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Dozens of Complaints Against Police Funding Petition Prompt State Investigation

The Secretary of State has received more than two dozen complaints alleging campaign canvassers are misleading voters.
Avatar photo by Taylor Griggs

Last month, canvassers began collecting signatures for a Portland ballot initiative seeking to use clean energy funds to hire police. Since then, the Oregon Secretary of State has received 28 complaints alleging campaign petitioners are misleading the public about the proposal. The Secretary of State’s office has opened an investigation into the allegations, many of […]

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Road Rules

Police policies allow at-fault drivers to leave certain crash scenes without so much as a ticket.
Avatar photo by Taylor Griggs

In early April, Portlander Jennifer Shuch was biking across Northeast Halsey Street near the Hollywood Transit Center when she was struck by a driver running a red light. The impact, which was caught on video, left Shuch bruised and shaken up, but not seriously injured.  Despite a witness calling 911, no paramedics or police ever […]

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Elections Complaint Alleges Canvassers are Intentionally Misleading Public About Police Funding Initiative

Workers gathering signatures for the effort to divert clean energy funds to Portland police are using talking points that don’t line up with the petition’s actual text.
Avatar photo by Taylor Griggs

Two people who were hired to gather signatures for a Portland ballot initiative that would use clean energy funds to hire police say they were trained to mislead the public about the proposal. If true, the conduct would violate state elections rules, and could spell trouble for the petitioners and the company hired to lead […]

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Initiative to Divert Clean Energy Funds to Cops Moves Ahead Under Constrained Timeline

A judge ruled largely in favor of the police union-backed initiative, but its future remains unclear.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

Last week, a Multnomah County judge ruled largely in favor of the Portlanders backing an initiative petition seeking to divert a portion of the city’s clean energy fund to police. But the future of the effort to tap the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) for police hiring remains unclear, with people on both […]

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Supporters Pack Courtroom for Portlander Facing Federal Protest Charges

After weeks of surveillance, the FBI showed up to arrest Jacob Hoopes at gunpoint six weeks after his alleged offenses at a Portland ICE protest.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

Robert Jacob Hoopes and his girlfriend looked out their bedroom window last Friday morning to find FBI agents surrounding their home. A minute later, the armed officers were pounding at their door, demanding they open up, reportedly without providing a warrant. Eventually, they learned the federal officers were there to arrest Hoopes, 24, for allegedly […]

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Police, Prosecutors Seek to Limit Access to Police Personnel Files During Trials

Portland Police Bureau says a current directive goes beyond federal requirements for evidence disclosure. Defense attorneys warn a change would allow cops to gatekeep which information about them gets released.
Avatar photo Abe Asher

After a landmark ruling earlier this year, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) is proposing changes to a key directive that could determine whether criminal defendants have access to information that could potentially exonerate them in legal cases.  PPB Directive 0320.00 was initially implemented three years ago to guide how the Bureau reports information relevant to […]

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Recent Portland Police Actions at ICE Facility Test the Limits of Sanctuary Laws

As anti-ICE protests escalate in Portland, state leaders call for peaceful protest, but confusion over police involvement lingers.
Avatar photo Kevin Foster

This story has been corrected to indicate the city’s Impact Reduction team posted signs warning of a campsite removal outside the ICE facility. Updated: 12:40 pm June 13 ICE arrested two more asylum seekers at Portland’s immigration courthouse on Tuesday, amid protests that have continued to escalate in front of the ICE facility on Macadam […]

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Update: Using K9, Tear Gas, and Robots, Police Arrest Man Involved in Previous Standoff

Following crisis negotiations that ended without arrest earlier in the week, police returned to NW Portland for a tense arrest of an unhoused man with warrants.
Avatar photoAvatar photo Courtney Vaughn and Taylor Griggs

Updated: 8:40 am Thursday, April 17 Portland police officers returned to Northwest Portland Wednesday afternoon, to effectuate the arrest of a man involved in an armed standoff earlier in the week. Police used a bevy of weapons, including tear gas, a police K9, a flash bang device, and robots to force 44-year-old Raul Nava, Jr. […]

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Does a “Big Tent” Approach to Labor Include Police Unions?

The Portland Police Association’s bid to join the Northwest Oregon Labor Council has sparked backlash.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

When members of Portland’s broader labor ecosystem found out about the city police union’s bid to join the Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC), many immediately reacted with suspicion. While the Portland Police Association (PPA) and NOLC leaders said their goal was to bring workers of all stripes together, labor activists and police critics were doubtful, […]

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The Promises and Perils of TriMet’s Safety Response Team

Former and current staff say the program, which TriMet launched as part of an initiative to reimagine public safety in 2021, is exploitative of employees and hasn’t lived up to its potential.
Avatar photo Taylor Griggs

When TriMet launched its Safety Response Team in 2021, sending unarmed workers trained in de-escalation onto Portland’s public transit system, the agency emphasized the program as part of a wider movement to rethink public safety beyond armed police and security guards. The program was developed in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd […]

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What ICE Can and Cannot Do in Oregon As Trump Targets Immigrants

Portland joins sanctuary city lawsuit against Trump administration as Oregon agencies reaffirm federal policing restrictions
Avatar photo Kevin Foster

February 28: This story has been updated to include Sen. Ron Wyden’s efforts to prevent information sharing between immigration agencies and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. As the Trump Administration intensifies immigration enforcement nationwide, undocumented immigrants and their loved ones are on high alert. The passage of the Laken Riley Act in Congress has heightened the […]

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Will Portland Police Cooperate with Trump’s FBI?

The Police Bureau’s relationship with a federal anti-terrorism task force triggered a broader conversation about illegal surveillance, racial profiling, and Islamophobia.
Avatar photo Courtney Vaughn

For years Portland Police Bureau has cooperated with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), but with a new federal administration intent on broadening the JTTF’s scope and power, city leaders are uneasy about PPB’s arrangement. What seemed like a routine annual report to City Council sparked a broad discussion Wednesday about racism, immigration, surveillance, […]

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