The very first story The Sentinel printed when publisher Cornelius Swart came on board in September 2004 was about a day in the life of a neighborhood police officer who was leaving the beat.

We followed officer Cliff Bacigalupi as he walked the street, talking with neighbors and trying to track down a local counterfeiter.  Since then, we’ve made police coverage one of our primary focuses:  We’ve devoted an edition to crime prevention almost every year and provided what seemed to be day-in, day-out updates on the various moves to close or consolidate North Precinct over.

Many newspapers run with the adage “If it bleeds, it leads.”  However, our readers made it clear they did not want that kind of coverage from their community news service.  We set out to cover crime from a prevention- and solution-oriented angle, with an occasional story of truly exceptionally strange crimes (a bomb found at Peninsula Elementary School, January 2009) and coverage of what sadly seems to be an increasing number of cases that raise questions about police misconduct. Tension between the police and the policed has been a constant tightrope.

From KGW

Last month the Sentinel reported that since North Precinct moved out of St Johns, the area has seen a spike in residential and commercial break-ins.  Could they all have been conducted by two teenagers?  Probably not, but someone should take these punk kids and give them a good boxing on the ears.

Part of a series on North Precinct
At a standing-room-only Public Safety Action Committee meeting in late January, Chris Duffy addressed North Portland’s concerns about crime.

“No matter what the crime numbers seem to be on paper, people are not seeing our police on the streets,” said Duffy, the chair of the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association. “The police are dashing from one end of the peninsula to East County and back again, and people are not getting the day-to-day communication with officers they expect.”

While the number of Portland police officers are up, Portland Police Bureau representatives have been saying for months that overall crime rates are down. Statistics from the PPB website and the bureau’s crime analysts corroborate those statements. But property crime in certain North and Northeast neighborhoods is up, and residents reeling from the loss of the old North Precinct in St. Johns are feeling increasingly vulnerable within the new police structure.

In the wake of mounting community concern about crime in North and Northeast Portland, and in advance of tonight's Public Safety Action Committee, North Portland is getting a new Crime Prevention Coordinator. 

Angela Wagnon (at right) joins Mark Wells at the North Portland Crime Prevention Office on North Denver Avenue in Kenton, where she spoke by phone with The Sentinel on her first day at the office since being reassigned from East Precinct earlier this month.

"It was a bit bittersweet," said Wagnon of leaving the neighborhoods she had worked with since joining the city's Crime Prevention Team in early 2009. "But for my fellow coordinators, it would have been a tougher move," since several of her cohorts in East had worked there for many years. Wagnon had the added benefit of hands-on experience working in the North Portland office as an intern in the summer of 2008.

Tonight, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m., Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer, Commissioner Dan Saltzman and the North Portland Public Safety Action Committee will convene at Life Fellowship Church at 3935 N. Lombard St. At the meeting, the Portland Police Bureau will address “community policing in the new North Precinct” and mounting Fifth Quadrant concerns, particularly in St. Johns, that crime has risen since the consolidation of precincts last summer.

Six months after the consolidation of North and Northeast Precincts, Part 1 crime – larceny, burglary, rape [See attachment below]– appears to be up in the North Portland Peninsula, while the same class of crimes continue a multi-year decline in inner North and Northeast, according to a statistical analysis in part using the PPB's website Crime Mapper by the Sentinel. 

 We've been reporting recently on the spike in property crime in North and Northeast Portland, which has coincided with the consolidation of the North and Northeast police precincts. Jim Ferraris, commander of the "new" North Precinct, claims that residents' perception of crime is higher than normal even though the overall crime rate is down in N/NE from levels seen in recent years. (Numbers from the Portland Police Bureau's CrimeStats website back this up, though there are certain neighborhoods — St. Johns in particular — where the number of residential and commercial burglaries from June-October 2009 appeared to increase over the same time period in 2008.)

As if to echo that sentiment, a pair of emails sent to our Inbox by the North Portland Business Association express extreme unease with the current policing situation — crucially, without blaming the police themselves, but rather the dismal economy and the resulting PPB budget cuts (and, implicitly, the precinct consolidation). Below is the full text of the emails, sent by NPBA President and VP Jim Schaller and Mike Salvo, both of whom urge N/NE community members to attend the Public Safety Action Committee (PSAC) meeting on Jan. 27.
(see below the cut)

(oh, if only PSAC had action figures...)

On the heels of our stories about the police precinct consolidation and spike in property crime in North and Northeast neighborhoods, the North Portland Public Safety Action Committee (PSAC) is holding a meeting this month called "Public safety and community policing in the new North Precinct." An all-star cast of safety-minded Portland public officials - from North Precinct Commander Jim Ferraris to Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman - will be on hand to address the status of the new North Precinct, impending budget challenges, and ways citizens can be involved in protecting their neighborhoods from would-be criminals. 

When: Jan. 27, 7-8:30 p.m. Where: Life Fellowship Church, 3935 N. Lombard St. For more information: contact Mark Wells, North Portland Crime Prevention Coordinator, (503) 823-4098. 

(slideshow photo courtesy of OregonLive; blog image courtesy of USC)

[From our upcoming January Street Edition, out Jan. 6}
Part of a series on North Precinct: After the Fall

North Precinct Commander Jim Ferraris notes that while the perception of crime is up in North and Northeast neighborhoods, "Empirical data and facts tell me otherwise." Indeed, overall crime is down locally and regionally, with statewide property crimes at their lowest numbers in decades.

Try telling that to the business owners on Northeast Alberta Street and North Mississippi Avenue, where the list of locations hit by break-ins and burglaries grows longer every day. At least six Alberta Street businesses have been broken into or burglarized this fall. Add that to a trio of recent burglaries on North Williams Avenue and numerous break-ins on Mississippi — including businesses that have been hit twice or more — and you have a commercial community fighting for survival at a time when the recession has already battered their bottom lines.

