By Stephen C. Webster
It’s crunch-time for many municipalities across the United States, but for one county in Oregon, that means a little more than in most.
The district attorney in Multnomah County, the state’s most populous area with over 710,000 residents, announced recently that it can no longer prosecute dozens of crimes thanks to an ever-shrinking budget.
Caught with small amounts of heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine? It’s a ticket. So’s a hit-and-run accident. Small-time shoplifting? You’ll still get arrested, but it’s still just a violation.
For these and other lesser crimes, the district attorney will simply refuse to prosecute.