THE HEAD OF Portland’s cop union is in disagreement with the
national cop union’s line on whether armed rent-a-cops should be able
to dress like real police officers.
Portland Police Association boss Robert King told the Mercury last November he thinks downtown rent-a-cops working for Portland
Patrol, Inc. (PPI) “provide basic security services for downtown
businesses like any other security service in the city.
“With the crime downtown we think it’s good to have more eyes and
ears,” King continued. “It keeps everybody safer.”
PPI has roughly 30 guards walking a beat in the downtown core,
funded by more than $1.5 million a year from the Portland Business
Alliance. They dress almost exactly like real cops, and many carry
guns, but unlike Portland’s professionally trained union police
officers, they have no open oversight procedure.
Now, the director of the National Association of Police
Organizations (NAPO)—which represents the interests of 238,000
rank-and-file officers nationwide—is taking a stronger line than
King is willing to.
“I would agree with the statement that more eyes and ears on the
street is a good idea,” says Bill Johnson, NAPO’s executive director.
“But I disagree with the way these men and women are clothed and
uniformed—to give the appearance there are more police out there
than there actually are, and I think that’s a false impression.”
King declined to respond to Johnson’s comments, but as union boss,
the comments put him under increasing pressure to get involved with the
debate over whether rent-a-cops should so closely resemble real
cops.
“A lot of jurisdictions in the United States have this temptation to
buy the appearance of security rather than public safety itself,” says
Johnson.
One reason King could be reluctant to criticize PPI directly is that
cop union members can potentially look forward to working for PPI after
they retire. As well as enjoying a healthy pension, armed PPI
guards—all of whom are former Portland cops—are rumored to
earn almost $20 an hour.
Portland Business Alliance Vice President of Downtown Services Mike
Kuykendall disagrees with Johnson’s assessment. “Our security officers
do not create a false impression of safety,” says Kuykendall, who spoke
at a banquet for retiring police officers on February 19.
“Downtown is, in fact, safer than it was three years ago thanks to
an increase in [private security] officers. Crime is down 30 percent in
three years, car prowls 21 percent. The uniforms are part of this
20-year-old program that has kept downtown Portland one of the most
livable in the country.”