Portland Businesses Use Imaginative Approaches To Prevent Crime

Downtown businesses in Portland, OR, haven proven that imaginative steps can keep crime at bay. The result is a lively, livable city that’s attractive to residents and visitors alike.

Portland, OR, is often ranked among the nation’s most livable cities. But along with shopping, dining, and cultural experiences to satisfy every taste, Portland also has its share of crime. The city’s efforts to prevent crime stand out, however, because the business community plays a key role in maintaining and improving the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.

Businesses in a 213-block area of downtown Portland, known as the Business Improvement District (BID), tax themselves to help support improvements in the downtown area. With these funds, the business community has helped to establish several creative and innovative programs to promote safety in the central city.

Embracing the “broken windows” theory—i.e., that even relatively small disruptions and transgressions in everyday life can signal inattention and lead to decay in a community—the Downtown Clean & Safe Program focuses on maintaining order and security.

On the “safe” side of the equation, Clean & Safe security officers patrol the downtown area on bicycles and on foot, looking for suspicious behavior, helping passersby, and responding to calls for assistance. Last spring, one officer alerted police to a car prowler, a woman pouring laundry detergent into a city fountain, and an attempted burglary.

Businesses in Portland are also working with city agencies and nonprofit organizations to assure “Sidewalk Access for Everyone” by providing services and shelter for the city’s homeless population. Not only are the homeless better cared for, but city streets are more welcoming for pedestrians.

To address the “clean” component of Downtown Clean & Safe, Portland businesses partner with the community court system to assign defendants to work crews as part of their community service or restitution requirements. Janae Davis-Saunders, president of the Oregon Crime Prevention Association, points to the community service and restitution requirement as being of paramount importance in the Portland plan. “It’s a valuable education piece,” she says. “Education is power, and recidivism is down as a result.”

The Portland Business Alliance (PBA, Portland’s chamber of commerce) reports the accomplishments of Downtown Clean & Safe in a monthly online newsletter for members of the Business Improvement District. The PBA believes these programs were a significant factor in reducing crime in the BID over the last three years.

Yet another example of innovative crime prevention in Portland is Park Safe, an aggressive outreach campaign that was launched by the Portland Police Bureau in 2002 to stem the rising tide of thefts from vehicles. With McGruff as the spokesdog, the Park Safe initiative reminds drivers not to leave valuables in their cars. State Farm Insurance, AAA Insurance, and a local BMW dealer are among the businesses that have contributed to this campaign, which includes billboards, posters, signs, brochures, and stickers on downtown parking meters.

For more information about these and other crime prevention programs in Portland, visit www.portlandalliance.com or contact Mike Kuykendall, vice president of Central City/Downtown Services, Portland Business Alliance, at 503-552-6766 or mkuykendall@portlandalliance.com.