Source readers may have read Julianna LaFollette’s story about plans to make the so-called underutilized Bend Central District a walkable community hub. While stakeholders on the project say it’s off to a slower-than-desirable start, they explain this renovation is still underway, while also paying attention to unhoused residents and crime in the BCD.
Sheila Miller, communications manager for Bend Police Department, said the department crunched numbers and saw a higher number of calls for service across Bend Central District, resulting in the department’s strides in monitoring crime in the BCD. She said an initiative, coined as the Bend Central District Crime Reduction Plan, brought daily patrols to the area. Bend PD also offered overtime to patrol officers to provide high visibility in the BCD.
The crime reduction plan, though it has undergone changes, has been in place since August 22, 2024. From August 2023 through August 2024, a roughly-20 block area of the BCD accounted for 17% of all arrests in the city at that time, Miller said.
As LaFollette reported, Bend PD recorded a heightened number of calls for service in the proposed mixed-use community hub in BCD. The police department has a data hub, home to information for every call to the police department across the last five years, which also includes the rough location where a patrol officer responded to a call for service and the incident type.
How do calls where patrol officers interact with unhoused populations in the BCD stack up? And how do they stack up to the other heavily trafficked area in downtown Bend?
The Source developed a data hub to fact-check local claims about the BCD, looking at “unwanted subject” and “trespassing” calls for service from 2020 until 2024. Miller said these two types of calls for service could loosely refer to unhoused populations and their interactions with local police.
BCD saw double or more of the number of calls for service in comparison to downtown Bend. Though Miller said Bend PD doesn’t record housing status, the department’s data hub provides a method to estimate the number of interactions that unhoused people have with the police by looking at the specific call types marked by an officer.
Though there is anecdotal evidence of the current Bend Central District having a higher number of crimes and unhoused residents, the Source scooped up data within a half-mile radius of certain street intersections in downtown Bend and BCD and compared the areas. The Source collected data for downtown in between where Wall and Bond streets meet NW Franklin Ave., whereas the BCD’s data collection can be traced back to the intersection of NE 2nd St. and NE Hawthorne Ave.
When it comes to the “unwanted subject” call, Miller said these calls typically come from property owners who want someone removed from their property.
Miller said it makes sense that this is what the data is chalked up to be, especially with the presence of shelters and the BottleDrop Redemption Center in the BCD.
“Those two things do obviously have high usage by unhoused people and those people who maybe have nowhere to go are going to end up on private property,” she said. “Those business owners are going to contact us and ask us to remove those people.”
Data from Bend PD does prove the local hypothesis that this “promised land,” referred to as such in LaFollette’s article, is also a place where unhoused people likely reside in greater numbers.
[Correction: In a previous version of this story, “dispatchers” were referred to interchangeably with “patrol officers”. Dispatchers are employed by Deschutes County not the City of Bend. The Source regrets the error.]
This article appears in Source Weekly July 31, 2025.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
While it’s encouraging to see investment in revitalizing the Bend Central District, it’s important to acknowledge that the persistent issues of homelessness and crime are being exacerbated and not solved by a social services industry that often operates with profit motives rather than outcomes. There should be zero unhoused individuals living on the streets when high-barrier shelters that offer structured support for addiction, mental health, and long-term stability exist. And if there are not enough high barrier facilities , build another and stop with the low barrier facilities that are wasting our resources and creating a turnstile for these folks. In need. . Those who refuse services should not be permitted to remain in Deschutes County indefinitely, as that only deepens the cycle. Relying on police to address houseless criminal and non-criminal issues drains public resources and hinders business growth in this area. We must prioritize responsible, results-driven support systems that restore public safety and economic vitality in our community.
Thank you Nicole for bravely and succinctly offering a solution to Bend’s growing homeless problem. Be encouraged that a large portion of our citizens agree with you but have been socially shamed into silence. Please don’t rest on this issue with your one published comment. Be proactive going forward so your/our voices can be heard.