City Council votes stymie police responses and alternatives May 19 2021
Next year s budget will be reviewed on June 17 and take effect on July 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
Even though shootings and visible homelessness are increasing in Portland, the City Council rebuffed pleas from both the Portland police union and police critics when it tentatively approved a $5.7 billion budget for the next fiscal year on Thursday, May 13.
As a result, city residents will not immediately see a beefed-up response to gun violence or alternatives to police responses to 9-1-1 calls.
Before the unanimous vote on the total budget, Portland Police Association President Daryl Turner urged the council to increase funding for the Portland Police Bureau and to reinstate the Gun Violence Reduction Team that was abolished last year. In a morning press release, he blamed the record increase in shootings and killings on the team being abolished.