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Current Neighborhood Deputy District Attorney sites at precincts include those at Lloyd Center, North and Northeast Precincts, Central, East and Southeast Precinct, a Tri-Met District Attorney, and a Gresham Neighborhood District Attorney.
Springer said police officers people talk to would mostly agree that the Neighborhood District Attorney program is a highly successful program.
“The fact that it has been a model for other programs speaks very highly of it,” Springer said. Other cities modeling programs after Portland include Denver, Tacoma, Sacramento, San Jose and even the country of Japan. The latter wants to model their national programs on Portland, Springer said after a Japanese official visited Portland.
“I feel like I have a good, close relationship with the Detectives and the Senior Neighborhood Officers (SNOS) I work with. The District Officers know I’m accessible as well,” Springer said.
Where this teamwork pays off is when citizens frequently complain about neighborhood drug houses. Springer works with SNO’S, citizens and local agencies such as the Bureau of Development Services and the Bureau of Buildings to issue a citizen driven search warrant of the drug house. This can lead to the house’s designation as a chronic nuisance by the city and it will be shut down.
“We try to help citizens take their neighborhoods back,” Springer said.
She wants to be helpful to both the police and citizens of the community.
“My long term goal is to be a person that officers feel comfortable coming to for advice or to talk about cases; and also to be someone the community knows they can contact if they feel they have a public safety problem in the neighborhood,” Springer said.
She also recommends that citizens adopt common sense strategies of crime prevention during these times of reduced budgets leading to fewer police officers (See sidebar).
Common sense steps can be taken to prevent you from being a victim. This is important because currently in East Precinct property crimes are so prevalent. They are primarily crimes of opportunity, so it pays to be prepared.
Springer can be reached at her East Precinct Office at 503-823-4841. Her email is Robin.Springer@mcda.us. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schrunk’s main office is located at the Multnomah County Courthouse, 1021 SW. 4th Ave., Portland, OR 97204. The phone number is 503-988-3162. The fax number is 503-988-3643. The TDD is 503-988-3302.
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