NEIGHBORHOOD ENFORCEMENT TEAM STARTS STRONG, WINS APPLAUSE (PHOTO)
News Release from City of Gresham
Posted on FlashAlert: August 27th, 2014 8:39 AM
Downloadable file: Securing abandoned properties is a key goal for the Neighborhood Enforcement Team
Downloadable file: Gresham Police Officers Dan Estes and Jim Leake of the Neighborhood Enforcement Team
GRESHAM, Ore. - In its first three months of operation, the Gresham Police Department's new Neighborhood Enforcement Team had a busy, and effective, start on addressing quality of life issues. Police statistics show that the two-officer team:
* secured 32 abandoned properties to remove squatters or thieves
* made 18 arrests, most for criminal trespassing
* tagged or cleared 17 transient camps
* issued nine traffic citations
* seized five items of stolen property
* boarded up four vacant properties
* helped two apartment managers with problem tenants
This activity is the result of persistent, proactive police work. Officers James Leake and Daniel Estes, who make up the Neighborhood Enforcement Team, spent 50 hours in community meetings, fielded 54 telephone tip line calls, and clocked 2,066 citizen contacts - phone calls, patrol stops, searches, interviews, etc. - between May 1 and Aug. 1, 2014.
"The team is doing an impressive job of meeting their mission - working with residents to improve quality of life and livability in Gresham," said Police Chief Craig Junginger. "At community meetings, people say they're happy with this new detail. The NET is working on issues that matter a lot to residents."
Junginger created the Neighborhood Enforcement Team to respond to an increase in neighborhood complaints about transients, abandoned properties, drug dealing, chronic noise, and other neighborhood issues that don't qualify as emergencies but can have a significant, negative effect on quality of life. Junginger selected Leake and Estes to form the team in order to manage the increase in livability calls - without pulling officers away from emergencies.
Instead of responding to 911 calls, Leake and Estes generate their own leads from tips, patrols and conversations with fellow police officers, non-profit leaders, neighborhood association members, business owners, property managers and City Hall staffers. The team has forged close partnerships with the City's Department of Environmental Services, Code Compliance program, and the City Attorney's Office, and played a role in developing and enforcing a chronic nuisance ordinance, an abandoned property board-up procedure, and an exclusion order and procedure to remove trespassers from City parks and trails.
"In some ways, we're going back to the basics of police work, talking to people on their porches, in the parks, at their businesses," Leake said. "We listen and often work together with residents to solve a problem. What's satisfying is that we're not reacting to an issue and putting a Band-Aid on it. We're getting deep into the community and looking at lasting solutions."
"There's been no shortage of work," Estes said. "And residents appreciate our presence. We've left calls where neighbors walk out of their houses and applaud."
The Gresham Police Department has longstanding special units for gang activity and drug crimes. The Neighborhood Enforcement Team is the latest detail, and was created without hiring new staff, or increasing the police budget. Based on the team's first quarter performance, Junginger said he plans to keep it operating this fiscal year.
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* secured 32 abandoned properties to remove squatters or thieves
* made 18 arrests, most for criminal trespassing
* tagged or cleared 17 transient camps
* issued nine traffic citations
* seized five items of stolen property
* boarded up four vacant properties
* helped two apartment managers with problem tenants
This activity is the result of persistent, proactive police work. Officers James Leake and Daniel Estes, who make up the Neighborhood Enforcement Team, spent 50 hours in community meetings, fielded 54 telephone tip line calls, and clocked 2,066 citizen contacts - phone calls, patrol stops, searches, interviews, etc. - between May 1 and Aug. 1, 2014.
"The team is doing an impressive job of meeting their mission - working with residents to improve quality of life and livability in Gresham," said Police Chief Craig Junginger. "At community meetings, people say they're happy with this new detail. The NET is working on issues that matter a lot to residents."
Junginger created the Neighborhood Enforcement Team to respond to an increase in neighborhood complaints about transients, abandoned properties, drug dealing, chronic noise, and other neighborhood issues that don't qualify as emergencies but can have a significant, negative effect on quality of life. Junginger selected Leake and Estes to form the team in order to manage the increase in livability calls - without pulling officers away from emergencies.
Instead of responding to 911 calls, Leake and Estes generate their own leads from tips, patrols and conversations with fellow police officers, non-profit leaders, neighborhood association members, business owners, property managers and City Hall staffers. The team has forged close partnerships with the City's Department of Environmental Services, Code Compliance program, and the City Attorney's Office, and played a role in developing and enforcing a chronic nuisance ordinance, an abandoned property board-up procedure, and an exclusion order and procedure to remove trespassers from City parks and trails.
"In some ways, we're going back to the basics of police work, talking to people on their porches, in the parks, at their businesses," Leake said. "We listen and often work together with residents to solve a problem. What's satisfying is that we're not reacting to an issue and putting a Band-Aid on it. We're getting deep into the community and looking at lasting solutions."
"There's been no shortage of work," Estes said. "And residents appreciate our presence. We've left calls where neighbors walk out of their houses and applaud."
The Gresham Police Department has longstanding special units for gang activity and drug crimes. The Neighborhood Enforcement Team is the latest detail, and was created without hiring new staff, or increasing the police budget. Based on the team's first quarter performance, Junginger said he plans to keep it operating this fiscal year.
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