Salem Police will no longer respond to certain lower-level calls

Salem police will no longer respond to lower-level calls for service, including complaints over barking dogs, loud parties, delayed crash reports and complaints of homeless encampments on public property.

Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack said in a memo to Salem City Council that "staffing shortages require the department to make difficult decisions concerning how to best deploy its limited resources."

He stressed that the reduction in service would not impact the police's response to emergencies, violence and property damage.

"I can't emphasize enough that this has nothing to do with emergency call response," he told the Statesman Journal.

Womack said the reduction in response to non-emergency, low-level calls has already been happening as police have struggled to respond to emergency calls and engage with the community during what police and auditors have called a severe staffing shortage.

Callers have been and will continue to be referred to online reporting systems already in place.

The goal, Womack said, is to not send a patrol officer immediately out to every noise complaint and civil dispute. Those issues can be handled by the civil court system or by non-sworn employees, freeing patrol officers to promptly respond to emergencies or focus on building trust in the community.

Request for more officers

Police officials said at this time, Salem Police Department is budgeted for 193 sworn officers and 51.5 professional staff, or non-sworn positions, which comprise duties such as records management, evidence and forensics technicians, and community service officers.

Due to turnover, 180 officers and 44 non-sworn staff are currently employed with the department.

Womack said an independent audit and subsequent staffing review recommended 60 to 80 additional staff to adequately respond to the thousands of calls Salem Police receives every year while giving officers enough time to connect with residents.

"The idea is — if you're running from emergency call to emergency call, there's actually no time to stop and build relationships or to engage their community in different ways because you're just handling calls," he said.

While Salem's population has grown, the city isn't seeing the dramatic increase in crime being reported in Portland and other larger communities, according to a Statesman Journal analysis of crime data.

Salem crime data reported in the annual FBI crime reports indicate Salem's violent crime rate rose 10% in 2021, following slight decreases in the two years prior.

Homicides have significantly fluctuated on a yearly basis. Police recorded nine homicides in 2021 — a 50% jump from the previous year but tied with the number of murders in 2019.

Aggravated assaults account for the largest portion of violent crime in Salem, with 620 cases in 2021. Reports of rape remained the same last year. And overall, property crime rates have decreased by 20% since 2018.

Womack acknowledged that the number of additional officers was a big ask and would take "sustainable revenue that just doesn't exist."

With training, salaries, benefits and equipment, 80 additional officers would cost the department an estimated $12 million a year.

The entire Police Department budget for Fiscal Year 2022 was $51.7 million.

Salem councilors were largely supportive of the programs and service changes Womack presented. The council did not vote on any action. As chief of police, Womack has already begun implementing the changes and was just providing an informational report to the council.

Salem City Council had already approved funding for six additional officers starting in January. Earlier this year, the council approved adding two officers to respond specifically to homeless encampments beginning in July.

Not every resident has been supportive of hiring more offers, with some activists suggesting police should rethink how they respond to calls instead of spending millions on bolstering the force.

Councilor Vanessa Nordyke said she would like to see more of a shift to non-police responses to issues like homelessness, mental health crises and low-level concerns.

Nordyke has long been a proponent of a CAHOOTS-like program similar to Eugene's that diverts behavioral health calls from police to community health partners. Council has discussed a similar program for Salem, but has never voted on a formal proposal or any funding.

More:Salem advances effort to create mobile unit for people in crisis, experiencing homelessness

What officers will and won't respond to

Patrol officers will not be dispatched to unmanaged encampments on public property, but the public will be directed to use Salem’s online Homeless Camping Complaint Form.

The department’s newly formed Homeless Outreach Services Team, also known as HOST, will have two officers provide follow-up coordinated through Salem’s multi-department response team.

Womack said the thought of police no longerresponding to noise complaints has concerned some, but he clarified officers would still respond to such a complaint if laws were being broken, like underage drinking or drug use.

He also said a tracking system would allow the department to respond to repeated complaints at the same address.

Womack ticked off the emergencies police will continue to respond to: shootings, break-ins, assaults, active property damage and traffic crashes.

