The Rose City's Homicide Drought
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
BAGDAD THEATER UNDERGOES BIG PortlandTribune REMODEL See Life, B1 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED THURSDAY Activists ■ Murders are down in Portland, but few can pinpoint the reason target Portland homicides Year Homicides Portland population Intel’s 1985 43 367,571 1986 46 368,439 1987 66 390,845 permit 1988 45 387,659 1989 38 425,788 Should the DEQ 1990 33 437,319 force the chip giant to 1991 53 449,671 shut down emissions? 1992 46 458,132 1993 58 454,889 By JIM REDDEN 1994 50 463,072 The Tribune 1995 43 458,623 1996 51 467,906 For months, regional gov- ernment leaders and busi- 1997 46 473,696 ness boosters have cheered 1998 26 488,813 construction of the two 1999 35 508,984 large manufacturing facili- ties at Intel’s Ronler Acres 2000 19 529,121 Campus in Hillsboro. 2001 21 537,081 Now, however, there’s a 2002 20 544,604 growing push to slow the 2003 27 545,271 “I would project and re- 2004 29 543,838 rather shut quire Oregon’s 2005 20 540,389 largest private 2006 20 542,174 them down employer to than allow install addi- 2007 22 538,133 tional emis- 2008 26 553,023 them to sion control 2009 19 560,908 operate as equipment, regardless of 2010 22 583,776 planned.” the cost. 2011 20 589,991 About three out of four homicides are the result of an argument between acquaintances that escalates. Police tactics to reduce — Dale Feik “I would 2012 20 598,037 rather shut homicides involves keeping apart people who might get into confl icts in the fi rst place. In Portland, that means patrolling inside and them down outside Jefferson High School during football games. Here, Portland Police Gang Enforcement Offi cers Jim DeFrain, Charlie Asheim 2013 10 than allow them to operate as and Sgt. Don Livingston watch for gang members in the milling crowd inside Jefferson’s stadium. Source: U.S. Census and FBI crime reports planned,” says Dale Feik, a re- tired teacher helping to lead a grassroots campaign to pre- gt. Rich Austria remembers the begin- vent the Oregon Department ning, and the end. of Environmental Quality from The happy drought of Portland ho- issuing the discharge permit Smicides began the day after Indepen- Intel needs to operate. dence Day, the day after 33-year-old Northeast Feik is chairman of the Portland resident Duane Bailey died of stab The Rose City’s Clean Air Committee of the wounds. It ended 94 days later when Donte Al- Washington County Citizen wakeel Young of North Portland, also 33, died Action Network, a nonprofit after being shot in the head. Previously, the coalition of environmental, so- longest period Portland had cial justice and economic ever gone without a murder equality advocacy organiza- Story by was 71 days. homicide drought tions. He has used that posi- Peter Korn Summer usually brings tion to help rally public opposi- homicide detectives such as tion to the permit being issued, Photos by Austria an increased work- cide rate on a per capita basis has been among arguing that Intel actually load as gang activity heats the nation’s lowest for years. And though aca- needs to obtain a much stricter Jaime Valdez up. Portland police respond- demic criminologists offer a host of data-driv- one from the U.S Environmen- ed to plenty of violent gang en theories that they say correlate a variety of tal Protection Agency. incidents this summer, but policies and demographics with murder rates, WCCAN is led by Linda Pe- after July 4, no homicides. none appear to fully explain why in Portland ters, a former Washington “We’re baffl ed at this,” Austria says. murder rarely occurs. County commissioner and for- It isn’t just the summer that is baffl ing to “Almost every major city in the U.S., you can mer chairwoman of the board those who track violent crime in Portland. locate the areas of the city that have high mur- of commissioners. Participat- With two months to go, Portland is on track der rates by fi nding the neighborhoods that ing groups include the Oregon for a record low annual number of homicides. are impoverished,” says criminologist Jack League of Conservation Vot- In 1987, a record high 66 Portlanders were ho- Levin, who teaches courses on the sociology of ers, 1000 Friends of Oregon, micide victims. Ten people have been homi- violence at Northeastern University in Boston. Fair Boosters, Fans of Fanno cide victims so far this year. In Chicago or De- Cities with high rates of poverty have high- TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO: L.E. BASKOW Creek and Neighbors for troit, 10 people may be murdered in a week. er murder rates, Levin says. A