Medford Police Department partners with agencies to make the community safer

MEDFORD, Ore.— Medford Police Department is working with agencies like Addictions Recovery Center, Jackson County Mental Health and much more on a partnership called Neighborhood Livability Partnership.

Cpl. Tom Venables with Medford Police Department says the partnership started in late 2017. NLP focuses on problem homes in the area which tend to have higher criminal activity, emergency personnel presence and receive higher amounts of complaints from neighbors.

“If it’s a drug activity case then we solve that problem, if it’s a mental health case, we plug that person into the mental health resources, so it’s just people coming together truly that care about this community,” Cpl. Venables said.

The agencies get together to discuss the highest priority problem homes and how to help them. Sometimes, that means boarding up the homes, and other times that means connecting people to the help they might need.

This year, police say the NLP has improved 30 homes and many neighborhoods.