In the last 30 years Gresham has gone through some major changes.

The population has boomed, and new construction with it, changing what was once a sleepy rural community on the outskirts of the Portland metro area into a legitimate town; an extension of Portland’s growing urban sprawl.

And while Gresham still sits on the same land, bearing some of the characteristics of "old" Gresham, the town itself and the nature of its citizen’s lives has changed immensely.
Police Sgt. Claudio Grandjean, MHCC graduate and Gresham resident of nearly 40 years, has seen it all.

Grandjean’s only time spent away from Gresham was in 1984 as a student at Oregon State University. He had transferred to OSU after spending a year as sports editor for The Advocate and graduating from the MHCC journalism program. He was gone for little more than a year when he decided to get married and move back to Gresham. He and his girlfriend Shelley had been dating since high school and “it was just time,” says Grandjean of the decision.

Twenty years later, Grandjean says, "My hometown really doesn’t exist anymore. It has grown so much, and changed so much that the Gresham I grew up in is gone."

Grandjean describes his childhood in Gresham as "fields everywhere. People out there riding their motorcycles and bikes. Small town stuff."

His family lived near the present day site of Highland Grade School, which is now "mid-Gresham" as he puts it, but at the time was the fields of the Frank Schmidt Nursery. He uses this to illustrate the growth that Gresham has experienced.

"It’s a neighborhood now, but when I was a kid it was a nursery. I remember it was a big deal to watch the crop dusters. We would all run out to the fence and watch the crop dusters. That’s small town stuff.

"I like Gresham now because it still reminds me of that, but I guess it’s kind of sad that that Gresham doesn’t exist anymore. There are people who have lived here for a long time who think it is still that small town — but it’s not. We share a common border with Portland and we have grown into a bigger city. Along with that come big city problems."
Gresham’s most pressing problems, according to the sergeant, are gangs and methamphetamine: gangs because of the related violence and meth because of the property crimes that go along with use of the drug.

While gangs are a relatively new problem in Gresham, meth use and the related crimes are things that the Gresham Police have been dealing with for a long time. "There is more publicity to it now, the mainstream press is more aware of it, but we’ve been way ahead of that curve for a long time.

"There are some states where it’s the new thing. It’s the new wave now. If you go out to the Mideast and the Midwest, meth is a new problem," he said. "We’ve seen that problem for 15 years so we are cutting edge when it comes to dealing with meth. I hate to say it but we are."

Grandjean says that while meth use isn’t really at a higher percentage level than it was 15 years ago, the amount of related crimes has grown.

"Identity theft, property crimes and burglaries have all gotten worse," he said. "And those crimes are all directly related to meth."

For the gang problem, Grandjean said help is on the way in the form of federal grant money. This money will be used to form an East County gang unit involving Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale and the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. "That’s going to be a very proactive unit," said Grandjean, "and that’s something we have needed for a while. We’ve just never had the money or personnel to put it together."

As far as meth goes, Grandjean says the best thing that could happen would be more jail space. Lack of jail space allows property criminals, of whom most are meth users, to stay out on the streets.

"We bring them down, mug and print them and they walk right back out," said Grandjean. "So when we do catch them, our encounter is just a blip on their radar screen and they just keep right on going.

"The more dangerous criminals need to be kept in jail, and I understand that, but if we had more jail space it would be a stronger deterrent for them to stop doing what they’re doing.
"I know that people with a more liberal mind set than I have talk about education and rehabilitation, but that only works if the person wants to change. And that doesn’t happen for most users until they reach rock bottom," said Grandjean. "If we could keep them in jail for any length of time, maybe they would reach a point when they would look in the mirror and realize that they need to make a change."