0:00

Hi everybody, Cheryl

0:03

Atkinson here. Welcome to

0:05

another edition of Full

0:07

Measure After Hours. Today

0:09

we are off to

0:11

Portland, Oregon for my

0:13

story, Hard Drugs, Soft

0:16

on Crime. Oregon is

0:18

attempting a big turnaround

0:20

after voters approved a

0:23

controversial law a couple

0:25

years back that believe

0:27

it or not legalized.

0:30

hard drugs including heroin,

0:32

fentanyl, opioids, other hard

0:34

drugs. Today on this podcast

0:36

I'm going to speak with

0:39

Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan

0:41

Vasquez that's in the Portland

0:43

area. I sat down with him his

0:46

first week on the job. Such a

0:48

fascinating case because after they

0:50

tried that experiment with

0:52

the hard drugs for a couple of

0:54

years it just proved to be disastrous

0:57

and even very ultra-liberal

0:59

Portland, Oregon, and Oregon

1:02

at large. The legislature decided

1:04

to rescind that controversial

1:06

law and do a big turnaround, try

1:08

to dial things back. A lot of

1:10

other things happen about the same time

1:13

they legalized or allowed the use of

1:15

these hard drugs. There was also an

1:17

explosion in homelessness, which in

1:20

many places like Oregon coincided

1:22

with the fentanyl opening up

1:24

at the southern border, so much

1:27

fentanyl coming in and... so many

1:29

drug overdoses, so much mental illness.

1:31

They also did a big defund the

1:33

police movement in Oregon during

1:36

this time period. So all

1:38

of these things together dovetailed

1:40

to greatly increase crime and

1:42

other problems, resulting in

1:45

voters voting out the

1:47

supposedly soft-on crime George

1:49

Soros-funded prosecutor that had been

1:51

there for a couple of years,

1:53

and voting in Nathan Vasquez. And

1:55

I think you're going to find

1:57

this conversation with him fascinating. This

2:00

is your first week on the

2:02

job? First week on the job

2:04

is the Multima County District Attorney.

2:06

We'll dig in in a moment,

2:08

but if you can in just

2:10

a paragraph, what would you say

2:13

if people aren't familiar with Portland,

2:15

is the story of Portland where

2:17

you are now in terms of

2:19

the criminal justice system and what's

2:21

been happening? Again, I'll ask some

2:23

specific questions, but how would you

2:25

tell it on the book flap

2:27

of a book about it? Portland

2:30

has been through an immense upheaval

2:32

in the last four to ten

2:34

years. You know, we started seeing

2:36

some changes and then in 2000,

2:38

you know, Portland, it's no secret.

2:40

We went through a massive series

2:42

of riots. We had a new

2:44

DA come in that was backed

2:46

by Soros and You know, there

2:49

was a lot of changes that

2:51

occurred and unfortunately at the same

2:53

time we saw immense spikes in

2:55

gun violence, property crimes, and crime

2:57

in general throughout our city. Would

2:59

you say that this community experienced

3:01

what some are calling on a

3:03

national level soft on crime policies?

3:06

What I would say is that

3:08

those policies certainly didn't help. There

3:10

were a lot of factors that

3:12

led to why we saw these

3:14

rises in crime. certainly those approaches

3:16

didn't help us when our community

3:18

needed it the most. Are there

3:20

any digestible simple ways you can

3:23

explain some of the changes that

3:25

happened and what the net effect

3:27

was? Yeah, I mean there was

3:29

certainly a defund the police movement.

