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County reports mixed results on 'Safe Communities' measures; 9-1-1 shifts some crisis calls to 988, Deschutes Alert grows
Summary
County leaders gave the Board of Commissioners a mixed update on public-safety measures: justice court collection rates are tracking above a legacy 50% target, Deschutes 9-1-1 has begun transferring some first-party mental-health crisis calls to 988, and the county's emergency-alert system now has about 63,000 opt-ins.
Deschutes County department leaders presented quarterly updates on performance measures tied to the county's "Safe Communities" objectives.
Justice court: Justice Court staff said the court's long-standing, legacy target—50% of assessed fines collected within 90 days of judgment—has consistently been exceeded in recent years. "That means, you know, the amount assessed on day 1, we've got, 70 to 80% of that back, by day 90," Court Administrator Crystal Cozine said. She and Judge Fadely said the court will update legacy targets for future reporting.
9-1-1 and crisis triage: Deschutes 9-1-1 Operations Manager Chris Perry reported that, beginning Feb. 3, the county updated call-taking triage protocols to transfer appropriate first-party mental-health crisis calls to the statewide 988 line rather than dispatch in-person response. Perry said 16 first-party mental-health crisis calls were transferred to 988 in the two-plus weeks since the change and that the adjustment intends to let local Community Crisis Response Teams focus on in-person responses.
Deschutes Alerts: 9-1-1 staff also reported about 63,000 residents had opted into the county's Deschutes Alerts system by the end of the quarter and that the county plans its annual test and account-update campaign (including outreach to people with access-and-functional-needs) on May 7. Staff said the county will stand up a small call center the day of the test to field questions and to help residents who receive the test message.
Community Justice: Deputy Director Tanner Werk reported that 71% of supervised adults had active, updated behavior-change plans in the quarter against a 75% target. Werk said the department has increased contact-frequency expectations compared with state administrative rules and that achievement is sensitive to staff vacancies and training cycles.
District Attorney programs: The DA's office presented two program measures. The Veterans Intervention Strategy (VIS) has enrolled 28 individuals since its launch (20 graduates, six actively enrolled, three revoked); the DA's performance goal for VIS is to keep incarceration sentencing at 20% or less — VIS reported a 4% incarceration rate among participants to date. The Emerging Adult Program (restorative justice for ages 18–25) reported 88 enrollments, 56 graduates, 19 current participants, 11 revoked and an 11% recidivism figure to date.
No binding policy changes were taken; departmental leaders will continue to refine measures and report back.
