Danielle Outlaw, a 42-year-old former Deputy Chief of the Oakland Police Department, was sworn in on Monday as chief of the Portland Police Bureau. A rare outside hire, Outlaw is just the third woman, and first woman of color, to lead Oregon’s largest municipal police force.
The Mercury—in a 15-minute slot sandwiched between other media outlets—sat down with her on Tuesday to talk about her priorities, the (many) officers who don’t live in Portland, and protest policing.
MERCURY: Most Portland police officers don’t live in Portland. Is that a problem to you?
OUTLAW: No, it’s not—as long as they can get here when I need them here. It’s one thing to be from somewhere, homegrown, but you can also be made somewhere. I know a lot of folks from my previous agency aren’t from Oakland, but they had maybe come over from the military and landed there. But they spent so much time at work and in the community, and much less time where they actually live, that they were made in Oakland, they were still part of the Oakland culture. Same goes here. But I think what a lot of folks fail to realize is that we spend so much time here.
Because someone doesn’t choose to live within the city doesn’t mean you’re not made here in Portland, aren’t part of the culture, and not connected. I would even say there’s a special connection there. When you’re in certain neighborhoods day in and day out, you get to know the people there, and what drives that community, what the areas of concern are, what makes that particular area tick. Some officers might be more a part of that area than people who actually live there, because they, themselves, may be commuting outside [of Portland]. One of the first things I learned is people [civilians] commute from Washington. They just work here. I want to be clear that when we’re judging police officers, they’re not the only ones that do that. Other people in other professions commute as well, and it doesn’t mean they’re any less connected.