3:31

There was really a just an

3:33

outright campaign to discourage police from

3:35

even coming here and we saw

3:37

dramatic drops in our numbers of

3:40

law enforcement officers. We saw some

3:42

dramatic changes around our drug laws

3:44

and those things combined with some

3:46

others really affected kind of the

3:48

day-and-day-out work in the criminal justice

3:50

system. I remember hearing as an

3:52

outsider that here they had passed

3:54

a law that legalized possession of

3:57

heroin, all kinds of hard drugs,

3:59

which I think is in violation

4:01

of federal law. but it was

4:03

tolerated here. What was the thinking

4:05

behind that and what was the

4:07

net effect? Well, it's hard for

4:09

me to give the thinking in

4:11

the sense that because I so

4:14

disagreed with it even at the

4:16

time that it was proposed, but

4:18

this was brought from kind of

4:20

an outside think tank group from

4:22

the East Coast. And the reality

4:24

is that Oregon has a small,

4:26

the mid-sized state, you know, when

4:28

it comes to population and things

4:30

of that nature. You know, we

4:33

were the perfect environment for someone

4:35

to fund this ballot measure approach

4:37

and it was an extreme idea

4:39

that had a significant impact upon

4:41

our community. What was the impact?

4:43

It a lot more people, do

4:45

you think, again, caring and using

4:47

these hard drugs? Well, we saw

4:50

a few different things and certainly

4:52

that was one of them. We

4:54

saw people coming from outside of

4:56

our of our state to be

4:58

here for that purpose and we

5:00

saw just sadly skyrocketing rates of

5:02

overdose deaths. We saw public use

5:04

just explode in our city. It's

5:07

something that we have started to

5:09

see turnaround and it's something we're

5:11

working on hard. But it had

5:13

an effect both, you know, a

5:15

real human tragic effect and that

5:17

people we saw dying every day.

5:19

How long was that law in

5:21

effect and when was it overturned

5:24

and how? It was approximately like

5:26

three. about three years is what

5:28

it was. Three to four years,

5:30

somewhere right in there because it

5:32

came into effect, I want to

5:34

say in 2020, 2021, and then

5:36

it was changed by the state

5:38

legislature under House Bill 4002 and

5:41

that was just this past year.

5:43

This is a liberal or progressive

5:45

community overall, correct? Very. Do you

5:47

think the community here favored trying

5:49

these... things, but as a whole

5:51

have decided they didn't work. I

5:53

mean, we noted that in your

5:55

election, your opponent, the incumbent, still

5:58

got quite a bit of the

6:00

percentage of votes. Yeah. Well, when

6:02

we talk about this particular ballot

6:04

measure, what happened was it was

6:06

packaged in a certain way that

6:08

made it sound very appealing. It

6:10

was packaged that, oh, it was

6:12

going to provide all this treatment,

6:14

and it was going to do

6:17

all these wonderful things, and unfortunately,

6:19

it failed to deliver on those.

6:21

And at the same time, it

6:23

slid in, and by the way,

6:25

we're going to decriminalize all these

6:27

hard drugs. And so it really

6:29

was one that I think the

6:31

public, you know, felt like they

6:34

were sold one thing and got

6:36

something totally different. And here, just

6:38

in this kind of past year

6:40

when it was repealed, what happened

6:42

was that, you know, the public

6:44

really came out strong and said,

6:46

this is not working. And it

6:48

was heard loud and clear by

6:51

the state legislature and they made

6:53

the changes that were necessary. Was

6:55

this the only place in the

6:57

country that had a law like

6:59

that? That was so formalized and

7:01

widespread. Yes, I believe, you know,

7:03

Washington and California had similar but

7:05

not the same. What has happened

7:08

to the crime rates or the

7:10

crime statistics in this area over

7:12

the past five ten years? Well,

7:14

you know, it certainly had a

7:16

dramatic spike and that was in

7:18

the, you know, 2022 to 2023

7:20

range. It started to come down

7:22

a bit and that's very positive

7:25

and I'm very, very happy and

7:27

excited about that. But we're still

7:29

a long ways away from where

7:31

we should be. You know, it

7:33

went, when we're talking about our

7:35

homicide rates, we went from averaging

7:37

about 20 to 30 homicides in

7:39

the city of Portland to over

7:42

100. So we saw some really

7:44

dramatic increases and you know when

7:46

you're doing this in this line

7:48

of work that each one of

7:50

those is a family and each

7:52

one of those involves you know

7:54

a whole just huge ripple effect.

