Illustration by Alex Cochran/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Designing the Systems Regional differences are likely to emerge among county programs. House Bill 4002 gives broad guidance, but leaves the details up to local authorities. As officials discuss how to design their programs in Washington County and elsewhere, they are looking at what steps should be required to complete deflection, said Barton, the Washington County district attorney. “Where do we say that we’ve successfully deflected someone?” Barton said. “That is, I think, a big unanswered question at this point. And that’s where it’s going to look different, I suspect between different counties.” He said for the system to work, the drug user needs to take meaningful action towards recovery. “It can’t just be ‘Well, we gave someone a pamphlet or we let them call a phone number or they talked to someone one time or three times,’” he said. Counties could also set different timetables for how long someone has to sign up for a deflection program, and they could vary on whether they have people on call around the clock to respond to police officers.
Counties will have different types of challenges. For example, Barton said, Multnomah County has fewer police agencies than Washington County. With its wider mix of police agencies of different sizes, Washington County could face more difficulty in getting the agencies in Forest Grove, Beaverton, Sherwood and Tigard, for example, to coordinate to make the program work. “Our job is to make sure that all of these instruments are playing the same song together, and we have to make sure that we’re singing in unison,” he said. Other Potential Landmines Under House Bill 4002, a drug user will not go to jail unless their probation is revoked or they violate it. The maximum penalty will be up to six months in jail. A suspect also could face a jail sentence if they don’t show up for a court appearance. A failure to appear charge carries up to 364 days in jail. Hartley, the public defender, said that’s a concern because of the lack of public defenders and prosecutors dismissing cases when suspects have to wait too long. Each county’s criminal justice situation also varies. For
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April 2024 | The Business Review
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