Holding facility receives stay of execution

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Mar 16, 2010, Updated Mar 16, 2010

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There the suspects are held until a Multnomah County corrections deputy arrives in a van to transport them to downtown Portland.

This short drive to Gresham saves officers as much as an hour-and-a-half drive round trip to downtown Portland, Junginger said.

Plus, if four or five officers are making arrests in Gresham at about the same time, “and if they all had to go downtown, we’re talking 40 percent of our resources are out of the city,” he said.

That means less backup is available for officers who are in town, which can put citizens and officers at risk.

Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson said the temporary booking facility is perhaps even more important for smaller police agencies with fewer officers than larger departments.

“It saves us from having to leave our district unfilled while we’re transporting our prisoners all the way down to Portland,” he said. “It keeps us where we need to be. It’s a big deal to us.”

But the temporary booking facility also helps the much larger Portland Police Bureau, Anderson said. “East Precinct comes so far out east that even they have a benefit,” he said.

Now, local police chiefs are in talks with the sheriff about a possible long-term solution to the problem of temporary booking — moving the facility to the Inverness Jail off Northeast 122nd Avenue in Parkrose.

There are some code issues to iron out to allow the jail to be used as a transfer or holding facility, Junginger said. But Inverness is being used in such a capacity already by other agencies, he added.

Reporter Mara Stine can be reached at mstine@theout

lookonline.com or by calling 503-492-5117.

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