7:56

where it dramatically impacts the community

7:58

and traumatizes a great deal of

8:01

people. The cost are terrible. It

8:03

just is all around just a

8:05

dramatic effect. But that wasn't the

8:07

only area who we saw. dramatic

8:09

increases in property crimes. We saw

8:11

stolen motor vehicles, you know, just

8:13

skyrocket. And that means that the

8:15

everyday person who needs to get

8:18

to work or take their kid

8:20

to school and their car is

8:22

gone, it has huge impact on

8:24

this community. And that really was

8:26

something that, you know, propelled me

8:28

forward to seek office and to

8:30

seek some changes. To what do

8:32

you attribute those rises in crime?

8:35

Well, I mean, did COVID play

8:37

a part? Sure. It did. you

8:39

know I also saw that the

8:41

city went through a really dramatic

8:43

time during 2020 with the with

8:45

the George Floyd protest and riots

8:47

and unfortunately out of that we

8:49

lost a lot of police officers.

8:52

Our law enforcement you know here

8:54

in the county saw dramatic drops

8:56

in their numbers and that you

8:58

know makes it difficult to really

9:00

get on top of some of

9:02

these issues and so That message

9:04

also was one where, you know,

9:06

the partnership within our judicial system,

9:09

you know, our criminal justice system

9:11

was broken. You know, it was

9:13

the message received from law enforcement

9:15

loud and clear was that the

9:17

DA's office didn't value them and

9:19

didn't want to be their partner.

9:21

And that was something that, you

9:23

know, for those of us that

9:26

worked in the DA's office day

9:28

on day out, we heard loud

9:30

and clear and we wanted to

9:32

see that change. As you were

9:34

running for election, what was your

9:36

message? And how was that counter

9:38

to the message of the incumbent?

9:40

My message was very straightforward and

9:42

clear, which was that it's okay

9:45

to hold people accountable. If they

9:47

break the law, they should be

9:49

held accountable. And we can do

9:51

that in a compassionate manner, but

9:53

that doesn't mean we don't hold

9:55

people accountable. And through it all,

9:57

it was that we need a...

9:59

functioning system, we need to have

10:02

a partnership with law enforcement, and

10:04

it's okay to be a prosecutor.

10:06

And that was the message that

10:08

I put out and made sure

10:10

that people knew that they had

10:12

a dedicated professional with over two

10:14

decades of experience who wanted to

10:16

do this job and do it

10:19

for the right reasons. As you've

10:21

experienced the ebb and flow of

10:23

opinions and what people think is

10:25

the answer to the problems here.

10:27

The same debate is taking place

10:29

in communities across the country. It

10:31

does. What kinds of things have

10:33

you observed about, again, the ebb

10:36

and flow of what's happening in

10:38

other big cities? You know, I

10:40

think as criminal justice evolves, what

10:42

we're seeing is that, you know,

10:44

there were some big swings in

10:46

2020. and through those years, but

10:48

we're starting to see people come

10:50

back to that. What's hopefully a

10:53

very, a good kind of middle

10:55

position, which is, hey, we want

10:57

to see accountability, but, you know,

10:59

we can still find ways to

11:01

help individuals that are, you know,

11:03

find themselves in the criminal justice

11:05

system, we can do things to

11:07

get them into treatment, we can

11:10

do things to help, you know,

11:12

stabilize their life so that they

11:14

don't commit more crimes. particularly in

11:16

this community, that is the mandate

11:18

that is very clear. They want

11:20

to see people get out of

11:22

the system. And you go ahead.

11:24

And just, you know, across, you

11:26

know, the United States, you know,

11:29

we've seen that certainly down in

11:31

Los Angeles, they've made a big

11:33

change. In California, they passed Proposition

11:35

36. There's been a move, I

11:37

really believe, throughout the country, to

11:39

say, hey, we want reasonable solutions.