"The safety of our community is paramount, and officers will continue to respond to any call type if other criminal activity is involved or there is an immediate danger or threat to the public," he said.

And hopefully, he added, with less time spent on the lower level calls, officers will be able to quickly and adequately respond to these emergencies.

"We're at a point where you have to either grow your organization, or you have to cut back or become more efficient," Womack said. "We're trying to do both."

More:Salem's new Police Chief Trevor Womack shares his vision for the department

Vision for the department

In the 18 months since Womack was appointed Salem's police chief, he said he's worked to focus on community policing, data-based results and bringing "21st century policing" into the city. He aims to have a more diverse force, body cameras and trust in law enforcement.

Womack said this means listening to resident feedback on how people want to connect to law enforcement, which includes things like Coffee with a Cop and allowing time for officers to visit neighborhoods and get to know businesses and residents in their district.

Many officers already try to do these things, but need more time to truly focus on continuing to build relationships and engage in dialogues with residents, Womack said.

More:One year in, Police Chief Trevor Womack talks trust, staffing, data and body cameras

"We've cast this new vision for policing in Salem," he said. "We've really shifted the paradigm here. That's going to take additional staff and resources to make that happen."

Targeting illegal guns, violent crime

The announcement of the reduction in service was paired with news of a joint task force between Salem police and federal law enforcement to focus on violent crime in the city.

While cities across the U.S. have experienced dramatic spikes in homicide rates over the past few years, data shows Salem's violent crime rates have climbed at a more gradual pace.

Homicides in Salem have significantly fluctuated on a yearly basis. Police recorded nine homicides in 2021 — a 50% jump from the previous year but tied with the number of murders in 2019.

The Safe Streets Task Force connects through the Salem Police Criminal Investigations Section’s Strategic Investigations Unit, a team of five detectives that handles investigations into major narcotics trafficking and violent crime, like shootings, homicides and illegal firearm manufacturing and trafficking. 

Womack said police are already seeing results from the partnership.

Since the recent formalization of the task force, officers successfully handled a major gun-trafficking case, investigated several drug overdose deaths and seized thousands of fentanyl pills and more than 100 illegal firearms.

Last year, Salem police seize about 100 firearms. Womack said they are on track to double that amount in 2022.

"It's already playing out," he said. "Already, more illegal guns are being removed."

Fixing it over tickets

Womack also announced Salem was joining the Oregon Car Care Program starting June 28.

The project focuses on improving traffic safety by helping drivers correct minor equipment violations, like lighting, rearview mirrors, windshield wipers and fenders, with a 20% discount voucher at local businesses.

“With the Car Care program, we have an opportunity to address equipment violations through education and cooperation, rather than a citation,” Womack said.

A bill to prevent police from stopping people for minor lighting infractions like a broken taillight was passed by the Oregon Legislature this year and goes into effect in January.

Salem police officials said that by implementing the Oregon Car Care program, they are applying the Legislature's philosophy to all equipment violations, effectively immediately.

They clarified that officers will not be out looking for minor equipment violations just to issue a voucher.

Some of the nation's most high-profile police shootings have begun with small citations, and Black community leaders have long said Black drivers are targeted for such stops.

The Car Care Program was developed by the Oregon State Police in 2016 with the focus of assisting drivers who defer automobile maintenance costs. In 2019, the program was centralized through the Oregon Association Chiefs of Police as a way to extend the benefits to agencies throughout the state.

Womack told the Statesman Journal that the idea was born out of conversations with Dr. Reginald Richardson, the president of the Salem-Keizer NAACP, on how to build trust in the community by helping drivers with repair costs.

The program allows police to improve traffic safety without ticketing people who might struggle to afford needed repairs, Womack said, adding:

“Having a conversation without a citation can go a long way to increased understanding, as well as building trust with the community."

Reporter Virginia Barreda contributed to this article. For questions, comments and news tips, email reporter Whitney Woodworth at wmwoodworth@statesmanjournal.com, call 503-910-6616 or follow on Twitter @wmwoodworth.