Over $400 million and Two Governments; What's Needed: One Coordinated Public Safety Plan

Portland & Multnomah County Public Safety Planning & Budgeting Collaboration

Under the leadership of Sam, Mayor Potter, Multnomah County Chair Linn, and County Commissioner Cruz-Walsh, the steering committee of the City and County Public Safety Planning and Budgeting Collaboration Project completed their work in winter of 2006. The team identified and mapped the array of public safety services and local providers. They sponsored focus groups to ascertain public priorites for safety, and identified opportunities for targeting efforts to deliver public safety effectively.

Sam and Mayor Potter were the two co-sponsors from the City, and Chair Linn and Commissioner Cruz-Walsh were the County leaders. Sheriff Giusto joined them as a co-sponsor for Phase II when four projects were identified for planning and implementation. The Citizens Crime Commission served as a private partner in funding, as well as, pushing the effort beyond discussion and reports to implementation.

The City of Portland, Multnomah County and other local governments share the responsibility of providing a public safety system for citizens of Portland and Multnomah County. Together the city and county budget over $540 million per year for public safety purposes. Each jurisdiction is responsible to deliver the most efficient and effective public safety possible within their budget abilities.
The collaboration produced a set of plans to jointly budget collective public safety resources in future years in order to deliver more value with available resources. The final report from Phase 1 of the project was accepted by City Council on Oct.11, 2006. As of Dec. 2006, The Homeland Security Grant Proposal has been submitted and over eight million in funds have been received for regional collaborative emergency preparedness. The Emergency Management and Delivery of West Side Patrol Service projects are on hold, and the River Public Safety Project planning is completed and work is starting for its next phase.

Phase 2 of the City/County project was initiated immediately and involved 4 collaborative projects to move from planning phase directly to implementation. The co-sponsors became the designated "champions" for the 4 projects:
1. Homeland Security Grant Proposal - to fund the design and implementation of an interoperable countywide public safety data system, encompassing law enforcement deployment (using Computer Assisted Dispatch and GPS), and electronic field reporting. (Potter and Linn)
2. Merger of County and City Emergency Management, in order to eliminate duplication of services and provide efficiencies (Potter and Linn)
3. Consolidate West Side Patrol. Design a service delivery strategy and ongoing functions for west side patrol functions currently provided by Multnomah County. (Potter and Cruz-Walsh)
4. River Public Safety Services. Design a service delivery strategy for public safety services on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, in addition to other county waterways. (Adams and Sheriff Giusto)

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Milestones:

Report passed on Oct 11th, 2006

Homeland Security Funds from Grant: The Regional Emergency Management Group received $8,240,000 for Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) for fiscal year 2006.

River Public Safety Planning Report and Resolution passed Oct. 11, 2006

River Public Safety Task Force Scheduled to begin Jan. 2007