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The Policy that Wasn’t There

City’s Hazy Drug-Free Zone Replacement Program

AFTER SEVERAL WEEKS researching the city’s $1.3 million per year replacement program for the now defunct Drug-Free Zones (DFZs), the Mercury has been unable to find a clear and consistent written policy on the new program anywhere in Portland. The DFZs sunset last September, after independent statistical analysis showed African Americans were more likely to […]

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Blacklisted

Does City’s “Livability” List Have Racial Imbalance?

The city’s effective replacement for the now-defunct Drug-Free Zones (DFZs) appears to be targeting black people for harsher treatment by the judicial system—just as the DFZs did. Of the 408 people now on the city’s Neighborhood Livability Crime Enforcement Offender List (NLCEOL)—a list used to determine who is diverted into a city program that couples […]

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In the Shadows

One-Man Safety Net

[In the Shadows is a new biweekly column in which Mercury crime and cop reporter Matt Davis explores Portland’s underbelly.—eds.] Chris O’Connor is a cross between a public defender in community court and Superman. He’s a sharp-eyed, sharp-witted barrel of a guy, whose surprising lightness on his feet extends to his conversation—you don’t converse with […]

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