For the last week, a private company contracted by Longview has provided a security presence in and around the Alabama Street homeless camp.
A large tent is set up in the fueling station next to the parking lot that currently holds the homeless residents. During the day, service providers use the tent to meet with residents to provide aid and make referrals. At night, it becomes a base of operations for Northwest Enforcement.
Longview signed a security contract with Northwest Enforcement on Sept. 20 to provide unarmed security work at the camp. The security officials were a request made by the Longview City Council at the beginning of September as one of several measures to improve how the city handled the controversial camp.
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Northwest Enforcement has operated in Portland since 2003. Its second location in Longview opened in 2020 when the company bought out Columbia Security, a private security firm that had operated since the 1970s. The company offers extra security for businesses, including lumber yards, and provides a school resource officer for the Kelso School District.
Northwest Enforcement’s founder and vice president Chad Withrow said they were asked by other businesses to talk to the Longview City Council in August because of their track record in Portland.
“The businesses had some fears wrapped around the things that have been going on consistently there. We’ll be there on both sides to help and listen and understand the problems at hand,” Withrow said.
For the last three years Northwest Enforcement has worked with businesses and property owners from Portland’s Central Eastside Industrial Council in a special business district, where businesses in the area pay a tax to fund the security presence. The deal was established in 2019 and was renewed by Portland’s city council earlier this year.
The work in Portland has a heavy emphasis on removing graffiti and trash, including providing garbage services for camps. The Central Eastside Council reported that their crews had made more than 1,000 mental health checks over the last three years and Withrow said they had helped 20 people secure housing.
Withrow said their initial focus in Longview is to gain the trust of the businesses, unhoused residents and anyone else in the area who was concerned about the camp.
“I would much rather convince someone to do the right thing than force them to do it. So our model and our will is to really listen and build collaboration with people,” Withrow said.
The security contract with the city reimburses the company for each hour of patrol time. Northwest Enforcement is budgeted for 115 hours a week: 15 hours on each weekday, largely outside of normal business hours, and 20 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. Two or three guards work the shift at a time. Longview will also pay the security extra for holidays, overtime and some vehicle mileage.
The security officials conduct regular security sweeps through the camp at night to look out for disallowed behavior. City officials report every person living at the camp signed intake forms to claim a spot, which city staff use to record and gather data about the homeless residents. The security firm uses the list to monitor every entrance and exit from the camp and keep out people who have been previously removed.
“Every day they give us a detailed incident report to tell us about any and all activity that happened. It’s pages of everything that happens during their shifts,” Longview Assistant City Manager Kris Swanson said.
Withrow said his security officers will defer to Longview Police if there’s “any major thing that happens.”
The 100-plus homeless residents were moved from the main spot on Alabama Street to the city-owned parking lot in September while the campsite was emptied and cleaned. The camp will likely stay at the temporary location until the pallet homes approved for Alabama Street arrive.
Longview has placed the order for 50 pallet homes from the Everett-based company Pallet. Swanson said the city was hopeful that the homes will arrive in early November.
The city is still working to finalize a deal with a nonprofit or agency that will work as the host for the pallet home community once it’s established.