11:41

We want to make sure that

11:43

there's accountability, but done very thought

11:46

very thoughtfully. As you worked in

11:48

recent years under this changing time,

11:50

what would you say was the

11:52

philosophy that was dictating how things

11:54

were done? When we talk about

11:56

in the in the past four

11:58

years, the philosophy was very heavy

12:00

onto social... movement. You know, and

12:03

there are a lot of positive

12:05

wonderful aspects of that, but at

12:07

the same time, the message still

12:09

needs to be very clear that

12:11

this system here works and that

12:13

people will be held accountable. When

12:15

it comes to money and funding,

12:17

is it more expensive to handle

12:20

the problems that arise when you're

12:22

not prosecuting some crimes? Or do

12:24

you think it's more expensive to

12:26

try to prosecute the crimes that

12:28

we're being... kind of let go?

12:30

Well, I mean, there's always a

12:32

lot of different, you know, studies

12:34

out there on that. It is,

12:37

it is vastly more expensive when

12:39

you let crime get out of

12:41

control and then you have to

12:43

try to pay for all of

12:45

the ramifications of that. Now, I've

12:47

seen some studies here recently done

12:49

locally about, you know, when we

12:51

talk about these murders, you know,

12:54

and I mentioned that we, we

12:56

saw, you know, a, over 100

12:58

murders in a single year in

13:00

Portland. then each one of those

13:02

can cost millions of dollars. And

13:04

if we do work to both,

13:06

I think there's a very valid

13:08

role of prevention and working inside

13:10

of our communities and working with

13:13

our community-based organizations to prevent those

13:15

crimes, but also is having a

13:17

professionally run office that deals with

13:19

some of the smaller crimes as

13:21

they build up to some of

13:23

those bigger ones, that we can

13:25

also play a really important role

13:27

in heading that off and not

13:30

having to suffer those kind of

13:32

really massive costs that come with

13:34

these very, you know, tragic crimes.

13:36

Is it fair to say that

13:38

at a community level, trying out

13:40

things such as legalizing possession of

13:42

hard drugs like heroin, that was

13:44

just a failure? I've been very

13:47

clear in saying that was a

13:49

failure for this community. We saw

13:51

it failing not just the community

13:53

but the individuals. And it's not

13:55

that I believe that we need

13:57

to lock people up, but at

13:59

the same time we need to

14:01

be very intentional. thoughtful and make

14:04

sure that we don't allow these

14:06

situations to get out of control.

14:08

We need to intervene with people

14:10

and try to help them get

14:12

stability and get them into treatment.

14:14

How have marijuana laws impacted the

14:16

job of prosecutions and trying to

14:18

reduce crime? It certainly changed it

14:21

in a lot of ways. We

14:23

don't deal with marijuana in the

14:25

sense of it's legalized here in

14:27

Oregon. It's become a business. There

14:29

have been some ramifications with that.

14:31

We see, you know, significant robberies

14:33

and issues related to the marijuana

14:35

industry. So we have to deal

14:38

with that. There's still the federal

14:40

question that's unresolved. But- Which is

14:42

that this is illegal from a

14:44

federal level, but it's being tolerated

14:46

in states that have legalized it.

14:48

Yes. And I mean, you know,

14:50

certainly I would love for us

14:52

to find a balance with the

14:54

federal system because it affects everything

14:57

like banking. You know, these are-

14:59

In Oregon, these are legal businesses

15:01

that are doing a lot of

15:03

transactions, but that means they deal

15:05

with a lot of cash. And

15:07

that means that they can be

15:09

very vulnerable to robberies and thefts

15:11

and things that we've seen quite

15:14

a few homicides associated with that.

