, “The city and the DA’s office sat on these numbers for so long—because they knew the numbers would look bad.”
Admittedly, arrest data can be skewed due to the fact that police are the ones that are doing the arresting, However, if you look at treatment data in Oregon, there may be some help in explaining why the numbers are the way that they are. The percentage of African Americans that are receiving substance abuse treatment whose primary substance of abuse is cocaine/crack is 15.9%, approximately twenty (20) times the rate of Caucasians in Oregon with the same primary substance of abuse, at about 0.8%. While this is not definitive evidence, treatment numbers are likely much more objective, and at least gives a starting place for a reasonable discussion. There are, of course, still questions about why the DIAs were placed where they were, whether cocaine/crack is more dangerous than other drugs, and WHY do African Americans abuse this drug at such a higher rate, but again, a place to start, without throwing up the immediate race card.
Ahhh, RACISM. Keep it “weird”, Portland!
It’s not enough to just tell us that a group is being arrested without telling us whether drug crimes are mostly occurring in these areas or whether instances of drug use for the types of drugs covered are more common with these minorities. They might very well not be, and that would strengthen your argument here. This is not a Sociology class from the 90s; it is not enough to simply point out “oppression” and call it good. This is journalism, and we’re missing part of a story.
The title got it right. Nothing’s changed here. Nope.
-Denis-
As much as I appreciate the attention given to this important issue, I can’t help but feel it’s a bit disingenuous considering you were just touting the DIA as one of Sam’s achievements several issues back (aka How to get shit done). Given the Mercury’s soiled reputation (don’t get a hard-on Humpy) and closeness to the former mayor, as a reader I can’t help but be skeptical whether or not your description about how these statistics were withheld until Sam’s final days is true or not. I realize this soiled breach of the public’s trust happened before you came along, but you’re a player in it none the less. Forgive me, but I can’t help question your sincerity here.
@zipitup: Fair or not (and good or not), the DIAs are significant—in terms of money spent and the city council’s decision to wade into a racially charged criminal justice issue—and deserve a spot on the list of major programs Sam Adams got passed.
As for the insinuation you close with, I’m not a player in anything. It’s beyond time for everyone to let that bit of pre-history go. Check the story for the links to our past coverage. It’s always been skeptical. Y’all saw these stats as soon as I did and because I asked. The “disingenuous” move, to borrow your word, would have involved scrubbing any and all mention of the long, frustrating delay.
The police bureau, even under Mayor Hales, still hasn’t posted these numbers publicly. http://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/56404
Let’s not beat around the bush:
White people like meth. Black people like crack. Mostly white people like heroin, but it’s a mixed bag.
Old Town and Lloyd Center (Holladay Park) are particularly known for dealing crack in the open. You can get heroin and meth all over the city, but not necessarily crack, and not necessarily in the OPEN.
The exclusions zones overlap two known open-air drug markets where crack dealing is prevalent in town. Wow I just cracked the case. Pun intended.
Why must we always insist it’s racism? It’s like we have to PROVE we’re a progressive city by injecting injustice hysteria into every story. Christ, spare me.
In the name of equity, I’d be more than willing to make the entire city a drug exclusion zone. Get caught dealing meth, you have to move to Vancouver. Problem solved.
What would the black people of Portland do without their great white savior Dennis Theriault typing away on his MacBook Pro in his cozy SE bungalow?
While he can write about numbers, but it is obvious that he knows nothing about statistics or data analysis. Percentages of entire populations versus arrest rates mean nothing. I suggest Mr. Theriault do some basic research into data analysis before putting together a poor infographic. At a minimum, read the first couple chapters of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point. It even discusses crime rates.
Basically, that high percentage of black arrests could be due to 10 people being arrested over and over, and have nothing to do with racial profiling. A couple of journalists from the Portland Tribune wrote a few articles on this last year. I suggest Dennis and everyone else read them.
Denis,
If I were to accept your reasoning as to why the DIA should be promoted as one of Sam’s achievements, then I would have to ask why you chose to not list the Sit/Lie ordinance as another “notch in the ol’ belt?” Is there not enough racial/minority/justice/money spent significance in that issue to make the cut? BTW – I never said the DIA issue isn’t significant.
And who the hell are you to tell your readers to “let that bit of pre-history go?” If anything, your coverage of this latest mayoral election only confirmed those doubts. That’s part of the legacy Denis, whether you like it or not, you’ve got a hell of road to climb before you can assume otherwise. As for your frustrations, well son, that’s what I’d call fluff!
i dont get it. Were the black people arrested not committing crimes?
oh they were? Then they should be arrested. End of story. Nothing racist about it.
You want to commit a crime you throw your race out the door. Being a criminal trumps all you scumbag of indeterminate color.
^^^ That’s asinine. Hypothetically, if 95% of murder convictions were minorities, then you’d say, fine, they’re criminals, and race obviously doesn’t enter into it? Because you say so?
“You want to commit a crime you throw your race out the door.” That means nothing. Profiling and institutional racism exist, with disproportionate arrests, prosecution, and sentencing, so of course we should pay attention to. The difference in prosecution and sentencing for crack cocaine (mostly poor/black offenders) and powder cocaine (mostly wealthier/white offenders) is one of the most obvious and well-documented cases of this.
“Being a criminal trumps all you scumbag of indeterminate color.” You want to try writing that again in intelligible English?
So genius what is the problem here? Innocent people being arrested? guess not.
Not enough white people being arrested?
Well is that the problem or isnt it?
so then arresting more whiteys would solve your problem. And that makes your problem of a moron. Because you are ASKING for the exact thing you are crying wah wah about.
Tool.
Maybe it’s not racist but merely coincidental that most drug dealers just so happen to be black? The problem isn’t profiling so much as it is the stupidity of the so-called, “War on Drugs”.