REDMOND, OR -- After a ten-year hiatus, the Redmond Police Department once again has detectives dedicated to a Street Crimes Unit, "The team targets quality of life offenses, such as drug use and low-level drug sales, and the crimes that are commonly associated with that, such as burglary, robbery [and] theft," says Lt. Curtis Chambers. "This team is proactive, not reactive. They will look for trends, look for suspects and dive deeper into investigations and tie cases together; more so than patrol officers do working their normal shifts, just because of how busy they are."

For several years in the early 2000s, Redmond PD collaborated with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, providing two detectives for the DCSO Street Crimes Unit. But, Lt. Chambers tells KBND News RPD pulled out of the joint effort around 2007 due to cuts during the recession. After that, the city budget only allowed for a part time unit to work during overtime shifts.

In the 2019-20 budget, which took effect July first, City Council provided more funding for patrol, and Chambers says that allowed the department to move two detectives into Street Crimes, full time. 

In their first operation, last week, Chambers says they issued six 30-day exclusions at Sam Johnson and American Legion parks, over three hours, for vandalism and other violations, "We want to make certain that our parks are safe and welcoming to all people. And, encouraging compliance with city ordinance and state law through enforcement operations and deterrents is one way that we attempt to make that possible." In the coming months, he says their success will be measured by how many and what kinds of arrests they make.