Bend’s downtown is about 1 percent of the city’s land mass, but according to Bend Police, the area sees about 5 percent of the department’s calls for service.

The Bend City Council will on Wednesday consider a proposal to expand an area of downtown from which people who are found committing specific crimes could be excluded for 90 days. Law enforcement, including the Bend Police Department and the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office, is weighing in on what they have described as recurring problems with assault and vandalism.

Under the current ordinance, when an individual is accused of committing any one of those specific crimes, from littering to assault, police can ban them from the downtown area for 90 days.

Bend has had a civil exclusion zone covering public parks, downtown parking lots, Brooks Alley and the breezeway connecting Brooks Alley and Wall Street since 2012, according to Bend Police Chief Jim Porter. The expansion would stretch south to Idaho Avenue and east to Lava Road and Harriman Avenue, covering downtown’s commercial core.

Under Bend’s current ordinance, the exclusion doesn’t go into effect for five days, and a civilly excluded individual has the right to appeal the process within 20 days, Porter said. During that time, they are not barred from any areas.

Meanwhile, District Attorney John Hummel has recently assigned two deputy district attorneys, Ray Crutchley and Kirsten Naito, to address “quality of life” crimes downtown.

“Quality of life crimes from downtown Bend will be routed to Ray and Kirsten so we can develop a consistent strategy and approach to address the issue,” Hummel wrote in an email Thursday to DA’s office staff.

In addition to taking on the downtown caseload, Naito and Crutchley will attend meetings of the Downtown Bend Business Association, a group that has also advocated for the expansion of the zone. Kelli Brooks, the association’s marketing assistant, told the City Council at a May 6 meeting that she was eager to see an expansion of the exclusion zone. “We need people to feel safe downtown,” she said, adding there was “a lot of negative behavior.”

However, some city councilors voiced concerns about a rule that would allow police to exclude people from certain geographic areas.

“There is a problem of crimes committed downtown, particularly as the weather warms,” Hummel wrote. “Ray and Kirsten will help develop solutions to the problem of downtown crime and will help educate others as to the value that diversity brings to an urban core.”

Portland and Eugene no longer have downtown exclusion zones after community members raised concerns about how the exclusion rule was applied.

In 2007, Portland Mayor Tom Potter didn’t renew the city’s 14-year-old exclusion zone after finding that it disproportionately affected African-Americans and didn’t reduce criminal activity, as city officials had hoped.

“It took a lot of community advocacy to get some reporting done on how these exclusions were being handed out” in Portland, said Jann Carson, interim executive director of the ACLU of Oregon. Carson noted the significance of a process that allows people enough time to appeal .

In 2013, Eugene saw the end of its Downtown Public Safety Zone, enacted in 2008 to confront what police said was a growing problem of crime and lack of “livability” in the city’s downtown. After significant public opposition, the city established a commission to phase out the exclusion zone altogether.

“I think another question to ask is, is this the best way to deal with a dozen people … to create an ordinance that gives this kind of authority and discretion? What would constitute abuse?” said Carson.

In an interview Friday, Porter reiterated the due process protections built into the civil exclusion ordinance. “We can’t exclude people because we want to,” Porter said, adding “they can ask for certain waivers or petition for modification of waivers … if that person works downtown, the right thing to do is to provide them an exemption to the exclusion during working hours.”

Porter said that police met with downtown business owners and the Bend Park & Recreation Department. Representatives from those groups suggested the expansion, he said. And the expanded zone won’t include the Family Kitchen, which serves free meals, or public parking located in nearby residential areas.

“We cannot be there all the time,” said Porter, who noted that last summer police increased patrols at night downtown and the intent was to change behavior. “If the large percentage of problems are presented by a small amount of people, maybe we could use an exclusion area to help us out.”

“Originally, we had discussed moving the limits of the exclusion area to be the same as the downtown parking area,” Porter said. “We took an analytical look at that. We were reaching into neighborhoods, and that wasn’t the point of the exclusion area, (which is) to make a common area more livable.”

According to Assistant City Attorney Gary Firestone, the city of Milwaukie has employed the exclusion zones with success. Furthermore, Firestone said, the appeal process and opportunity for waivers for employment and health care downtown help the city guard against legal objections. “I think ours is far more defensible,” Firestone, who could not be reached for comment Friday, told the council May 6.

Officials at the city of Milwaukie did not return a call for comment Friday.

The possible expansion of the civil exclusion zone is part of a broader effort on the part of the police department to analyze call data and increase efficiencies. Two small teams dedicated to information-led policing and mental health, respectively, are expected to get off the ground in the fall.

“It is part of the solution. It’s not the only solution,” said Porter on Friday. “It is a tool that allows us to drive down calls to the downtown area.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0376,

cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com