PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — As the cleanup and move out of homeless people along the Springwater Corridor continues, contractors are taking inventory of all the items found.
Despite what the public might believe, Portland police say the Springwater Corridor isn’t actually a hotbed of stolen items. But it is full with unclaimed items that may have been trashed or simply lost.
Pacific Patrol Services, a security company hired by the city, is going through the items found to determine if something is stolen.
Through the first day, they have not taken any reports of potentially stolen property.
PPB Sgt. Randy Tieg said there’s no question that stolen items have been found in the past on the corridor, “but you can go in any neighborhood and find stolen items.”
“So,” he added, “I think the perception that the Springwater Corridor is lined with stolen property is not supported by facts.”
The most common thing found are bikes, he said.
“You have to register your bike. There is a bike registration program in Portland,” he said. “At the very mimium, write the down the serial number to your property and have it so when you file a police report, you have a serial number.”
If the security company finds something of value, they will document what, when and where they found it, then notify police if they believe it was stolen.
If, for example, a stamp or card collection is found, detectives may be notified to investigate and try to locate the owner. But anything of value will be stored in compliance with the laws of Oregon.
Tieg said the goal with the cleanup of the Springwater Corridor is “not to take people to jail because they have no place to sleep. There’s no point in that.”
Authorities are engaged with the service providers and those doing outreach.
“We’re starting to establish those relationships and having trust with them,” he told KOIN 6 News.Day 2 of the cleanup
Though the city says the cleanup will take at least a month, there is a noticeable difference already.
One cyclist who spoke with KOIN 6 News said he rides the trail from Milwaukie to Gresham a couple times each week. He remarked about the world of difference he noticed since Thursday.
The cleanup so far has focused on the fraction of the 14 mile stretch near NE Lambert to Flavel.
City officials said they collected one filled 30-yard dumpster on Friday, along with 16 needles from the creek, 975 needles from various camps, a gallon of urine in containers near the creek and 6 gallons of urine in containers from other camps.
Park rangers, PPB officers on bikes and outreach workers plus a member of Mayor Charlie Hales’ staff are out along the corridor as the cleanup continues.
Not everyone has left, including Craig, a homeless veteran who said the last 36 hours have been stressful.
“Don’t know whether to go downstream or upstream. I’m on the stream just trying to figure it out,” Craig said. “It’s hard. You gotta be around the resources, you know. The worst part like I say being homeless is having a place to put your stuff, where you can function, where you can operate.”
Another camper, Aaron Burbank, thought he would have somewhere else to go by now. He feels like he was given some false hope.
“Especially by the mayor’s office, who said they were on our side,” Burbank said. “Helping us get in to a place before the sweeps came and here’s the sweep.”
He hopes to find somewhere else to stay that’s not on the trail, so he doesn’t have to keep moving back and forth.
“Every minute really counts, I mean really. Because it’s hard-pressed to find a new place, get our stuff and not worry about looking over our shoulders,” Burbank said.
Campers were reportedly spotted moving east toward Gresham, but Gresham authorities are patrolling the corridor heavily. It’s unclear where the campers are headed.
Homeless advocate Dirk Asbury knows many of the campers by name. He said the campers “are stressed out from the situation knowing that they have to pick up and go, so where they are is kind of unknown.”
Over the Labor Day weekend, police will patrol the area on ATVs and bikes. Park rangers will be in the area and the clean-up will continue on Tuesday.KOIN 6 News reporters Brent Weisberg, Tim Becker and Cole Miller contributed to this report.