In 2024, nearly three million people visited Deschutes County. That same year tourists spent just around $3 billion during their visits, generating $351 million in local revenue and supporting 8,660 local jobs. 

Summer tourism is a boon for Deschutes County. But more people also means more crime and more accidents. 

Overall, the data from the Bend Police Department shows officers are busier in the summer, strongly correlating to the influx of tourists during the months of June, July and August. Bend Police Department’s busiest month is July, with an average of 7,284 calls for service per year since 2021. This is in contrast to December, which averages 5,586 calls for the month. 

“We as a department recognize there are more people in our community in the summer,” said Bend Police spokesperson Sheila Miller. “We’re already a pretty lean organization, so when you have that huge jump in people, obviously there’s going to be more stuff going on and we have the same number of officers dealing with it.”

Another hub for tourism in Deschutes County is Sunriver, a small town in the south of the county whose population of around 1,700 can swell to more than 20,000 during peak summer months. In 2024, Sunriver Police handled a total of 2,221 calls during the summer, which is 727 more than its staff of 10 handled for a three-month stretch between December 2024 and February 2025.

“That’s a significant number for patrol officers who are usually only working with one other officer,” said Officer Jason Van Meter with the Sunriver Police Department, which handles the influx of population by running a volunteer bike-patrol unit during the summer. “We will have six bike patrol officers starting this summer. They will help with bike path safety and calls such as search and rescue or lost people and pets.”

Alcohol-related crimes

Bend in particular is a destination for beer and brewery lovers across the country. In 2019, a study by C+R Research ranked Bend as third in the country for having the most number of breweries per capita, with 16 breweries for every 50,000 people. That number doesn’t even account for cideries, wineries and several of the smaller breweries outside city limits. With Deschutes County being such an alcohol-rich destination, related calls make up a significant portion of summer incidents.

During tourism season, reports of DUII increase on average 23% in Bend while calls for a minor in possession go up 27%. The rate of DUIIs doesn’t necessarily increase in Sunriver during the summer, but Van Meter said the yearly total of 70 DUII arrests in 2024 is “a lot considering the personnel size of our agency.” Anecdotally, summer alcohol consumption may also contribute to the significant rise in disputes (47% increase) and harassment (15% increase)

Another interesting statistic Miller pulled from the Bend Police Department data is that calls for a drunk person in public go up 43%, even though in Oregon it is not illegal.

“It’s not illegal to be drunk in public,” said Miller. “It’s not illegal to be high in public unless you’re a danger to yourself, but people call it in because it’s scary to see somebody hammered walking down the street or they think it’s illegal because they’re from somewhere where it is illegal. But I think that’s an obvious one because we see a lot of people who come here to party or to partake in our robust brewing community.”

Is it just tourists?

The Bend and Sunriver police departments do not track which calls come in from locals and which come in from tourists, but the data on which types of calls are more common give a glimpse into the different types of activities the public is generally engaged in during the summer. For example, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office’s busiest month is July, with June and August also trending higher.

“I suspect these trends may correlate with visitor numbers as those months are probably peak for recreational tourism. As far as crime, our unit handles some of the activity in the forests and lakes. We do often see increases in vehicle breaking at recreational sites and trailheads (during the summer,)” said Lt. Nathan Garibay with Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office special services team.

As for Bend Police, Miller said the increases can be explained by both locals and tourists.

“What I see as a consistently higher trend is disputes, so people getting into arguments. There’s more people yelling at each other in the street or getting mad and freaking out on each other. That goes up about 50% every summer and it’s in the top 20 types of calls during the summer,” Miller said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s just tourists that are fighting. What it means to me is there’s more people and more opportunities for disputes.” 

Another example is bicycle accidents, which go up an average of 98% during the summer. That increase is not just because of tourism, but also because people are also more likely to ride during good summer weather.

The top call for service in Bend during the summer is dog complaints, which go up by 55%. That could also be attributed to tourists who aren’t familiar with leash regulations or locals who disregard them. The same could be said for the Sunriver Police Department’s heightened focus during the summer on traffic enforcement, because of an increased number of high-velocity crashes.

The numbers demonstrate that, while tourism isn’t the sole cause of increasing calls to law enforcement during the summer, things like increased vehicle traffic along the U.S. Highway 97 and the presence of more people in the area are something law enforcement takes into consideration.

“It confirms what we believe — which is that calls for service are highest in June, July and August,” Miller said. “I think anybody who lives here knows that in the summer things get really busy, and that extends to policing but how to measure that can be a big challenge.”