Troutdale advisory committee presses sheriff's office to clarify report discrepancies, requests heat-map changes

The Public Safety and Equity Advisory Committee reviewed February law-enforcement reports on March 5 and asked the sheriff's office to clarify why entries in the call log do not always appear in the crime-statistics tallies.

Chair Shelby Staffenson said the committee found several stolen-vehicle entries on the call log that were missing from the crime report and asked the department to follow up with its crime analyst. "I will just make a note to just follow-up and ask him about this specifically," Staffenson said.

Deputy Nick Bork told the committee he could not fully explain the discrepancy: "I can't answer that because I don't know how they track that in the data system," he said, and directed members to Kevin Morelli, the department's crime analyst, for technical details. Bork explained the department operates two data streams — a call log and a separate reporting system — and that some calls (for example, unwanted-person contacts) frequently do not generate written reports unless they lead to arrest or a trespass report.

Members pressed for clearer front-page information and visualizations. Several committee members said the report's aggregate "other" category is too large and recommended adjustments so the front page shows the high-volume call types the public cares about. The committee asked the sheriff's office to produce heat maps that display both "called-for service" locations and confirmed-crime locations as point-dot maps rather than the current arbitrary zone-based shading.

The committee voted to task members with reviewing a spreadsheet of call types and to ask staff to invite the crime analyst to a future meeting for a technical briefing. The chair said she will follow up with Kevin Morelli and seek a demonstration of the data filters and clearing codes that produce the different tallies.

Next steps: committee members will mark which call types they wish to keep on the front page and discuss specific heat-map formats at the next meeting, and staff will request Kevin Morelli attend to explain coding and report filters.