Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office briefs Fairview on 2025 calls, explains HOPE team gap amid budget cuts

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office presented an annual service report to the Fairview City Council on July 15, outlining last year’s service volume and explaining recent staffing and program changes that affected specialized outreach.

“Since 2017, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has proudly served and partnered with the city of Fairview,” a county official said at the start of the presentation, then turned the podium over to Captain Brian Hakala, introduced as the city’s assigned chief of police. Hakala said MCSO recorded 6,128 calls for service in 2025 and 367 arrests; the agency reported 690 total reported crimes and 91 detective-assigned cases for the year.

Hakala described a recent multi-agency homicide investigation in the Ferry Lake neighborhood that required an intensive, cross-jurisdictional response and led to an arrest and recovery of evidence. “This case alone required six different search warrants and staffing that totaled 21 detectives from four different agencies,” he said.

Councilors focused much of their questioning on the HOPE outreach team, a specialized response unit that provided nontraditional outreach and casework. The sheriff’s office said county budget decisions forced a reallocation of resources to mandated patrol and investigative functions, leaving a temporary gap where the HOPE team previously operated.

“So just to clarify,” the sheriff’s office representative said, “I did have reductions this year ... navigating essentially down to mandated versus nonmandated service. I need deputy sheriffs taking 9-1-1 calls and doing criminal investigations.” He added that the agency is working with county partners to identify outreach resources and to ease the transition while the county and contract cities realign services.

Councilors pressed the agency on staffing levels and corrections capacity. The sheriff’s office said the law enforcement division is near full strength (roughly a 5% vacancy rate and about 102–105 deputy sheriffs and 20–21 sergeants), but that the corrections division remains the largest staffing challenge with more than 400 staff overseeing jails and transport functions. The county jail system was reported at roughly 85% capacity on average and spiking into the 90s at busy times; the sheriff said he has not ordered emergency releases during his tenure.

Council members also asked about the possible effects if Troutdale establishes its own police department. The sheriff said contract-funded positions tied to Troutdale would be removed from the county budget if that contract ends and would need reassignment or county advocacy to fund elsewhere.

Council members thanked MCSO for the presentation and asked staff to continue coordination on outreach and service continuity. The presentation closed with an offer from the agency to meet with council members and staff individually to discuss local priorities.

The council moved on to other agenda items; no formal action on law enforcement contracts was taken during this meeting.