After the Eugene City Council approved a special response fee that holds party hosts financially responsible for multiple police visits to their houses, apartments or taverns, concerns remain about how the fee will be enforced.
ASUO Legal Services Division Attorney Ilona Koleszar said first response notices and bills for the responses lurk just around the corner — followed closely by questions about the legalities surrounding enforcement of the fee.
“I just want people to brace,” Koleszar said. “It’s bad and it’s about to get worse.”
The special response fee will charge those deemed responsible for disorderly gatherings for the total cost incurred by the city when police are called to the scene.
One issue is whether the fee on the bill is an accurate reflection of the costs incurred by the city. Costs, as stated by the ordinance calling for the fee, include things such as equipment damage, medical costs and wages the city must pay to the police who respond. For example, the number of police who respond to a call may not be necessary to get the job done.
“There’s an easy part to that and a hard part,” City Councilor David Kelly said, who represents the area east of the University.
Kelly said if the number of police who were actually present is different from what the notice or the bill claims, students can contest the fee.
The harder part is what happens if the party hosts disagree with the amount of police officers who respond. If that happens, Kelly said, they can file a formal complaint with the Eugene Municipal Court.
Another question is whether the fee will be issued in full to each owner of the house or if it will be divided evenly among them, which is something Koleszar said she’s not sure is addressed in the ordinance.
Kelly said he believed the fee would be split evenly among those responsible, but he wasn’t sure.
The ordinance states that all party hosts will be “jointly and severally responsible” for payment of the fee, which means that everyone responsible must make sure that the whole fee is paid.
But Koleszar said those issues are only the tip of a much larger iceberg: The deteriorating relationship between students and the police.
Students already have issues with the way they are treated by police officers, Koleszar said, but the ordinance is not going to make that situation any better.
Several students have approached Koleszar in the past with complaints about the way police handled party break-ups. Allegations have ranged from officers breaking interior doors to students being trapped inside a house for up to two hours while the police gather the names of everyone at the party.
“We had one person that was sent to detox for refusing to answer questions after he was told he had the right to remain silent,” Koleszar said. “I don’t know what else to do with that but complain.”
Kelly said that he takes complaints about mistreatment seriously, which is why he suggested students file formal complaints with the Eugene Police Department and the Human Rights Commission.
But in Koleszar’s experience, grievances filed by students aren’t generally answered.
“I don’t know anyone who is satisfied with the police grievance process,” she said.
Koleszar took Kelly’s suggestion a step further, and encouraged students to send a copy of their grievances to each city councilor. That way, she said, the councilors will see how many complaints EPD receives.
“Otherwise, they get swept underneath the carpet,” Koleszar said.
City Councilor Bonny Bettman, who represents the downtown and University areas, said she would like to hear from any student who has filed a grievance, and who felt that nothing came of it. She added, however, that complaints must be dealt with through the proper channels.