Portland police offi cer gather evidence after a 2002 homicide in Smart Growth in Cedar Mill. Homicide rates have plummeted nationally downtown. The city has seen a drop in the number of homicides in To press her case, on Oct. 22 since the mid-1990s. Even so, Portland’s homi- See MURDER / Page 2 the past few months, and is on a record pace for fewest homicides. Peters presented a letter de- tailing her concerns about In- tel to Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley. In her letter, Peters ex- plained that while serving on the Washington County board in the 1990s, she approved us- ing Oregon’s new Strategic In- Novick’s safety valve vestment Program to encour- age Intel’s expansion into the Sunset Corridor, believing In- tel’s “good neighbor” promise — something she no longer idea is a gas, gas, gas believes. “Industrial employers locat- an earthquake, as city Com- Novick says, and it could save ed near residential and public Preventing fi res after missioner Steve Novick and their home from catching fi re. spaces must keep their air his fi ancée did after purchas- In the devastating 1906 quake emissions suffi ciently free of quakes is the focus of ing their Multnomah Village in San Francisco, “there was toxins and hazardous pollut- proposed requirement home a year ago. more damage done by fi res after ants to protect humans, pets, But Novick got another idea the earthquake than from the nearby farms, wildlife, water while talking to his seismic ret- earthquake itself,” Novick says. quality, and — ironically By STEVE LAW rofi t contractor in August. Why A report issued on the centen- enough — the existing econo- The Tribune not get more homeowners to in- nial of the earthquake found my,” Peters wrote. “Who stall valves that automatically there were more than 30 fi res wants to live, work or shop TRIBUNE PHOTO: JONATHAN HOUSE Not every Portland family cut off the natural gas fl ow dur- caused by ruptured natural gas Nick Perez of Earthquake Tech holds a “California valve,” which can plunk down $4,000 to ing an earthquake? See INTEL / Page 5 automatically stops the fl ow of natural gas during earthquakes. make their home safer during “It’s about a $325 item,” See VALVE / Page 10 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune deliver balanced news that refl ects the DUCKS GET CHANCE TO AVENGE STANFORD LOSS stories of our communities. Thank you Inside — SEE SPORTS, PAGE B8 for reading our newspapers.” — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR HOURLY gift card prizes 449439.103013 A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, October 31, 2013 Murder: More victims survive shootings ■ From page 1 Debate puts mandatory arrests Levin says 90 percent of the murders in Boston take place for domestic violence in spotlight in three low-income neighbor- Historically, about one large-scale studies in Milwau- hoods. He did a comparison in fi ve Portland homicides kee, Wis., and Kansas City, study between Boston and St. has resulted from domes- Mo., that showed when police Louis, two cities similar in size. tic violence. Last year, sev- jailed domestic violence of- Boston had a murder rate of 11 en Portlanders died from fenders — even for just a few per 100,000 residents, St. Louis’ domestic violence. In 2011 days — their victims were less rate was 46 per 100,000. Boston there were three domestic likely to become homicide vic- had 23 percent of its citizens violence deaths, in 2010 tims. living below the poverty level there were six, in 2009 But in recent years, Sher- while St. Louis had 30 percent. there were fi ve and in 2008 man has begun to revise some Another determining factor there were four. of his earlier fi ndings. Now, he in homicides, according to But exactly how police says, mandatory arrest laws Levin, is immigration — the should respond to domestic can lead to more homicides. In more foreign-born residents a violence calls is a controver- cases of minor assault, a bat- city has, the less likely it is to sial matter among tered woman might be safer if see murders. criminologists. the man is not arrested, he That theory worked in Nearly all domestic vio- says. If the man has a steady Levin’s Boston/St. Louis com- lence homicides occur after job, arresting him for serious parison. Boston had many few- previous police calls to the assault is a good idea. But if he er homicides and 26 percent of same home. Portland has is unemployed, the arrest its residents were foreign-born made a concerted effort to could double the chances of immigrants. St. Louis had more TRIBUNE PHOTO: JAIME VALDEZ stem domestic violence with a future domestic violence.