MPD Community Policing Initiatives and Programs

The City of McMinnville and its Police Department has become a part of, or engaged in, programs to make our community safer and more livable. These types of community policing programs and policy initiatives are done to make our city a safer and healthier place to live, learn, work, and play. In addition, these programs are also in line with the City of McMinnville’s “Mac-Town 2032” strategic plan values of Stewardship, Equity, Courage, and Accountability. This plan was adopted by the McMinnville City Council in 2018.

The primary goals of this information is to share what we are doing, and have been doing, in the context of what we have been hearing from some within our community. Please take the time review our list of initiatives and programs so that you can become more familiar with how your McMinnville Police Department works within our community to provide the best service possible.

Mental Health Engagements with Community Outreach Specialists

For the last several years MPD has worked closely with Yamhill County’s Health and Human Services Community Outreach Specialists (COS) in an effort to defuse incidents which have involved individuals experiencing mental health issues. This effort has been largely successful in de-escalating situations and providing a clinician the ability to talk with the involved person in an effort to get them to engage in mental health treatment programs. The COS program is a multi-disciplinary approach to helping those who are vulnerable or acting out.

Homeless Liaison

Over the last few years MPD has assigned an officer to work with our homeless population in an effort to make connections with those experiencing homelessness, and assist them in transitioning into stable housing. These efforts have again been largely successful in that this officer is not enforcing laws/ordinances with this city’s population, but instead is seen as a liaison between those in our community needing shelter and the different sheltering programs. We have made a number of positive impacts through this program.

School Resource Officer Program

This program has been successful in ensuring that our 2 assigned officers have a positive impact in school aged children, specifically in the middle school and the high school. Our officers assigned to these positions have been selected by both the police department and the McMinnville School District. These officers are in the schools for education and prevention with law enforcement being the last resort. Everyone’s goal is to have a positive impact on the lives of these students. Often times our officers will connect with these students by either instructing classes or assisting in teaching curriculum as well as being a positive presence in the hallway. School resource officers also play an integral role in threat assessment conducted by school personnel.

Park Ranger Program

In an effort to engage with park patrons and those who frequent the downtown area, the police department utilizes a Park Ranger program from April through roughly October. The use of Park Rangers in situations where education and outreach has been valuable in a couple of ways. First it allows our sworn officers to focus on criminal behavior within the City, and the use of unarmed Park Rangers ensures the parks are safe for everyone to use, while still having the ability to enforce code of conduct violations. In addition, the use of the Park Rangers downtown ensure it is welcoming and free from those who chose to engage in low level criminal type behavior.

Transfer of Code Compliance from the Police Department to the Planning Department

The shuffling of code compliance officers from the police department to the planning department has been a huge win for both the PD and our citizens. Like any city, McMinnville has ordinances to keep our city residents safe, healthy and to maintain our beautiful and desirable neighborhoods. The shifting of code compliance has moved from a more punitive program under the PD, to one which looks for compliance and understanding of community and neighborhood expectations.

Unidos Community Engagement aLERT (a Law Enforcement Relations Team)

In February 2015, aLERT (Law Enforcement Relations Team) was established in order to improve the communication and relationships among law enforcement in Yamhill County and its Latinx communities. Our goal is to create growing partnerships which will lead to safer communities and increased access for the Latinx community to law enforcement services. Under the leadership of Doug Johnson, the team has developed an ongoing working relationship with the McMinnville Police Department. Representatives from aLERT and Mac PD have met regularly to learn from each other and engage with the larger community.

We have done a number of community information sharing/question and answer events with the assistance of Unidos and the aLERT team in the Latinx community.

MPD works with NAMI

We have an officer that regularly meets with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) Yamhill County. This is an organization of people dedicated to improving the lives of individuals affected by mental illness by providing:

• Support to all who are affected by serious mental illness
• Collaboration with Yamhill County Health & Human Services and the Criminal & Justice Departments

Threat Assessment Team

We have officers who regularly partner with Yamhill County HHS, among others, to collaboratively work with and identify intervention plans for persons who are experiencing behavioral issues. Often times this group will meet after a student makes threats or is exhibiting concerning behavior. That being said, this can also be an adult who has made threats or is seen a threat for a myriad of reasons within our community. This team will meet to discuss the specific situations, work to keep everyone involved as safe as possible, and provide options other than simply deferring to enforcement.

Co-Sponsor Crisis Intervention Training

MPD, along with YCSO, co-sponsor an annual 40 hour training course, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) where officers receive training on how to handle those who may be experiencing a mental health crisis, providing them with help and resources. CIT programs create connections between law enforcement, mental health providers, hospital emergency services and individuals with mental illness and their families. Through collaborative community partnerships and intensive training, CIT improves communication, identifies mental health resources for those in crisis and ensures officer and community safety.

De-Escalation Training

The McMinnville Police Department recognizes that many of the incidents we are involved in can be rapidly evolving. Our officers are trained and encouraged to use de-escalation techniques whenever possible and are trained in de-escalation through both classroom and scenario based training.

Bias Based Policing Policy Review

The McMinnville Police Department is committed to providing law enforcement services to the community with due regard for the racial, cultural or other differences of those served. It is the policy of this department to provide law enforcement services and enforce the law equally, fairly and without discrimination toward any individual or group. Annually we review this policy with our staff, and annually we are required to report to the State of Oregon whether or not we have received complaints regarding our staff having perceived to have policed in a biased fashion.

Statistical Transparency of Policing (STOP) Program

House Bill 2355 (2017) mandated that by 2021, all Oregon law enforcement agencies must submit data regarding officer initiated traffic and pedestrian stops to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, so the Commission could analyze the submitted data for evidence of racial or ethnic disparities on an annual basis. The McMinnville Police Department has been submitting data to the State for nearly a year now, and we await our annual report at the end of 2020.

Status of the 8 policy reforms (commonly referred to as the “8 can’t wait campaign”)

Our Department’s initial assessment shows we meet 7 of the 8 recommendations. The only reason we wouldn’t meet all 8 is because “develop a force continuum” is no longer considered best practice. Oregon DPSST removed this from training circa 2009. Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) recommends not using a continuum, and legal advisors do not support this either.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Training

Our officers come from the police training academy having trained on this subject matter. Candidly we have fallen short with regards to providing robust annual training on these subject matters. We have already began the process of trying to identify potential training subject matter experts, and ways in which we can bring cultural competency and cultural anxiety training to our police staff.

Thank you for taking the time to review some of our community policing programs and initiatives.

Matt Scales, Chief of Police