Multnomah County says dozens of people signed up for deflection in first two months of program
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Dozens of people have agreed to deflection rather than going to jail for possessing small amounts of hard drugs in the first two months of Multnomah County's new program.
The program created an option for people to sign up for deflection that aims to direct people to treatment instead of jail, coinciding with the passage of HB 4002. The re-introduction of criminal penalties for people possessing small amounts of hard drugs in Oregon brought with it an option for individual counties to start deflection programs to help people with addiction.
The county said from Sept. 1 through the end of October, 91 people initiated deflection. That represents 20% more deflections than what Multnomah County predicted for that period of time, and 40% of deflections statewide, county officials said.
During that same period of time, Portland police said they've made more than 220 drug-related encounters that could have led to arrests. Of those, 91 were deflected and 130 were taken into custody, mostly for outstanding warrants or thefts.
While the deflection program has been active since Sept. 1, the deflection center called the Coordinated Care Pathway Center on Southeast Sandy Boulevard has only been open since mid-October. Portland police said they've referred 19 people to the center within its first two weeks of opening. Of those referrals, 13 deflections were initiated.
"Deflection can make a difference in both public safety and support for individuals in need. As we move forward, we'll continue to assess and refine our approach aiming to increase the number of individuals who can benefit from deflection," said Portland Police Bureau Commander Brian Hughes.
Each person has 30 days to complete the deflection process. They're usually given a few referrals to shelter and treatment. The care coordination team is responsible for following up with each person.
"We are hopeful to see some positive outcomes," said Tuerk House CEO Bernard Gyebi-Foster. "Other people have been resistant and chosen to refuse deflection. This is to be expected. Of course, our approach to recovery is patient-centered, which means we can't force anyone into treatment."
If people don't complete the deflection process, they're ineligible for deflection if they are arrested again.
However, some have criticized how the deflection process works because, for example, if a person simply takes up being referred to a shelter, then the deflection is deemed successful. That leaves the question, how many people are actually getting into addiction treatment?
"There's a lack of overall resources in the continuum of care and so we have a deficient ecology of services for people," said 4D Founder and Executive Director Tony Vezina. "So people can't always get the services they need when they want it, and that can be a big barrier to carry."
Multnomah County's next step is to add sobering services for the deflection center next year. Advocates said that as more addiction services from HB 4002 come online, there'll be more opportunities for deflection to result in recovery.