Third Time's a Charm

On my 3rd trip to the Multnomah County Commissioners Meeting on Thursday I was able to break through the silence. I testified (once again) that the county is not involved in any public attempts to stem the tide of violence, abuse, and neglect of folks with developmental disabilities.

They are not involved in the Portland Police Advisory Committee. They are not involved in any of the several groups throughout the state dealing with this issue. They are not involved in the Legislative Work Group in Salem. And they are not involved in the Oregon Coalition Against Hate Crimes. It seems they want to operate from out of a vacuum.

This is the county that has a 6.7% rate for having crimes against people with developmental disabilities referred to the District Attorney. In the state, that is the second lowest rate. This is the county that uses their own lawyer to “facilitate” grievances against their employees concerning abuse. This is the county that has the largest population of folks with developmental disabilities living there. And this is the county where most of the violence, abuse and neglect occurs in Oregon. Something wrong here?

Commissioner Naito told me she’s certain that the office of Developmental Disabilities, the District Attorney, and the office of Domestic Violence are all doing “a lot”, and assured me the board would look into what they are doing. When she finds out they are NOT doing a lot around this issue, I hope the Board does something immediately.