Portland police arrest homeless under anti-camping law—Oregon sheriff refuses to book them into jail

Portland Police arrested a homeless man on July 26 who refused to comply with the city's new anti-camping regulations, but the county sheriff refused to book him into jail, claiming that punishing vagrants won't solve the housing crisis, the Willamette Week reports.

This comes as a huge blow to the Portland City Council which passed a series of anti-camping regulations on May 8 following months of heated deliberations. The regulations were enacted to tackle the public safety crisis that has been exacerbated by homeless vagrants, who have brought crime and open-air drug use into the city. The law took effect on July 1 and those who do not comply face up to 7 days in jail.

The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said that it would only book for felonies and misdemeanors, not violations of city ordinances.

"Arresting and booking our way out of the housing crisis is not a constructive solution," Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell wrote in a statement. "As the elected official charged with managing the jail, I believe we need to utilize the corrections system as a place for people who pose a genuine danger to the public, and that does not include individuals whose only offense is living unsheltered."

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said that his office has had several meetings with Sheriff O'Donnell and her team "over the last year and a half to receive input on the city's public camping laws," in which they specifically discussed "booking criteria" to ensure that vagrants would be booked under the new regulations and that old booking regulations "had been lifted."

"I am disappointed by the sheriff's decision to refuse to book individuals arrested violating the law," said Mayor Wheeler, according to the paper. In August 2023, the sheriff declared 'open booking' and in later meetings specifically discussing booking criteria, her representatives explicitly stated publicly that booking restrictions had been lifted. That is clearly not the case."

Sheriff O'Donnell issued a directive in August 2023 that clarified its "open booking" policies which included felonies and misdemeanors, but not city ordinances. Mayor Wheeler claimed the city laid out the expectation that the sheriff would jail violators of the city's anti-camping ordinance during the meetings.

"Cities do not typically need to get agreements in writing confirming that their sheriff will enforce the law," said Mayoral spokesman Cody Bowman, per the Willamette Week.

Mayor Wheeler urged Sheriff O'Donnell to "reconsider her position" on Tuesday and said that he was "deeply concerned by the disconnect and what it may mean for future efforts to improve public safety."