Portland mayor raises standard on exclusion law

PORTLAND — Mayor Tom Potter has proposed making it tougher for police to ban somebody from the city drug-free and prostitution-free zones.

Under the mayor's proposal, Portland police would have to issue a citation or make an arrest to exclude someone from those areas of the city.

Every exclusion also would be automatically reviewed by a city hearings officer to determine whether probable cause exists for the arrest. The ban would take effect after the review, within 23 days of its issuance.

People excluded from zones would no longer have to seek permission to enter designated areas to walk home, attend school or go to work. The exclusions would allow someone to enter a zone for these purposes.

Those excluded also would not be required to carry the paper officially excluding them from a zone.

Potter backed off his earlier idea of linking the exclusions to a criminal prosecution. He had considered requiring prosecutors, as opposed to police, to find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that someone was committing an offense before an exclusion would be valid.

Now, someone can be excluded regardless of whether the person faces criminal charges or a citation.

The existing ordinance allows anyone to seek an appeal hearing, but many don't pursue it because they don't know the option is available or they don't have an attorney to lead them through the process.

Deputy City Attorney David Woboril estimates that about 20 percent of people excluded from drug- or prostitution-free zones were never cited for an offense.

The mayor's plan was drafted after he held three community meetings. He also set up a work group made up of his police liaison, a city attorney and police commanders.

Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union have argued the ordinance violates constitutional rights. ACLU leaders say the mayor's proposal doesn't go far enough.

Andrea Meyer, legislative director for the ACLU of Oregon, said exclusions should be up to a judge.

"These zones intrinsically bypass the due-process safeguards that are fundamental to our justice system," Meyer said. "There needs to be judicial oversight because innocent people have been swept up in this."

Jim Hayden, a Multnomah County deputy district attorney, said the mayor's proposal is more than enough.

"It's simply being improved," Hayden said. "There's really a lot of due process built into this now."

Portland's zones were established in 1992 in response to increasing street-level drug dealing and the criminal-justice system's inability to keep dealers off the streets.

Potter will present the plan to the City Council next week, and the council is scheduled to vote on it March 15.