By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston
Note: the letter refers to "newly created crime prevention districts", however both of Salem's Crime Prevention Districts were created many years ago to allow police to exclude individuals committing low-level, "quality of life" offenses inside the districts from them for 30-day periods. Downtown Enforcement Team members David Smith and Zach Merritt told CANDO last night that "uncoupling" violations of the proposed ordinance from the two Crime Prevention Districts (as Councilor Hoy has proposed) would remove the "teeth" needed to ensure compliance with the ordinance. "Tickets (citations)", Owens said, "don't mean anything [to the target population]." They can, however, create barriers to housing and employment down the road.
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