PPD is seeing more frequent flyers

PENDLETON – Law enforcement calls them frequent flyers. They are the offenders who repeatedly return to jail for a wide variety of criminal charges. It’s not a new problem. However Pendleton Police Chief Chuck Byram said that they’re seeing more of them than ever before.

“We all know it’s a revolving door,” he said. “The increase is nothing that was created locally. It’s just the system that is in place based on legislation and case law. We have people we encounter on a daily basis that we almost arrest on a daily basis.”

Byram says he checks the arrests on a daily basis and can name people who have been arrested as many as 30 to 40 times.

“At some point, that just has to stop,” he said. “I just hope that sooner or later the pendulum swings back to where we are more concerned about the individuals that live in our community that continue to work hard, follow the rules, and live up to the standards; and not worry about people that don’t want to live in our society with the rules that are in place and always have the bar lowered for them.”

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