Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, in partnership with Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton, today announced the launch of SPIRE, a first-of-its-kind statewide pilot program designed to take on complex criminal activity that crosses jurisdictions and benefits from a coordinated, multi-agency response.
The idea for SPIRE — which stands for Special Projects: Investigate, Respond, Enforce — grew out of conversations with communities across Oregon about the types of crime families are facing. Attorney General Rayfield and District Attorney Barton outlined the SPIRE pilot to lawmakers during Legislative Days on Monday before the Senate and will do so again Tuesday before the House.
“These organized crime enterprises prey on some of the most vulnerable Oregonians,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “From illicit massage parlors and drug trafficking to crime rings skimming SNAP benefits and stealing catalytic converters. We’ve heard loud and clear from Oregonians that organized crime is showing up in our communities. The SPIRE program is our response. This is DOJ stepping up to make sure we’ve left no stone unturned to tackle these problems and keep our communities safe.”
Attorney General Rayfield said one theme emerged repeatedly: Oregon’s public-safety challenges are not “one size fits all,” and communities need a statewide structure that supports — not replaces — local efforts. District Attorney Barton is one of the key leaders who helped get SPIRE off the ground.
“We are grateful to Attorney General Dan Rayfield and the Oregon Department of Justice for their leadership on this collaboration,” said Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton. “We believe this proof of concept has shown that partnerships between state and local law enforcement will help combat crime and protect victims not only in Washington County, but in jurisdictions across the state.”
What Sparked the SPIRE Pilot
In his first 100 days in office, Attorney General Rayfield convened a statewide public-safety roundtable with sheriffs, district attorneys, and police chiefs. The message was clear: some of Oregon’s most serious cases — trafficking networks, drug pipelines, and criminal operations that jump between cities — require the kind of sustained, specialized investigative work that smaller agencies can’t shoulder alone.
Local law enforcement leaders repeatedly underscored that they need DOJ as a true partner for cases that require:
- long-term surveillance
- digital forensics
- wire intercepts
- complex data analysis
- coordination across jurisdictions
What SPIRE Does
SPIRE gives Oregon a nimble investigative structure that can take on:
- High-level criminal networks
- Mid-level operations
- Community-level criminal activity that feeds into larger problems
SPIRE is built to support local law enforcement. Officers and deputies are already busy responding to daily calls and immediate threats. SPIRE steps in when a case is too big, too complex, or too time-consuming for any one agency to tackle alone.
The program can scale up or down depending on the size and complexity of a case — making it useful for a region, county, city, or a single community.
Attorney General Rayfield emphasized that the Oregon DOJ — with experienced investigators, agents, and prosecutors — is uniquely positioned to lead statewide efforts to reduce public-safety threats. AG Rayfield and DA Barton will continue discussions with lawmakers during Legislative Days to build long-term support for SPIRE and strengthen public safety across Oregon.
Right now, the Washington County DA’s Office, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, and all police departments in Washington County are participating in the SPIRE pilot program.