Part One
As winter sets in, crime doesn’t cool

“Typically in Overlook we’ve averaged a couple car break-ins a year,” says North Portland crime prevention coordinator Mark Wells from his Kenton office on a rainy November afternoon. “In the past six weeks, we’ve had 10 or 11.”

Shoplifting is up on Mississippi Avenue. Robberies have plagued Alberta Street businesses in recent weeks. Just last month, a serial “cat burglar” hit 19 homes on or near North Lombard Street. And St. Johns has seen an uptick in criminal activity. 

As service cuts continue to bear down on North/Northeast, and last summer’s police precinct consolidation stretches officers and resources to their limits, neighbors are more concerned than ever about crime. However, residents are beginning to rally as they realize that they must take a more active role in public safety.

~ Cornelius Swart and Becca Bartleson
Closing ceremony steeped in tradition and meaning

The June 7 de-commissioning ceremony of North Precinct was steeped in police and military tradition fitting the historic importance of the building.  A four-piece brass band from the U.S. Army’s 234th Division played the national anthem to begin the ceremony. Commander Donna Henderson shook the hand of every precinct officer, giving them each a coin embossed with the image of the first officer from the city of St. Johns to start a patrol from the building.

Previous | Image 1 of 7 | Next

Training Division moves into St. Johns' former town hall. Heritage Society Museum fate unclear. What of the much talked about 'community room'?

~ Cornelius Swart

Training Division almost all moved in

On Friday, June 19, I made an unannounced visit to the St. Johns Historic Town Hall, aka North Precinct, or what the Portland Police Bureau calls "The North Building." Currently the term North Precinct now refers to former Northeast Precinct at 449 NE Emerson at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (precinct map download)  Lt. Sara Westbrooke was nice enough to give me a tour of "The North Building."  The Training Division is almost completely moved in. 

There are two sides to the Training Division, one for new recruits, the other for veteran officers.  "We haven't all been together in years," said Westbrook.

~ Report and video by Becca Bartleson

The North Portland Police Precinct was officially decommissioned late Sunday afternoon. The ceremony recognized each individual officer who served there while over 50 community members watched from the concrete plaza.

Commander Donna Henderson addressed the crowd after every officer had walked forward to shake her hand and marched back into formation at the base of the stairs.

Henderson said in her opening remarks that this was the end of an era.

The Sentinel will have a web report and video of the ceremony, as the community bids fairwell to a century long St Johns tradition. Slightly coffee stained flyer below:

~ Report and Photos by Jason E. Kaplan

Today the Portland City Council voted unanimously to shut down two of the city's five police precincts.  The closure of North Precinct ends an almost 15-year battle to keep alive a police presence in North Portland that dated back to the founding of the city of St. Johns over a century ago.  North Precinct, currently housed in what was once the Town Hall for the independent city of St. Johns, has been under threat of closure ever since the mid-1990s when a new precinct was built in Inner Northeast Portland, off Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Today's closure order hits hardest in the St. Johns neighborhood, where the community has a unique attachment to the Police Bureau, as a symbol of the area's unique history, small-town charm and independent spirit.
 

PUBLISHER'S BLOG ~ Cornelius Swart

Portland City Council just voted to adopt the Portland Police Bureau recommendation to close both North and Southeast Precinct.  Mayor Sam Adams nor City Councilor Randy Leonard were present at the vote. For more details see the live blog by William Crawford.

~ William Crawford

The Portland City Council voted moments ago in support of the Portland Police Bureau's proposal to close North and Southeast Precincts. The resolution calls for reorganizing the present five precinct structure to only three. 

With minimal testimony from the public, Chief Sizer presented her plan to the Council who promptly voted in favor. Mayor Sam Adams left before the final vote, but stated for the record his support. Commissioners Fish, Fritz and Saltzman also voted for the change, but Commissioner Randy Leonard was absent. The measure goes forward for implimentation, Sizer stated must begin in June. CHECK FOR POSTINGS ON COMMUNITY REACTION AT 6pm

APRIL - 29th, 10:30am ~ William Crawford   CLICK THROUGH FOR BLOG UPDATES

PUBLISHER'S BLOG~ Cornelius Swart

I spoke on the phone today with a fairly influential, prudent and well seasoned North Portland activist. The activist wanted to remain unnamed for this particular issue, but is a credible inside source. The resident has solid city hall connections and has been involved with local and city politics for years, dealing with some of North Portland most contentious issues. Their opinion on how council would vote on precinct reoganization if it should indeed come to a vote next Wednesday is that the council would "unanimously vote to close the precincts."

The Oregonian reports, amidst a flurry of police related web postings, that Police Commissioner Dan Saltzman is requesting that city council vote on a police precinct structure at next week's city council hearing.  Now this should two days after the Mayor's budget proposal is released on the 27th.  The Mayor's budget would, in theory, accept or reject PPB's plan to reduce costs by closing two Portland Precincts.  The race to a vote on Wednesday would cut short public debate, or would create certainity amongst citizens about how their public saftey is going to be handled, it depends on how you look at it.  Stay tuned.

~ Cornelius Swart

The Oregonian reports that today's city council work session on the Police Bureau restructuring plan produced three major points. The first is that an outside analysis of the cost to moving precincts and train facilities would be "relatively low" ($15K-$125K).  That is consistent with PPB and Office of Management and Finance claims that restructuring North Precinct into a training facility and Southeast Precinct into the traffic division would not be prohibitively expensive. Last month some concerns about the cost of moving the precincts had been raised by city councilors.