Portland police chief, Multnomah County commissioner express need for sobering center

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Multnomah County's deflection center is set to open on Southeast Sandy on Sept. 1 — but it will lack sobering services. 

Until mid-2025, no one who arrives intoxicated at the deflection center will get sobering services or medications for opioid use disorder.

In a letter sent to Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson on Monday afternoon, Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day highlighted the need for a sobering center.

Day noted that the lack of a sobering center where first responders can drop off people who need help is a critical public safety crisis. Multnomah County Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards agrees.

“I was really heartened to see Chief Day take a really strong position, that we need to open as soon as possible the 24/7 drop-off sobering center,” Brim-Edwards told KOIN 6.

“I'm glad to see Chief Day, who I have a lot of respect for and who is a very strong leader, who really sort of laid down the marker on the need for a sobering center as soon as possible,” she added.

According to the police chief, Portland officers routinely express that they need somewhere to take people who are intoxicated.

“It is clear we are in urgent need of a safe, secure facility that will hold people so they can be screened, assessed and provided with recovery options that can change the trajectory of their lives,” Day said.

Brim-Edwards echoed that statement, saying first responders have told her they currently have three options when dealing with someone who is heavily intoxicated: send them to the emergency room, book them into jail or leave them on the street.

Chair Vega Pederson was recently under fire for holding meetings on the deflection center without other county commissioners.

In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, her office said she “looks forward to further conversations with Chief Day and law enforcement partners as the county looks to bring sobering resources… including a 24/7 drop-off center online.”

Despite Vega Pederson and her staff promising a more set-in-stone plan in the coming weeks, Brim-Edwards stated there’s still much work to be done when it comes to the center's two most important goals: safety of the person who needs help and safety of the community.

“I think both the community pushing for more accountability and transparency, as well as myself and other commissioners, [think] that this plan shouldn't be built behind closed doors,” the commissioner said.

Vega Pederson and her team have until Aug. 15 to bring in the health department and other experts to develop a plan that will answer not only the board's questions, but also the community’s.