An annual report released last week showed that police dropped people off at the new Multnomah County deflection center just 606 times – less than two a day – during its entire first year of operations.

The center, opened in September 2024, is meant to offer people charged with possession of small amounts of controlled substances a path to treatment rather than jail.

More than 90% percent of those brought to the center in its first year were homeless. And most didn’t complete the full deflection process. Only 113 people finished all the steps, which includes taking a substance abuse assessment and contacting any one of a range of local resources within 30 days. Those can include treatment, housing or getting in touch with a trained peer counselor for support.

The county does not impos

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