Multnomah County DA-elect Nathan Vasquez talks policy changes, transition to new role

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Nathan Vasquez doesn't take over as the new Multnomah County District Attorney until January. But the county's senior deputy district attorney and prosecutor is preparing for his new role after he defeated current DA Mike Schmidt in the May primary.

Returning to Eye on Northwest Politics, Vasquez discussed what that preparation looks like and how the structure of the DA's office may change.

"You know, there's a lot of discussion around transition and I'm working hard on looking at how best to structure the office," he said. "Who's going to be on my team and then kind of the policies that are going to hopefully bring this community to a safer, healthier place."

Along those lines, with the end of Measure 110 on September 1, Multnomah County chair Jessica Vega Pedersen added Vasquez to the deflection transition team and he is tasked with putting together the deflection strategy. When asked what deflection looks like to him, Vasquez emphasized certain "guiding principles."

"One is there needs to be accountability and there needs to be meaningful engagement and treatment," he noted. "Those are what I believe are the hallmarks of that House Bill 4002. And I think it's what we should be looking at when we're going forward to how do we appropriately craft a program that works for the community and for the individual who is suffering from substance abuse disorder."

Vasquez has also had conversations with law enforcement regarding arrests for low level drug possession, citing their eagerness for the law to come into effect. Further, while he acknowledged that prosecution was an option in these cases, it's not the main priority.

"The way that this law is crafted, it really looks at how do we take advantage of various off-ramps before we end up in the system where we are going to trial and maybe either having someone plead guilty and going to jail, all of those things," he said. "It's designed to have all these different ways in which an individual can take advantage of treatment opportunities before getting there.

On May 29, current DA Mike Schmidt sent an email to Vasquez restricting him from engaging in transition-related conversations on county time unless authorized by Schmidt. Vasquez said receiving that email was "unfortunate" and he would have preferred a more collaborative approach.

"While I don't agree with what's in the email, I'm always going to be careful that I'm not going to endanger the careers of other county employees by saying, 'Hey, come meet with me in my office,'" he added. "So right now, I'm doing my best to either meet with folks after work on weekends, for coffee, but outside of the office because I want to really respect their careers and their positions."

With the city of Portland having just begun its outdoor camping ban, Vasquez hopes this will be an impetus to build out resources and treatments for those who need it, but did acknowledge his job is to enforce laws in place.

"I think all of this revolves around what resources are available to the houseless population," he said. "I think as an absolute last resort, we're going to look at the criminal justice system involvement."

Watch the full interview in the video above.