A video of a father’s interaction with an Oregon police officer went viral on social media after the man complained about someone “completely bare naked” approaching his 2-year-old son and the officer informed him it was legal.
This from westernjournal.com.
@sidemoneytom
The upset parent was informed that in the state of Oregon, it is a crime for an adult to expose his or her private parts to a minor only if there is a sexual element to the act.
The video showed a father asking an officer with the Bend Police Department to explain why an arrest could not be made after his young child encountered a naked adult on the family’s private property.
When the outraged dad raised his concerns, the officer replied:
There are no laws against the actual nudity portion of it.
He explained:
If you’re not doing it for sexual gratification or the gratification of someone else, yes, you are allowed to walk around naked.
The upset father concluded his video—which was posted Wednesday to the SideMoneyTom account on TikTok—by expressing outrage.
The man did not say whether the person who approached his child naked was a man or a woman.
After the video went viral, the Bend Police Department explained on social media that the officer’s hands were tied and that Oregon state law permits adults to walk around nude.
We’ve received many messages of concern about a post that has appeared on TikTok and X, and we want to make sure that our community has accurate information about the incident. As is often the case when short clips are shared on the internet, context can sometimes be missing.
— City of Bend Police Department #BendPolice (@BendCityPolice) June 5, 2024
At approximately 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4, officers responded to a caller reporting suspicious circumstances in the 1200 block of NW Knoxville Boulevard. The caller reported that a nude woman had walked up to the front of his home, where he and his child were present.
— City of Bend Police Department #BendPolice (@BendCityPolice) June 5, 2024
In Oregon, being naked in public is not a crime. Both public indecency (ORS 163.465) and private indecency (ORS 163.467) have a required element of “intent to arouse.” That was not the case in this incident.
— City of Bend Police Department #BendPolice (@BendCityPolice) June 5, 2024
The department said it did not support sex crimes against children and described the person who approached the child on Tuesday as a woman.
However, this is a state law, and so if you have concerns about Oregon’s public indecency laws, we would recommend you contact the Oregon Legislature to share your concerns.
— City of Bend Police Department #BendPolice (@BendCityPolice) June 5, 2024
Our officers accurately applied state law and properly trespassed the woman from the property, and we are proud of the work they do each day to keep our community safe.
— City of Bend Police Department #BendPolice (@BendCityPolice) June 5, 2024
The statute cited by police in Bend states that public indecency in the state is only committed if there is ‘an act of sexual intercourse’ or ‘an act of oral or anal sexual intercourse.’
Additionally, someone can be cited and arrested in the state for public indecency if he or she is masturbating or there is ‘an act of exposing the genitals of the person with the intent of arousing the sexual desire of the person or another person.’
In Oregon, an act of public indecency becomes a felony only if the person whose genitals are exposed has been cited for the crime previously or has been convicted of rape.
Final thought: Strange tales of the Left coast—the land of fruits and nuts.
