Challenges for the next Astoria police chief

Feb. 12—Back in 2019, before the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police triggered Black Lives Matter demonstrations and calls to defund the police, the Police Executive Research Forum warned that police were facing a workforce crisis.

Fewer people wanted to become police officers, a report by the research forum found, and more officers were leaving the profession.

“Today’s police officers increasingly are being asked to deal with social problems, such as untreated mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness,” the report said. “As a result, the skills, temperament and life experiences needed to succeed as an officer are becoming more complex.”

Floyd’s murder in 2020 revived important questions about the use of force and the institutional racism within our criminal justice system. We believe the protests that followed Floyd’s death were necessary to raise public awareness about long-standing injustice, but the political climate has made the workforce crisis in policing worse.

In smaller, predominantly white cities like Astoria, the issues are often less about police misconduct and institutional racism and more about finding people interested in embracing the evolving role of law enforcement. The challenge is recruiting officers who have what former Astoria Police Chief Ron Louie describes as the “emotional intelligence” for the job.

As Astoria searches for a new police chief to replace Geoff Spalding, who is retiring, we hope the city uses Louie’s standard as a guide.

Astoria benefited from Spalding’s maturity. He already retired twice before coming to Astoria in 2017, so he had more freedom to focus on being a good steward for the police department rather than polishing a resume for the next step on the career ladder.

Spalding steered the city’s homelessness solutions task force and took a thoughtful approach to crisis response. In our view, Astoria police are among the most effective on the North Coast at diffusing potentially volatile interactions with people living on the streets or having mental health or drug and alcohol-fueled breakdowns.

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Much of the crime in Astoria, from assault to domestic violence to burglary to theft, is tied to drug and alcohol abuse and untreated mental illness.

Our next police chief should be a leading voice in policy discussions around treatment, social services, housing and community outreach. With a stronger social safety net, police could concentrate more on crime than crisis response.

We have two policy recommendations for the new police chief and the city to consider.

Crisis response: A portion of crisis response calls should be diverted from Astoria police.

Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare, Clatsop County’s mental health and substance abuse treatment provider, has a mobile crisis team available to help police.

Astoria police and Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare are also in talks on a co-response model, where police officers and clinicians could respond to crisis calls together.

Over time, we believe a share of crisis response calls could be handled by clinicians.

Studies have shown that people struggling with untreated mental illness are at significantly higher risk of being killed during interactions with police.

As The Astorian has documented, a small number of people account for hundreds of calls to Astoria police each year. Many are experiencing mental health or drug and alcohol-related problems that do not lead to arrest and criminal charges.

We recognize that careful protocols would need to be in place before calls can be diverted, but clinicians are more suited for some of these crisis response calls than armed officers.

Consolidate emergency dispatch: Emergency dispatch centers in Astoria and Seaside should be consolidated into a single countywide 911 dispatch center.

Studies and reports over the past few decades have urged consolidation. Our county is too small — and equipment is too expensive — to have separate dispatch centers.

We have heard the frustration from dispatchers who have to work long hours because of staffing shortages or devise workarounds for communications glitches. “We lose sleep on this at night. This is such an important system — that it works appropriately and accurately,” Spalding told The Astorian last month.

Having dispatchers under one roof could also make it easier to eventually divert more crisis response calls from police across the county.

We trust our city and county leaders can come up with a strategy — such as through the sheriff’s office or a new governing authority with representatives from police and fire agencies — to bring 911 under one umbrella.