I’ve decided to drop the “Proactive Policing” traffic and pedestrian stops, and the “Quality of Life” stops too. The PPs are important, but to me it’s more about the policy behind the stops rather than what happens. New York City is wrestling with their “stop and frisk” policy, and activists there are organizing against it. It doesn’t seem to be an issue here, based on a little googling, but perhaps it’s known by a different name…

This week, we saw 10 property crimes, 11 thefts, 5 burglaries, and 1 robbery. There were several hit and run accidents, and an additional 4 traffic stops, 2 thefts, and 1 assault during the week near Martin Luther King Blvd. and Killingsworth.

Click on the map for a larger image, and to amend the search, visit CrimeReports.com.

It looks like the Portland Police Department have dropped down hard on NE Portland.

Most of the light blue multiple incidents (available at CrimeReports.com) involved either a pedestrian / vehicle stop and community policing. The “PP” proactive policing are mostly welfare checks and traffic stops, while a few examples of the “Q” quality of life incidents are cold threats, suspicious people / vehicles, and noise disturbances.

I’ve added a few new categories to my map, but something’s dropped incidents in the area significantly— and it looks like increased PPB presence. This week, thefts dropped from 11 to 6, assaults from 8 to 1, and burglaries down from 4 to 1.

But at what cost? Are there more arrests? Why aren’t arrests listed?

New York City’s “stop and frisk” policy is on trial right now, the Huffington Post reports. NYDP’s retired chief, Joseph Esposito, claims that NYC crime dropped 40 percent over the last 12 years and 80 percent over the last 20 years. Statistics show that African Americans and Latinos are more often the subject of “stop and frisk,” but he said the policy isn’t racist because their neighborhoods is where the crime happens.

A few stats from the article: the practice went up 800 percent over Esposito’s term as chief, and 88 percent of those stopped were found to do nothing wrong. I don’t expect to be able to dig too deeply into Portland’s program from here on St. Croix — but, ya, I’m curious…

My questions: what’s the standard for the stops? Is there probable cause needed? How long are these people stopped for? Several of the stops on the map this week, include “a disturbance” so it seems like there’s some push back from those getting stopped.

In our viewing area there were 11 thefts, 8 assaults, 4 burglaries, and one vehicle recovery. The multiple incident box on 19th and NE Failing indicate two thefts. The frequency of crime in this neighborhood is an eye opener.

I’ve lived in Northeast Portland, and there’s a lot of crime around NE Martin Luther King Blvd. Within a couple of blocks off MLK, there were five assaults and eleven thefts. I don’t know what I thought was going on, but always locked up my bicycle.

That light-blue box at MLK and NE Killingsworth indicates three thefts over three days and one assault to that started it all off.

What’s being stolen? Bicycles, cars, lawn ornaments? How do the police respond? Do they dust for prints and break out the CSI gear? Is there any kind of follow up? I wonder how many people even bother to call the police… So many questions…

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Here’s what happened: there were 11 thefts, 4 burglaries, 4 property crimes, 1 assault, and 1 vehicle recovery. For more information, visit crimereports.com, and search Portland, Oregon. Or click on the photograph for a closer look.

The light blue icons are car wrecks, and the red triangles are registered sex offenders.

One good thing about focusing on such a small area is the opportunity to look into the type of crimes so frequent and ordinary that they fly below the radar of most journalism and neighborhood advocacy. We’ll post these maps weekly, and see what trends / information emerges.

In his book, “Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government,” Newsom gives examples of how citizen engagement is being improved by technology and calls for that progress to continue.

I didn’t read the book, but Beth Simone Noveck, who led the White House’s 2009 Open Government Initiative, reviewed the book for SFGate. She said Newsom recommends Youtube to improve access to government meetings, and suggests governments open up data to both tech giants and entrepreneurs.

In the review the example of Stamen Design was given, a San Francisco-based firm that built a crime stats platform. If you hear sirens you deserve to know what happened, the site states. The crime statistics can be sorted in a variety of ways, including by time— so people can know which areas to avoid at night.

Portland’s crime statistics are online at CrimeReports.com, an amazing interactive mapping site that even allows residents to offer tips on each incident. The basic information on crime is there— and the next step would be the information to hold police accountable for things like 911 response time and use of force complaints.

Noveck was doubtful that the fun some people have on Farmville can be carried over to citizen involvement, but agrees that technology can lead to a more open and participatory government. I have my doubts as well.

Technology can convey information that serves as a rallying point for neighbors, but the issues of unresponsive elected leaders and scant resources remain. Technology as a networking and organizing tool seems most promising to me, because whether its a salvo of emails or a rally in the streets— it takes people to push change.

Trimet is planning cuts (full proposal) to make up a $12 million hole in their budget.

They are planning to eliminate the Free Rail Zone, change rates, refiguring 15 bus lines and eliminating some trips on 10 others.

A series of public hearings have been planned for next week. Times and locations are listed below.

This guy’s got some ideas to reform Trimet. Here’s another idea that would save $7 million. Other commenters, including some from the Oregonian, want Trimet to cut manager salaries, stop spending money to fund the City’s streetcar expansion and the expensive WES Commuter Rain Service. Focusing on maintaining bus service rather than expand the MAX was also suggested.

3/19/12 * Clackamas Town Center,  12000 SE 82nd Ave., Lower Level, Community Room * 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM

3/20/12 * Beaverton Library, 12375 SW 5th St., Auditorium * 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM

3/21/12 * Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th, Auditorium * 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM

3/22/12 * Multnomah County East County Health Center, 600 NE 8th St.
Gresham, OR, Sharron Kelly A & B * 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM

3/27/12 * Multnomah County Library, North Portland Branch, 512 N Killingsworth St., 2nd Floor Meeting Room * 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM

Plant and household pest experts are available at Oregon State University’s Metro Portland master gardner hotline: 503-445-4608.

I called today and got a return call within a few hours. The gentleman was extremely helpful and had good ideas on how to start sunflowers. He said to wait two more weeks before starting them inside.

Sunflowers have always been one of my favorite things to grow— they’re just so big and undeniably awesome— so I’ll show you how they’re grown later in the season.

Do you like cute critters and sunflowers? Click the jump if so.

filthy-pets.tumblr.com

The Regional Water Providers Consortium (RWPC) is giving away free water conservation kits.

The Southeast Examiner said the kit contains “a high eficiency bathroom faucet aerator, high efficiency shower head, shower timer, toilet leak-detection dye tablets, and a toilet fill-cycle diverter.”

The devices include simple instructions for self-installation.

Portland’s water district is eligible, and the other participating water districts are listed here.

Request your water savings kit by sending an email to: RWPCinfo at portlandoregon dot gov or by calling 503-823-7528. They request that you include how you heard about the offer.