The Eugene Police Department hasn’t heard much from the student community lately and will hold a public workshop today at 110 Knight Law Center in hopes of encouraging student suggestions.
The Eugene Police Commission, EPD’s public outreach body, will hold the workshop from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and will listen to suggestions for using community-based programs as alternatives to policing, among other topics. Today’s public workshop is the second in a series and comes as the commission prepares its programming recommendations for EPD’s upcoming budget. Police commission member Kim Shore, a University law student, said that in the three months she’s served on the commission, no students have attended a meeting. She said she was particularly surprised when the commission reviewed “use of force” policies and no students attended.
“Come on, who’s not interested in what police can and can’t do with force, especially on campus?” Shore said.
Community-based programs combine the skills of both police officers and community members to perform certain police functions, such as neighborhood watches. The community involvement allows police to concentrate their efforts in other areas.
Such programs have become a hot topic of discussion in Eugene in the past few years.
Recently, EPD established several police-community joint programs, including the Senior Citizens and Law Enforcement Together program, designed to help senior citizen volunteers
and police officers work together to monitor
neighborhoods. Also, EPD has created four
substations, each in a different neighborhood, which a department manager oversees and community volunteers staff. The stations offer services requested by a substation’s neighborhood.
Eugene police maintain a substation at 13th Avenue and Alder Street, which serves as a public information outlet and base for patrol officers in the area.
Shore said she anticipates that University students will consider community-based programs the workshop’s major topic.
“We’ll definitely be listening to what students want as far as cooperative programs,” she said.
Shore said there are currently no proposals for additional programs on the table, but EPD wants to know if students want to reduce the number of beat patrols by offering community programs.
The commission chose the University to host a workshop specifically to reach students, commission Vice Chairwoman Carla Newbry said.
“It’s one of the specific places we wanted to target because we know students have specific concerns,” she said.
Shore echoed those sentiments.
“We’re not a transient population. A lot of us stay in Eugene, and we shouldn’t wait until we’re 25 or 30 to have our voices heard on community issues,” Shore said.
In addition to the community-based policing alternatives, the commission will hold discussions about domestic violence and child abuse, drug and alcohol use, prevention and treatment, and increased understanding of the difference between the responsibilities of the Department of Public Safety and EPD.
Eugene Police Chief Jim Hill created the commission to improve community relations and integrate community suggestions into department policy.
Tammam Adi, head of the Islamic Cultural Center of Eugene, said Hill and the police department have been particularly receptive to the concerns of the city’s Islamic population after the attacks of Sept. 11.
“We had wonderful support from the police,” Adi said. “They were with us from day one.”