15:16

And, you know, what I've seen

15:18

is that as this has developed

15:20

through time. These businesses are trying

15:22

to become, you know, very professional

15:24

and credible and do the right

15:26

things, but it can be difficult

15:28

when there are certain barriers and

15:31

limitations to how they operate. I

15:33

don't have a position on legalized

15:35

marijuana, but we've covered it

15:37

in different states and have

15:39

been pretty much told that

15:41

wherever it's been legalized. I

15:43

don't know which, if it's

15:45

chicken or egg, but mental

15:47

illness, homelessness, crime, and even

15:49

the illegal marijuana trade, which

15:51

was, the hope was it

15:53

would diminish if marijuana was

15:55

legalized, seems to be blooming

15:57

because it's so much... to

15:59

buy the untaxed version of

16:01

the marijuana on the black market. So

16:04

it just seems like it's not worked

16:06

out well. Well, there certainly are

16:08

issues and problems, and I think we

16:10

see that whether it's alcohol or marijuana,

16:12

different ones, there can be ramifications that

16:15

come with that. And as a society

16:17

and as a community, we try to

16:19

deal with those. And it's one that,

16:21

you know, my position is always this.

16:23

As a prosecutor, my job is to...

16:25

prosecute the laws that are on the

16:28

books. And I don't make the laws,

16:30

but I make sure that I do

16:32

my job in my role. And this

16:34

is one where in the state of

16:36

Oregon, they've said loud and clear that

16:39

marijuana is going to be illegal.

16:41

So I go forward with that

16:43

understanding. Do you have a sense that

16:45

on a national level, the proverbial

16:47

pendulum has swung from more of

16:49

a softer on crime mentality and

16:51

more of a tougher on crime

16:54

mentality? I think it certainly

16:56

has come back to the middle.

16:58

And that's, so it has swung,

17:00

I think, away from the, you

17:02

know, I don't personally like those

17:04

terms, but it has, from the,

17:06

what I'll call ultra-progressive side, it's swung,

17:09

I think, back towards the middle, which

17:11

I try to find myself in, kind

17:13

of, little squarely, is, you know, to

17:15

do things in a way which I

17:17

am holding folks accountable, but

17:20

doing it in a very

17:22

reasonable, compassionate way. And then can

17:24

you explain, you touched upon a

17:26

bit, sorry, how Oregon is a

17:28

good test market or market for

17:31

ideas that to try out

17:33

things that are controversial? Can

17:35

you explain that? Well, it's

17:37

our ballot measure, our ballot

17:39

measure system or process. It's

17:41

just that for this market,

17:43

you know, the investment compared

17:45

to like California or New

17:47

York or, you know, even

17:49

Washington, you know, our... Our state you

17:51

know we only need to get a certain

17:53

number of signatures to get you know a

17:55

measure on the on the ballot and then

17:57

once that happens it is a question of

18:00

well, what's the cost to then

18:02

put together a campaign to support

18:04

that? And so we've seen that

18:06

as something that's occurred in our

18:08

state quite a few times and

18:10

it certainly was the case with

18:12

ballot measure 110 with the legalization

18:14

of a lot of those heart

18:16

drugs. Any other measures that come

18:18

to mind that that happened with?

18:21

There was one here just this

18:23

past cycle that was a... a

18:25

tax on large corporations that was

18:27

then going to turn around and

18:29

give everyone, I think it was

18:31

like $1,300 to $1,500 per year.

18:33

Something of that nature, yes, that

18:35

one was proposed this last time

18:37

and it was put on the

18:40

ballot and it did not succeed.

18:42

So in some cases, outsiders come

18:44

into Oregon and get these ballot

18:46

measures passed to have it lead

18:48

the way, maybe in some agenda.

