In a new episode of Portland Police Bureau’s (PPB) podcast “Talking Beat,” Chief Danielle Outlaw explained why officers are unable to keep the public safe during the city’s notoriously volatile protests.
“We don’t have as many officers that other cities do,” Outlaw said. “We’re the largest police agency in the state, we don’t have the kind of resources other cities have.”
Outlaw pointed to Oakland, where she worked as a deputy police chief before moving to Portland, as an example of a city engulfed in these resources. During a tumultuous protest, Oakland officers can easily call on the assistance of law enforcement from San Francisco, Richmond, Berkeley, or any other Bay Area city.
“We’re a big fish in a small pond,” said Outlaw.
She didn’t mention that Portland’s largest neighboring law enforcement bodies—the Washington County, Clackamas, and Clark County sheriff’s offices—have all refused to assist PPB during protests.
Outlaw has raised concerns about the size of her police force since engaging in city budget talks earlier this year. This has largely been based on PPB’s own inability to hire and retain new officers, but Outlaw has named the national attention on violent Portland protests as a key deterrent. In June, the bureau announced it will be lowering its education requirements for new recruits. As of June, PPB had 128 vacant officer positions.
Outlaw said that the city’s low number of active cops has made officers more inclined to use force against protesters during high-stress protests.
“The less amount of resources you have, the increased likelihood that you use force,” she said. “The more numbers [of officers] that you have, the likelihood of you using force is lessened because you have more people, more visibility and more of an ability to get in between and keep folks separated.”
At least three different people have sued the city for violence inflicted on them by police during a August 4, 2018 protest in downtown Portland. Just this Monday, a 53-year-old woman filed a $250,000 lawsuit against the city for being permanently injured by an officer’s flash-bang grenade.
Outlaw told the Oregonian that all PPB officers will be working on Saturday, August 17—the day the Proud Boys (a national alt-right group with a history of violence) will hold a rally at Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The rally is expected to draw out hundreds of counter-protesters, both representing anti-fascist groups and other liberal organizations. Attending Proud Boy members have threatened violence on social media.
Having to cancel officers’ days off, Outlaw said, “takes a toll on morale.”
“It could wear down the organization if you let it,” she said.
A simple traffic stop always seems to get five or six officers. A minor demonstration in downtown, there are dozens of them milling around.
They don’t need more police.
Lies. There is no justification for abusing Portlanders. None. None. No more police wanted, thanks.
Imagine if public school teachers, let alone the chief of them, had the same sh*tty attitude. “We’re transforming the deficiencies in resources into direct abuse of students, because we can’t be bothered. Giving up my evenings to plan lessons and grade papers is so demoralizing that I need to hurt others,” said no teacher ever. Grow the f*ck up.
More police for what? WE already live in a police state, the city just chooses to use the police force to raise revenue instead of making our lives better. If there was no police in Portland they would not have time to harass motorists for seatbelt violations.
@flamegarden The key difference between cops and teachers, of course, is that the primary function of cops is to use force on behalf of the government while teachers are there to teach kids. So… a teacher using force would be wildly outside the bounds of the job while a cop using force is something they are hired to do, trained to do, and expected to do.
Is it that hard to understand that standing up to a bully by yourself might end in you fighting said bully while you and two of your friends standing up to the same bully ends up in the bully going away without a fight? It may be fun to be obtuse when kibitzing with comrades but it’s kind of embarrassing in a public forum.
@bridger If you ever find me being bullied, please don’t “help” me, okay?
Your vision of bullies and counter-bullies is toxic.
Cops never learn how to de-escalate situations.
They only know how to escalate and foment violence where there was none and more violence where there was some.
A wise mayor/commissioner would clean out the whole culture of macho cops commuting in from Vantucky and other suburbs and replace them with cops who have college degrees with large emphasis on liberal arts and psychology, which has shown to instill empathy and more humane decision-making and extensive training in de-escalation.
See how such security is managed at the Oregon Country Fair: https://www.eugeneweekly.com/2018/07/12/a-fair-shakedown-on-security/
How about more use of technology? Videocameras specifically. If there was high-resolution recording in real-time and everyone knew it, the overwhelming fear of being accountable would drive undesirable behavior down. More police won’t deter crime like the inarguability of HDTV.
“More cops = less violence” wont work when you have a chief of police who goes on rightwing shockjock radio shows and gleefully mocks protesters who suffer life-threatening injuries at the hands of her officers with the words, “we kicked their a–es!”