Eugene police liaison outlines 14 bias-related incidents; commissioners press for better outreach to unhoused victims
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Summary
Lieutenant Jeremy Williams told the Eugene Human Rights Commission about roughly 14 recent bias-related and violent incidents — including a workplace noose, assaults and alleged racially motivated harassment — and commissioners asked how the department follows up with victims, especially unhoused people.
Lieutenant Jeremy Williams, the Eugene Police Department liaison to the Human Rights Commission, briefed commissioners on roughly 14 bias‑related incidents and violent assaults that occurred over the summer and early fall. Williams listed cases ranging from a June 3 harassment and property damage at a downtown Hispanic‑owned business to an Aug. 1 incident in which a University of Oregon employee found a graduation cord tied as a noose under her windshield wiper and that was subject to an FBI threat assessment.
Williams said detectives have investigative leads in several matters and that some cases remain open: “That investigation is ongoing,” he said of a July 30 assault under the Ferry Street bridge in which the victim required hospital treatment. He also described operational limits when victims decline continued contact: in several incidents no surveillance or witness information was available, and some victims asked to stop engagement, curtailing follow‑up.
Commissioners pressed Williams about whether victims receive consistent outreach and why the FBI engaged with the UO employee but not others. Williams said the FBI was already conducting a threat assessment related to the employee’s role at the university and online threats, and that the department refers victims to county victim services and the state DOJ hotline as appropriate. “Our policy and the practice is to be victim‑centric and allow victims to make the decisions about how they wanna proceed with the case,” Williams told the commission.
Several commissioners, noting a pattern of incidents that affected Black, Hispanic and unhoused residents, urged more proactive victim outreach. One commissioner said victims sometimes decline prosecution because of fear or lack of trust in the system; Williams described tactics EPD uses to locate and support hard‑to‑reach victims, including subpoenas and targeted detective follow‑up. He added that officers and the department have procedures for referring cases into the city’s Office of Equity and Community Engagement and to the Oregon DOJ for tracking of bias incidents.
The commission asked staff to return with clarification on victim‑outreach processes for unhoused people at a future meeting. The exchange concluded with commissioners urging sustained interagency work and clearer community communication about protections and reporting avenues.