Portlanders rarely get the chance to ask questions directly of the mayor and police chief, but come Tuesday, they can do just that.
Members of Portland’s Committee on Community Engaged Policing (PCCEP) invite the public to join a town hall-style forum on community policing and public safety at 6:30 pm Tuesday, November 17 at Portland Community College’s Cascade campus.
The evening is a hallmark annual event for PCCEP, a volunteer committee led by Portlanders to collect community feedback and provide input to the Portland Police Bureau in an effort to effectuate a more equitable policing model in the city.
This year’s event: “Defining Community Policing: A Community Conversation with Mayor Wilson & Chief Day” will allow attendees to either submit or ask questions directly to elected officials—namely Mayor Keith Wilson and Portland Police Chief Bob Day—centered on Portland’s policing model. Since Chief Day was called out of retirement three years ago to lead the police bureau, he’s worked to implement what he calls a “community policing” model which involves officers more frequently walking around their beat areas, when time permits, and engaging with the community more. PPB has also implemented dialogue liaisons during tense events like protests, which are officers whose primary responsibility is to talk to people, answer questions, and build community trust.
Mayor Wilson, for his part, has tried to use the city’s budgeting process to bolster PPB’s staffing, recruiting, and training capacities. Since Wilson took office in January 2025, PPB has reported using deadly force eight times, four of which resulted in the death of the person who was the target of arrest or restraint.
“Our role at PCCEP is to be a conduit… for the community of Portland, to be able to inform the city of what community and public safety should look like,” says Kip Silverman, co-chair of PCCEP. “This is an opportunity to have us facilitate that conversation, but for the community to have that direct conversation with the mayor and Chief Day.”
PCCEP was created out of the city’s settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice. When the requirement to maintain the community-led, volunteer committee ended last year, Portland City Council opted to keep PCCEP in place, codifying it into city code as a permanent advisory body to the mayor and chief of police. City leaders argued for the intrinsic value in “preserving a structured, citywide forum for community input and dialogue with the Portland Police Bureau, particularly for communities disproportionately impacted by policing practices, including Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, people with disabilities, individuals experiencing mental health challenges, immigrants and refugees, low-income residents, and others historically under-served.”
Defining Community Policing: A Community Conversation with Mayor Wilson & Chief Day takes place at PCC Cascade Campus (Terrell Hall) 705 N Killingsworth, 6:30-8:30 pm, Tuesday November 17. Free, but RSVP requested
