From City of Tillamook Police Chief Rau, 7/13/22:
If you have had flyers recently affixed to your vehicle’s windshield within the city limits of Tillamook over the past several days, please call the nonemergency number for Police Dispatch (503) 815-1911 and report it. We are empathetic to what many of you are feeling regarding what’s written on these flyers, that’s why we spent considerable time and effort in researching the Oregon Criminal Code, calling the Oregon Department of Justice hate/bias crimes hotline, spoke in person with an investigator who specializes in Child Pornography Investigations from the Oregon DOJ who was in town and called the Tillamook County DA to look at potential criminal charges in this matter once we located the suspect.
Unfortunately according to everyone we’ve talked to and the research we’ve conducted, the flyers and what’s printed on them alone, under current State and Federal Law, does not constitute that a crime has been committed. We do have evidence to support that a city ordinance was violated each and every time by the suspect each time he placed this flyer under your vehicle’s windshield. We located the suspect and he has already been cited for violating this city ordinance for affixing a flyer on a vehicle or property without the owners permission from the one community member who has called to report it so far. We want you to know that how we feel about the information on these flyers cannot overrule current law to include a subjects right to freedom of speech. We do want you to know that the members of your Tillamook Police Department will continue to investigate every complaint reported to us by our community members regarding this violation.