18:50

ballot measure 110, the legalization of

18:52

hard drugs, that was the prime

18:54

example. What was that group from

18:56

the East Coast? Oh, back in,

18:59

when they, when they did the

19:01

ballot measure, it had a slightly

19:03

different name, but it was a

19:05

drug policy alliance, was the big

19:07

ones that at least at the

19:09

end, that they were named. When

19:11

you look at the next four

19:13

years, what would you consider a

19:15

measure of success for you? Well,

19:18

definitely seeing our homicide rates come

19:20

down, seeing public use of these

19:22

hard drugs, see that change, and

19:24

to see a dramatic drop in

19:26

our overdose deaths, those are all

19:28

things that, you know, are very

19:30

real examples of, you know, what

19:32

I would like to see. As

19:34

a whole, I want this community

19:37

to feel safe. I want families

19:39

to feel like they can use

19:41

the parks. I want businesses to

19:43

thrive in our downtown and to

19:45

people to feel safe coming back

19:47

downtown. And then lastly, is there

19:49

anything that people who don't live

19:51

here would be very surprised to

19:53

find out about the criminal? justice

19:56

system and how it's operated in

19:58

recent years. Anything that surprised you

20:00

when it was happening, when you

20:02

were working as a prosecutor? You

20:04

know, there were some surprises that

20:06

I think really helped spur me

20:08

to this role, which is that,

20:10

you know, some of the changes,

20:12

there was a, you know, one

20:15

around There's the commutations ones. That

20:17

was a big controversial one that

20:19

came up in 2023 when our

20:21

governor left office and committed the

20:23

sentences of a lot of very

20:25

violent criminals. But also the district

20:27

attorneys in each county were granted

20:29

the authority to also do their

20:31

own form. I'm going to call

20:34

it roughly commutations, but we are

20:36

allowed to enter into agreements to

20:38

take someone that maybe either. in

20:40

prison or has already served a

20:42

sentence, but essentially to wipe out

20:44

their sentence and get rid of

20:46

it completely. That means it can

20:48

include taking people who are currently

20:50

serving a term in prison and

20:53

setting it up so that they

20:55

get out. and that was something

20:57

that played out right at the

20:59

end of my predecessor's term on

21:01

a very violent, very just terrible

21:03

crime. We are allowed to enter

21:05

into agreements to take someone that

21:07

maybe either in prison or has

21:09

already served a sentence, but essentially

21:12

to wipe out their sentence and

21:14

get rid of it completely. That

21:16

means it can include taking people

21:18

who are currently serving a term

21:20

in prison and and setting it

21:22

up so that they get out.

21:24

And that was something that played

21:26

out right at the end of

21:28

my predecessor's term on a very

21:31

violent, very, just terrible crime. It

21:33

was a murder, a murder and

21:35

kind of home invasion burglary of

21:37

three different families, one of which

21:39

there was a sexual assault. I

21:41

was very shocked that that was

21:43

even a possibility. You know, and

21:45

so it's something that. that while

21:47

I see some value certainly in

21:49

individuals that have served their sentence

21:52

maybe on a smaller crime like

21:54

a like an old drug charge

21:56

or something and now they want

21:58

to be productive members of the

22:00

community absolutely let's do that but

22:02

we're talking about violent criminals and

22:04

particularly those involved in sexual assault

22:06

that's a that's pretty shocking to

22:08

me that's something that we can

22:11

we can do. What was the

22:13

justification given for that? twofold, I

22:15

suppose. One is that it was

22:17

believed that it was an excessive

22:19

sentence, which certainly didn't shock my

22:21

conscience, the sentence. And the other

22:23

one was, I guess, simply to

22:25

release this individual. It's one that

22:27

now it's back to me to

22:30

review this petition. I'm going to

22:32

take a look at it and

22:34

make my decisions. I think there

22:36

was a hearing scheduled in February,

22:38

but ultimately I'll have to look

22:40

at and decide whether I want

22:42

to go down that road or

22:44

not when there were four specific

22:46

ones that got set over. And

22:49

then lastly, I just thought of

22:51

one final thing. Obviously, when you're

22:53

a prosecutor working in an office,

22:55

you're doing your job. But clearly,

22:57

there are vastly different ideas and

22:59

theories about what that job should

23:01

be. Was there a lot of

23:03

discussion about that among people? working

23:05

these cases in the last four

23:08

years was, were there a lot

23:10

of people who disagreed internally with

23:12

how things were being done? Or

23:14

do people mostly keep their, clearly

23:16

you disagree, but do most attorneys

23:18

keep their nose to the grindstone

23:20

and just not think about it?

