Police liaison and staff report bias incidents; state hotline shows dip from 2024 peak

Lieutenant Williams of the Eugene Police Department reviewed several recent bias incidents and prosecutions and outlined how the department investigates and refers cases.

Williams described a December roommate incident that led to an arrest for bias crime in the second degree after a suspect allegedly drew a derogatory figure and used religious slurs; a separate series of harassing phone calls and a Bible left in a mailbox were investigated and forwarded to the department’s special investigations unit. Williams also recounted an anti-Hispanic roadside assault that resulted in an arrest for criminal mischief and bias crime and a separate alleged anti-LGBTQ driving harassment incident that was documented for awareness.

Staff (Fabio) then presented state-run hotline reporting data and emphasized methodological caveats: the state system counts victims rather than incidents, which can produce high counts when several victims report the same event. He said the state posted 1,943 reports for 2025 as visible on the public dashboard; earlier years included about 1,600 reports in 2021 and a 2024 peak near 5,800 reports. Locally, staff reported that city facilities logged 31 staff-facing hate-speech incidents in 2024 and 60 in 2025, largely racist and anti-LGBTQ verbal incidents often at the public library.

Commissioners asked what resources the city and police provide when ICE or large protests occur; Williams explained Oregon law limits assistance to immigration officers and that police rely on warrants, consent, or exigent circumstances to enter premises. Staff offered to post and distribute existing state and city resource links and printed materials at public events.

What’s next: Staff said they are exploring whether to invite the state hotline coordinator to present to the commission for deeper data analysis and to disaggregate the county-level data for Eugene-specific reporting.