23:22

What would you say? Well, I

23:24

would say that day in day

23:27

out, you know, the folks that

23:29

work in this office work extremely

23:31

hard, and they are very nose

23:33

to the grindstone, and sometimes it's

23:35

very hard to come up for

23:37

error and say, wait a minute,

23:39

do I agree or disagree with

23:41

what's going on? But I will

23:43

say, in this office, the folks

23:46

looked outside. It was just... It

23:48

was, when you walked out the

23:50

courthouse doors, we saw the changes

23:52

in this city and it was,

23:54

it was terrible. And I know

23:56

that I was not alone in

23:58

feeling that way because the union

24:00

of district attorneys supported me in

24:02

this election because they saw that

24:05

too. They saw that this community

24:07

needed more, they needed a better

24:09

approach and that's what I'm here

24:11

to give. Anything else you want

24:13

to add? One of my big,

24:15

I would say, the other part

24:17

that drove me was that while

24:19

I believe the social justice movement

24:21

is very important, the last thing

24:24

I ever want to see is

24:26

that victims are left out of

24:28

that conversation. And that was something

24:30

that I was very concerned about.

24:32

And as a prosecutor doing this

24:34

for over 20 years, serving families

24:36

and victims of crime, that's something

24:38

that that can never be lost

24:40

side of. And it is always

24:43

a huge priority for me and

24:45

for this office. Do you partner

24:47

and meet with the mayor? Is

24:49

that part? I mean, I know

24:51

this is your first week on

24:53

the job, but is that part

24:55

of the thing to have discussions?

24:57

And if so, what are you

24:59

talking about? Yeah. Well, I do

25:02

meet with the mayor. In fact,

25:04

we talked throughout the campaign time

25:06

period. I met with him before

25:08

each of us took office. And

25:10

so it's something that I do

25:12

regularly meet with him on. spent

25:14

a lot of time talking about

25:16

this subject. It's a huge issue

25:18

with our community and he's put

25:20

out some very very aspirational goals

25:23

and I am I'm fully supportive

25:25

of that because I certainly want

25:27

to see individuals who are You

25:29

know in such a state living

25:31

on the streets. I want to

25:33

see them get into some stabilized

25:35

shelter and you know into housing

25:37

I want that and so of

25:39

course I want to help support

25:42

that, but these are some very

25:44

lofty goals he's put out and

25:46

I'm I am hopeful and I

25:48

want it as much as anyone

25:50

else. I just hope that he'll

25:52

find the support along the way

25:54

to get there. Like what are

25:56

his goals as he said he

25:58

wants to reduce you know get

26:01

rid of it completely visibly or?

26:03

I believe that was part of

26:05

it. It was also that there

26:07

would be enough shelter space for

26:09

everyone who's currently unhoused that there

26:11

would that he would essentially within

26:13

a year turn this all around.

26:15

I mean it's they were pretty

26:17

lofty goals and you know I

26:20

there I'm a little bit of

26:22

two minds. One is I appreciate

26:24

someone that puts out a a

26:26

big proposal and goal and says,

26:28

I'm going to shoot for this.

26:30

And hey, if we come up

26:32

just a little bit short, we've

26:34

made a ton of progress. I

26:36

greatly appreciate that. I really do.

26:39

And that's why I'm very supportive

26:41

of his efforts. But there's a

26:43

pragmus in me. And I tend

26:45

to be very pragmatic. And so

26:47

I want to make sure that.

26:49

you know, are we doing all

26:51

the necessary little individual things and

26:53

working with, you know, there's a

26:55

whole host of individuals, whether it's

26:58

community-based organizations, the county, the city,

27:00

all of these to make sure

27:02

that everyone can hopefully work together

27:04

to get us to that goal.

27:06

How does the homeless crisis impact

27:08

crime, what you're trying to do?

27:10

Yeah. So it's an area that

27:12

I think, like many West Coast

27:14

cities, we've seen a dramatic explosion

27:17

in our houseless population. And we've

27:19

also seen a dramatic, you know,

27:21

increase in homicides and violent crime

27:23

inside that community. Oftentimes, they are

27:25

our most vulnerable victims. And so

27:27

it has a huge impact on

27:29

what we do. And that's, I

27:31

mean, at the end of the

27:33

day, why I'm a huge, you

27:36

know, supporter and I'm going to

27:38

be doing everything I can to

27:40

help the mayor in this area

27:42

because if we can make improvements

27:44

there, then hopefully that will impact.

27:46

overall crime and help individuals have

27:48

less victims and less crime. I'm

27:50

not sure it's often said. Clearly

27:52

there are a lot of poor

27:55

people and mentally ill and victims

27:57

and substance abusers among the homeless

27:59

population, but there are also bad

28:01

people who come in. hide among

28:03

the homeless. They're criminals and really

28:05

bad types that are there too.

28:07

I've prosecuted those cases and what

28:09

I've found is that these folks

28:11

that are living on the streets

28:14

are vulnerable and so unfortunately there

28:16

are people that will go and

28:18

take advantage of them and commit

28:20

a whole host of terrible crimes

28:22

and it's something that I've been

28:24

very diligent with and very vigilant

28:26

to make sure that my office

28:28

is really doing everything we can

28:30

to help that that part of

28:33

our community. Yeah, I know it's

28:35

a nonpartisan race, but is are

28:37

you public about any? Yeah, no,

28:39

I mean, it's here's how it

28:41

works in in Oregon and in

28:43

Multnomah County. Yeah. Yeah. Are you

28:45

a Democrat or Republican or something

28:47

else? Something else. So I consider

28:49

myself independent. It's a nonpartisan position.

28:51

And for me. I've really kind

28:54

of built my career on not

28:56

picking a side but really staying

28:58

with what's the law and how

29:00

do I prosecute it and how

29:02

that plays out very directly is

29:04

that here in Portland as we

29:06

know politics comes in and we've

29:08

had some dramatic riots and protests

29:10

and protests and I've prosecuted equally

29:13

both sides I've prosecuted Antifa and

29:15

I prosecuted the proud boys when

29:17

you know on the on the

29:19

far other side so I try

29:21

to be very balanced in my

29:23

approach and the only question for

29:25

me is is someone breaking the

29:27

law. That's the key. My whole

29:29

story on this topic airs Sunday

29:32

on full measure, February 16th. I

29:34

will also be talking with a

29:36

police official about the trends and

29:38

some recovering addicts. You might be

29:40

surprised to hear what they have

29:42

to say about that law that

29:44

for a couple of years allowed

29:46

the use of heroin, fentanyl, etc.

29:48

To find out how to watch

29:51

Full Measure, go to Cheryl Accson.com.

29:53

Click the Full Measure tab for

29:55

a list of stations and times.

29:57

Also, if it's easier for you,

29:59

we feed the program live on

30:01

Sundays online at full measure dot

30:03

news around 9.35 a.m. Eastern time,

30:05

and then it's posted there thereafter.

30:07

So if you're listening to this,

30:10

after February 16th, you can just

30:12

go to full measure dot news

30:14

and watch the program there. I

30:16

hope you enjoyed this podcast and

30:18

that if you did, you'll leave

30:20

a terrific review, subscribe to it,

30:22

and share it with your friends.

30:24

and check out my other podcast,

30:26

the Cheryl Atkinson podcast. And don't

30:29

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it, but haven't decided whether you

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